lou's library

In January last year, I read The Martian by Andy Weir. I remember this so precisely because I was blown away by how a book so full of science could be so entertaining at the same time. And then I heard people say that Project Hail Mary, also by Andy Weir, was supposed to be even better. I vowed to read it as soon as possible, but then kind of forgot about it as I turned towards other books. Until Ryan Gosling started popping up in a space suit pretty much every time I opened a social media app, letting me know that he was starring as the protagonist in the movie adaptation of Project Hail Mary. Say no more, I thought. Because I do not lack common sense, I love Ryan Gosling. I mean, who doesn’t (if you don’t, please don’t let me know)? And that’s when I knew it was finally time to read the book. Did I like it? I’m so glad you asked.

The book focuses on the scientist and middle school teacher Ryland Grace, whose academic career was cut short due to his belief that water isn’t necessary for life (don’t quote me on that, I’m paraphrasing and also don’t know anything about science). He gets recruited for Project Hail Mary, because it turns out the sun and a bunch of other planets are getting dimmer to a certain degree, because of little cells/particles/insertcorrecttermhere called Astrophage. But there’s one planet that seems to be immune, so they’re building a space ship to send three astronauts there to figure out why and find a solution for this entire problem. Our beloved protagonist Ryland Grace really shouldn’t be on that space ship, but he is there anyway, and that’s when the fun begins.

Project Hail Mary, on paper, really shouldn’t work. And it sure as hell shouldn’t be as damn good as it is. I mean, it is stuffed to the brim with science, and the kind that someone who was never any good at it in school (me) couldn’t possibly understand if their life depended on it. And yet, there I was, happily eating up every little scientific fun fact our protagonist Grace threw at me for 500 pages. The only reason it does work is due to Andy Weir’s exceptional talent for writing entertaining and endearing characters.

This was already obvious to me after having read The Martian, because in that book, a man is stuck on Mars, all alone, and yet I was completely enthralled just watching that one man go about his day, trying to make his way back home. So I wasn’t exactly surprised when Andy Weir pulled off this feat again with Project Hail Mary, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t impressed. I also wasn’t ready for Rocky.

Oh, Rocky. That rock/spider/alien/Eridian holds a very special place in my heart. Just days before reading this book, I went to watch Disclosure Day in cinemas (it’s not very good, Josh O’Connor made me do it) and was incredibly frustrated about its uninspired idea of what extraterrestrial life might look like. Stephen Spielberg would have benefitted from a little conversation with Andy Weir, because Rocky and his species are not only fascinating, but so entirely different from humans and from the way aliens are usually portrayed in popular culture. And I loved that! I loved that they watch each other sleep, and that eating is something private, and that they don’t have faces!

The flashbacks to Grace’s time on earth, prior to the mission, that slowly reveal how he ended up on the space ship, were both highly entertaining and anxiety-inducing. I found it fascinating to learn more about him and how humanity had decided to deal with this enormous project. The stakes are obviously high, nothing is certain, everything could go wrong, but everyone is doing their damn best to make sure it won’t. But the parallels to our own, very real catastrophe called climate change made this book at times quite sad to read. Because I would argue that situation is also kind of urgent (actually, scrap the ‘kind of’), and yet, we’re doing nothing even remotely similar to find a solution. So, at times it felt as though Andy Weir was discreetly showing us what humans can achieve when they decide to get off their asses and work together, and while that can certainly be uplifting, I sadly found it depressing at times. Because, you know: reality.

All that being said, I do think it’s a beautiful story and I probably felt every emotion possible at least once while reading this book. And my God, was I unprepared for the ending. I was shooketh to my core. I genuinely think my mouth might have hung open during the entire last fifteen pages of the book. How utterly sad but also beautiful?! BUT SO SAD. Ugh.

I then of course immediately watched Project Hail Mary and loved it. Is Ryan Gosling objectively too beautiful to play a man we are supposed to believe is an ordinary middle school teacher with a brilliant mind but otherwise very mundane life? Absolutely. But if that was the measure, Ryan Gosling would be permanently out of a job, because he is too beautiful for the vast majority of roles, so we shall ignore that problem. I adored the way they portrayed Rocky and am relieved to say it’s a very good adaptation. Also: the soundtrack is perfect.

These are all my thoughts on Project Hail Mary, do comment down below if you’ve read the book, seen the movie, or just want to swoon over Ryan Gosling, because same. Happy reading!