The Martian

I’ve just finished
the Martian. Great book. I can tell it was a great book because I was
disappointed when it ended. You can spend a lot of time worrying
about character development, and dramatic use of language, and even
clever use of simile and metaphor, but at the end of the day, what
makes a great book is the fact that you want to read it, even when
there is no more book left to read.

What was interesting
about this book, though, was that I broke with my usual tradition
when reading a book that has been made into a film. I read the book
first. Normally, I am of the firm opinion that, once you have read
the book, the film is ruined forever. A film can only ever give you a
superficial version of the story – a focus on the visual elements
and the broad strokes of the plot. There simply isn’t time to delve
into a lot of the character motivation and back story. Which is fine,
it just means that if you already know the plot from reading the
book, a lot of the joy of the film is gone. And worse, you find
yourself concentrate on the bits they didn’t get right. In order to
fit into the allocated one and a half hours, the film will
undoubtedly have left out some sub-plot, or one of the less relevant
characters, which naturally will be the one you loved and really
wanted to watch the film for.

Worse is when the
author has painted a vivid picture of what the characters should look
like. This leaves the films director with a tricky conundrum – find
an actor who looks right for the part, or find one that can actually
act. Rarely outside the world of prosthetic make up and heavy CGI do
the two fortuitously come together.

What films can do,
however, is provide visuals for your inner eye. It can provide
spectacle and haunting sound tracks and beautiful cinematography,
none of which come for free from the black and white text on the
page. So, I like to watch the film first in order to enjoy the plot
twists and the director’s vision, then follow up with the book to
delve into the deeper backstory and understand the author’s original
intent. It’s not perfect, and I’m sure plenty of people will disagree
with me on the correct order to experience the two in, but it works
for me.

For the Martian,
however, I was strongly advised to read the book first. Having
finished it, I can see why. I loved the book, but it’s clearly
written from a scientific perspective of how to survive rather than
the psychology. Robinson Crusoe’, trapped on an island for 28 years,
maintained his sanity by letting his feelings of loneliness and
solitude fall from him like grains of sand, instead replacing them
with the practicalities of daily life and his continued existence.

Compared to Mark
Watney, however, Crusoe is a mopey emo. Watney appears blithely
unconcerned about the fact that he is existing in a small bubble of
oxygen whose fragile shell is the only barrier between him and death
by explosive decompression.

In fact, this works
because it adds an element of light heartedness and dogged
stubbornness to the dry technical facts of how he pieces together his
life on Mars.

I think, however, if
I had already seen the film, the depth I normally enjoy in a book
would be distilled down just to those dry technical facts. Geek that
I am, even I don’t want to read a book entirely consisting of the
chemical formula for decomposing hydrazine and the power to weight
ratio of a solar powered Martian rover.

So I’ve opted to
reverse my options. I’ve read the diary entries, enjoyed the dry
asides, and thrilled at the disasters encountered along the way.

Now I want to see
it. I want to see the delight on Mark’s face when he manages to make
things right, the devastation when things go wrong, and I want to see
those amazing red dust vistas of the Martian landscapes.

I should be
incredible. I hoping Matt Damon won’t prove me wrong.