The Martian by Andy Weir

Good, old fashioned, hard-core science fiction here. Andy Weir took the idea what if, on a manned mission to Mars, one of the astronauts was accidentally left behind? A simple enough idea that he fleshes out into an incredibly good book. How good? Caused me to get 4 hours of sleep two nights in a row so I could finish it.

Weir used multiple viewpoints to get the book written. He developed the characters well, especially Mark Watney--the title character. Watney's humor keeps the book from getting too depressing or heavy. It's not that he does not face dire and life-threatening situations, it's that he does so with an almost unfailing good humor. It's a big part of what kept me reading. A smart ass underdog, who couldn't like a character like that?

Weir also seems to be very up on his science. Everything he wrote about Martian conditions and the science of what was going on made sense to me. And, as I am a bit of a science nerd, that was important. The space travel aspect was also realistic.

There is quite a bit of profanity in the book. That will probably preclude me from putting it my classroom library for seventh graders. I'm not a prude, but the sheer number of f-bombs gets to be problematic for that grade level. I would recommend it, though. It is a great ride with twists and turns right up to the end.