Reminder: read "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir

[ufcasey]

Just a quick reminder to read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir for our book club discussion on Wednesday, June 29.

Here's an interview with the author for those who are interested:

www.space.com/project-hail-mary-andy-weir-book-interview

[tcu2003]

Thanks for the reminder - was able to get it finished on a flight home today.

Also - cool article. Thanks for sharing!

[aurora]

I finished it!

[dontlook]

I loved it but the ending wasn’t what I expected or wanted.

[tcu2003]

Jul 1, 2022 18:11:19 GMT -5 dontlook said:

I loved it but the ending wasn’t what I expected or wanted.

Same!

[ufcasey]

Hey everyone - sorry I dropped the ball on Book Club discussions. There has just been a lot going on in my life personally with family health issues. But I should have more time now.

[aurora]

Aug 18, 2022 8:50:51 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

Hey everyone - sorry I dropped the ball on Book Club discussions. There has just been a lot going on in my life personally with family health issues. But I should have more time now.

I'm sorry you've had a hard time! No problem, any of us could start discussions if we were motivated enough...

[litskispeciality]

I just finished this book. Did we have a separate discussion? I really enjoyed it, but it could have been 50 pages (or more) shorter. I agree the ending wasn't what I expected.

Also no worries if a discussion wasn't posted. I agree anyone can start the thread. Thanks for organizing the group reads. These really help my reading goals.

[travella]

I completely forgot about the discussion of this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It was something different from what I normally read. The story had a Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy feel to me- a little cheesy but entertaining. I was a little put off by Rocky in the beginning, but I ended up really loving the character in the end. The ending was cute, but I was a little disappointed because I wanted to know what happened on Earth.

[expectantsteelerfan]

One of the local libraries hosts an annual author night that my in person book club tries to attend. Last year they brought in Taylor Jenkins Reid, and this year they brought in Andy Weir. I ended up being sick for the event (which was last month), but I watched his talk virtually. He was interesting. He spoke very intelligently without being too condescending (but came off sounding like a bit of a nerdy know-it-all IMO). He discussed all 3 of his books briefly, but focused on Project Hail Mary since that's the newest.
Honestly, I liked The Martian the best out of his 3 books (and really disliked Artemis), but my biggest comment for all 3 books is that his main characters all sound like the same character to me...they all have the same 'voice.' This is why I disliked Artemis so much...the main character in that book was supposed to be a woman, and she was in no way a believable woman to me and it bothered me throughout the entire book.
I didn't know what to make of Rocky at first when reading PHM, but I did grow to enjoy him as a character. I've heard that the audiobook made him even cooler.

[litskispeciality]

I'm going to post spoilers in this post if anyone hasn't finished the book...




I believe at the end Rocky or another alien on that planet said they somehow confirmed that earth was saved by Grace's work on PHM. They said that it only took scientists one year to "fix" the issue because Grace did such a great job in space. This was super quick so easy to miss, and still didn't answer things like what were the consequences of the Astrophage in the Sahara Desert, or other things they did to the earth to make the science for PHM. I guess I would have been happier in 500 pages with a more detailed follow up of the status of earth since that was the whole point of the book...and close a loop.

I thought it was nice he was able to live on the planet, but found it a little hard to follow how it worked since it's a completely different atmosphere, and the science on the other planet is supposed to be like 50 - 75 years behind earth? I know it's science fiction, but for all the science in the book. Anyway still glad I read this book since I don't read a lot of sci fi.