Book-a-book of the Month Club discussion

While I have just started, I get the feeling based on what I know of this book that there might only be one character to discuss!

I think there is really only one character to think about at this point. I'd like to read a bit more before I comment on him.

Well (view spoiler)[ I got to page 49 and it looks like I was wrong. There will be a few more characters to comment on (hide spoiler)]

I am at about 25% so if you have passed that, you can read my spoilers.
I have to say that (view spoiler)[I also wondered if there would be any other characters. I was surprised to see that there are! I like that the girl who found out he was alive was not a higher up. She is being rewarded for her head's up! (hide spoiler)]
I also am curious about (view spoiler)[what will happen when they tell the other astronauts on the mission that their co worker is alive! (hide spoiler)]
Great book so far!

I loved the camaraderie of the characters on the Hermes. you never once doubt their devotion to their stranded crew mate - even at a risk to their own lives.

The characters on Earth can be describes more a "caricatures": The serious lead trying to keep everything together (Venkat), the nerdy and unappreciated person who is actually doing most of the work (Mindy), the bitchy PR person (Annie), the gruff, no-nonsense, loose-cannon flight director (Mitch), etc.

I liked the crew, mostly Vogel. As for the characters on earth I liked Venkat the most. I enjoyed the discussions between him and Watney.

I'm going to have to agree with you Matthew. The thing I thought was cheesy about the book was that people on Earth cared so much about Wattney's survival. Not to say that people wouldn't care, but I doubt it would interrupt a sports game. They'd care about that much. I think the author wanted to capture the suspense of the first space launch in the late 60's. The nation, no the planet was captivated by the space race. There was a long ongoing tension that had people scared and excited. It all culminated when the United States sent a man to the moon.

I'd think that if a man today was stranded on Mars during the 3rd of potentially endless missions and was stuck in a year long plus battle for his life it would just get lost in the noise of our modern day multimedia overload. And it would be hard to maintain interest in something so far away and impersonal as a dot moving around on the surface of a tiny light in the sky.

Really I think the only real audience that Annie would be trying to keep calm are the people that are directly in charge of the funding for the space program. I think that would have been a much more interesting battle for her to fight. The stakes being that they lose the space program.

Ultimately if Wattney died the general public would probably have been upset for a little while, changed the channel and got back to the grind of it all.

That's my opinion, what do you think?

Joe - with reality TV who knows. And, I think if the spin doctors wanted to keep this going they could. Perhaps the duration of it would cause interest to wear off, but we do get enthralled when people are stranded/trapped (Baby Jessica in a well, Chilean miners, etc.)

Also, I am always surprised at what is newsworthy and what keeps the world's attention. I mean if Kim Kardashian's butt can stay in the news for several years, why not a guy stranded on Mars?

Lol, you got me there Matthew. I guess I just don't understand tabloids and people magazine. That sort of thing. And that's a good point about people being stranded. I guess it felt a little forced because it wasn't really explored. To me I was like, "Where did all these people come from?" A paragraph here or there about community outreach to bring Wattney home or people with posters in front of the television station, or some people that wrote "Come Home, Wattney" on their roof. I don't know.

Maybe we will find out how interested people will be with the mars one mission? If it actually happens.

The Mars One people are not supposed to come back, though, right?

yeah one way trip. but we will still be able to see how interested people are in watching them haha

Oh wow, how have I missed this? Mission One. Who is funding that project. It looks very not NASA. I poked around their site and couldn't find anything particular, so I guess they're a private organization.

Which I guess means they'll have a little more leeway with decision making. I think once they're in space there are no more laws that apply to them, which didn't bother me when it was NASA.

Also, never coming back! I hope they're also checking romantic compatibility.

The netherlands I believe. I read that funding is going to be a problem and some of the funding is going to come from it being a reality tv show. As i said if it happens they are planning to have the first group of 4 people on there in 2025 so they will be leaving 2024. We shall see haha

That's a lot of work to make Total Recall a reality.

Also it's pretty awesome.

yeah I know right? I think I would watch it for a bit not sure for how long maybe just the big parts haha