The Ares 3 crew had successfully landed on Mars, but conflict arose when a sandstorm came. Leaving the crew no choice, but to abandon their mission, and retreat back to there ship. On the trip back to the ship the botanist, Mark Watney was impaled with an antenna. Leaving the crew thinking he was dead. Due to the horrific sandstorm, the rest of the crew couldn't risk going back to retrieve his body; so, they left him on Mars. In the morning, Watney woke up covered in sand, alone. When Watney arrived at the damaged Hab-suppose to be the crew's living quarters on Mars-, he wondered how he was going to survive alone on a planet that was not suitable for life support? How he was going to make contact with earth and tell them he was alive, and how, and if he was going to make it home? And when he would return home back to earth?

Throughout Watney’s journey on Mars, he discovered when life gets tough people must learn to persevere through their problems and never give up. I think Andy Weir’s purpose of writing The Martian was to entertain the reader with Watney’s sense of humor. Resulting in the reader being anxious to know what is happening next. Lastly, to get the concept of never giving up, and to keep pushing forward. Hopefully having a positive impact on their life.

Personally, I liked this book because how funny Watney was. When Watney was running out of water on Mars; he came up with a plan to make more. In his efforts to make water, he nearly blew himself up. Sounds pretty serious right? Well, when he got up after being thrown across the Hab, he said sarcastically, “after all that work getting blown up, I’m exhausted.” (pg.45). Sporadically, through the book Watney says something funny. Another example was right from the get-go, “I’m pretty much f***ed. That’s considered opinion. F***ed. Six days into what should be the greatest month of my life, and it’s turned into a nightmare… Maybe there’ll be a day of national mourning for me, and my Wikipedia page will say, “Mark Watney is the only human being to have died on Mars.” And It’ll be right, probably. ‘Cause I’ll surely die here” (pg.1). In addition, I also enjoyed this book because there’s an abundance of problem-solving. A couple examples of the many problems he solved were: growing food on Mars, fixing machinery in and around the Hab, and doing calculations needed to solve a bigger problem.

I strongly recommend this book to people who like futuristic problem-solving, adventure, excitement, and comedy.  This book contains an abundance of pathos or emotions. One minute Watney just solved a problem; you feel excited, like things are starting to turn around. Strangely, another piece of machinery has a malfunctioned, and he is back to being in serious danger. Causing the reader to feel bad for all that he has gone through. Watney never seems to catch a break. Throughout the book, Watney throws in funny jokes as comic relief.

So, if you’re the person that loves to be on the edge of their seat, loves danger, excitement, problem-solving, and a good laugh, this is definitely the book for you.