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Ari DeBenedictis

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Ari DeBenedictis is currently reading

Just Friends

by Haley Pham

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Mar 10, 2026 11:46AM

Ari DeBenedictis is currently reading

Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir (Goodreads Author)

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in August 2023

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Ari DeBenedictis said: " -2.5 stars
-did i read the same book as everyone else? lol all my friends rated this 5 stars and here I am with a 3 star review. Although, idk why I'm surprised this ALWAYS happens.
-too sciency. Can't believe I'm saying that cause I actually do norma -2.5 stars
-did i read the same book as everyone else? lol all my friends rated this 5 stars and here I am with a 3 star review. Although, idk why I'm surprised this ALWAYS happens.
-too sciency. Can't believe I'm saying that cause I actually do normally love science fiction and I definitely loved The Martian (by the same author). But this was WAY too much science. Like I felt like every single sentence was about science. What about the emotions? idk that might be asking a lot for a science fiction book. Maybe I haven't read a lot of sci fi recently? I just wanted less sci fi and more character study/emotions/things you find in a normal fiction book haha. It's not necessarily that I couldn't follow the science, it was that I just didn't care to. You know? I wasn't interested enough.
-Wasn't a fan of the whole pre-astronaut life and his current astronaut life. Like the back and forth. Semi confusing and I'm always just a fan of normal chronological order.
-Also didn't love how most of the book was just the main guy and Rocky. Like as interesting as these people were, there's only so much you can write about two people and not get bored. And I definitely found myself getting bored reading about just them...
-this is such a TINY problem but I couldn't stop thinking about it throughout the book - HOW DID THEY COMMUNICATE SO FAST? I swear within like a day they were already exchanging full sentences. Like I get how they both figured out the word "time" and "hot" and "cold" but how the heck did they manage to communicate full sentences. Like how do you communicate the word "how" or "when" or "do you" or literally any non-noun. I was for some reason, so zeroed in on this problem. I feel like realistically, communication should've been a WAY bigger problem considering that Rocky only speaks in musical tones and Grace in words.
-listened to the audiobook which for the most part I liked. I love the actor who voiced Grace and I also like how they made Rocky sound. But I sometimes found myself losing concentration at the super sciency portions.

Moral of the story: I was bored. There's not much more. I just didn't care for the characters or the plot. Writing was too sciency. I mean, it wasn't horrendous but I liked the Martian way more. And I think if I read another sci fi book, I need something more than just sci fi. Maybe romance? Or even just more characters lol. ...more "

Aug 03, 2023 06:50PM · see review