Why We Try

Disclaimer: I do not make a habit of reviewing books, so take it with a grain of salt.

I obtained the oh-so-readable Large Print Edition of Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, because that was what the library had available. I was skeptical, I admit. My brother is generally anti-fiction, but someone convinced him that this would be worth it. I was very curious.

The story opens with Dr. Grace waking up in a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. The details that lead up to that point are revealed very, very slowly, as the character begins to remember things. This is intriguing for a short time, but begins to feel like we are being fed information too slowly, and in the end, not enough of it is important to the immediate situation. There are oddly specific details in the memories that really don’t need to be there to give us what we need to understand the situation.

Much of the book felt like it was trying to convince me with vague math that the science therein was realistic. I’m not afraid of math and science, and I love a passionate explanation of a scientific concept, but this felt like pandering to a certain grade-level where you show a concept but not the details. When a character whips out his phone calculator every few pages, it gets to be kind of annoying.

In some parts of the book, there were certain numbers repeated over and over – it began to feel as if there would be a quiz at the end. I got bored with this version of math and science quickly. I’m not going to pull out my calculator and check the numbers while I’m reading a story, but it almost seemed like it was daring you to do so.

The biggest problem I had was with this character, Dr. Grace. I wanted to like him, or have a reason to hope he survived, but quite frankly, it wasn’t there. Here is a man who appears to let everything happen to him, expending the least amount of effort possible to maintain a sadly isolated life. This doesn’t impress me in real life or in a book. I want my protagonist to have actual connections to people, to the world around them. I want them to have a purpose, some morals, some kind of drive. Letting things happen to you is not a good story, no matter how interesting those things are.

After slogging through the book, I finally reached the end, only to discover that I could hate the character even more than I already did. I found the ending to be disturbing in so many ways. I know that this may make it sound interesting and I apologize for that. It is not an endorsement. In fact, it might not be disturbing to anyone else. It would make a good discussion topic, let’s say that.

If you like to read about improbable scenarios, selfish characters, and gratuitous math and science stuff, have at it. If you are looking for a cartoonish space adventure for sub-teens, this may be your book. Otherwise, the answer is no, it isn’t worth it.

Thank you for your time, and keep reading! Just not this one.