The Martian

Mark Watney's crewmates leave Mars believing he died in a storm. He survives, but the ship is gone, his supplies are finite and he can't tell Earth he's alive. Staying alive means turning his skills as a botanist and engineer toward one urgent problem after another.

Crime & thriller Science fiction Dark comedy Dry wit

From the publisher’s blurb

“A mission to Mars. A freak accident. One man’s struggle to survive.”

Read the full description at Penguin Random House publisher description

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What makes it funny?

Watney was the lowest-ranking astronaut on his mission. Now that everyone else has left, he points out that he's technically in command. His logs keep finding similarly small, ridiculous consolations in an enormous disaster. Readers in book groups single out that wisecracking voice; one who usually avoids science fiction found it exceptionally funny.

The comedy at work

A calculation about survival may sit beside a profane aside about the odds of dying. Watney explains the machinery carefully and treats his predicament with blunt understatement. Kirkus notes that his jokes relieve the tension so effectively that they sometimes soften the danger.

Try this if…

Engineering puzzles carry the story, with a sarcastic astronaut for company. Readers who like working through a practical problem and then watching the next one emerge have plenty to follow. The humor comes largely from how Watney describes that work.

Good to know

Expect technical explanations, numbers, profanity and descriptions of injury. Some readers find the succession of problems too mechanical; one preferred the emotional depth of Weir's Project Hail Mary. Another reader struggled with the amount of math. Those details are part of the reading experience alongside the wit.