TRANSCRIPT:

Lydia Petersen: Hello everyone, I’m Lydia Petersen and welcome to the first episode of “Turning the Page,” where I review books and discuss them with LSE students and teachers. Today I’m going to be giving my review of the book “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir, and I’m also going to talk with LSE student Cory Nguyen to hear what his opinion is on this work.

As some of you may know, the movie was released in theaters on March 20th, starring Ryan Gosling. It gathered a lot of attention, and reviews from early screenings have put it at a 98% Rotten Tomatoes audience score. Most film fans will note that this is an impressive feat. A year ago, I read “Project Hail Mary,” and when I heard that a film adaptation was going to be released, I was delighted.

If anyone is unaware of the story, it follows a scientist named Ryland Grace, who wakes up alone on a spaceship in the middle of space. He has no memories of why he is there, but as he slowly gets his memories back, we soon learn what his mission is on the ship. From Ryland’s flashbacks, we gather that the sun is slowly dying out due to the presence of a mysterious substance. As the sun dims, the Earth would soon become an apocalyptic place due to the cooling temperatures. Because of this, Ryland is sent on a mission to a separate solar system to find a cure for their dire situation. Shortly after he wakes up on the spaceship, he runs into an alien who he teams up with. I’m going to stop there for the sake of preventing any spoilers. Overall, though, “Project Hail Mary” is a story of persevering against the odds and finding friendship in the least likely places.

I immensely enjoyed my experience reading this story. Before picking up this book, I had read “The Martian,” also by Andy Weir. I had thought that to be a phenomenal book. However, “Project Hail Mary” blew that one out of the water.

Andy Weir has a very specific writing style, and it’s not something that I’ve encountered very often. Science fiction obviously deals with science, and so Andy Weir does a lot of explaining science and there are a lot of calculations incorporated into this book. If that is not done well that can be very boring, but Weir writes it in a way that is very well done. He dumbs it down in a way so that your average Joe person can understand the science at play within the story. Something I also noticed is that if you’ve taken a little bit of physics or a little bit of biology, you will recognize a lot of the science that he explains throughout the book.

Besides the fascinating science aspect of Andy Weir’s writing, he also uses humor very well. Our main character, Ryland Grace, often cracks jokes, is witty, quippy, all that good stuff, and it adds some lightness to the story because, as you probably have already guessed, this is a somewhat heavy story that is very serious.

To kind of go along with the science aspects of this book, because Ryland is on a spaceship, things are going to go wrong, of course, and so because of this, Ryland has to do a lot of problem solving. And it’s fascinating to me to read a character go through troubleshooting and using all of these scientific solutions to figure out what to do with a problem. When Ryland is faced with a problem, he just keeps on trying, trial and error, over and over and over until he figures out what is wrong. And I find that so interesting to read.

Now the thing that made this one of my favorite sci-fi’s that I’ve ever read is the incorporation of the alien named Rocky in this story. Rocky isn’t your typical green martian or gray man, that kind of thing. He feels like a realistic take on an alien. When you think about it, the odds of a human meeting an alien that speaks the same language, talks the same, hears the same looks the same, are slim to none. The way Rocky is written and the way his character is developed is so well done because he is done in a way that makes him unique. He’s not the same as a human and that feels very realistic. And so as we watch Ryland and Rocky’s friendship develop throughout the story, I get so connected with their characters and with their relationship, and it honestly it made me tear up a little bit at the end.

So overall I love this book and I really do recommend it. It is very captivating, and you have to like science to some degree to enjoy this book. But if you are in that demographic of people you should pick up “Project Hail Mary.”

So today I have with me LSE sophomore Cory Nguyen to give his opinion on “Project Hail Mary.” So what about Project Hail Mary made it so enjoyable for you?

Cory Nguyen: It was the aspect of being in space and meeting with another type of alien and then doing problem solving to talk with that alien in its different language and trying to adapt to its life and communicate and work together.

Petersen: So how did the space setting affect your enjoyment of the story?

Nguyen: It really was good to have it in a space setting, because obviously there’s an alien. You’re not on Earth and his previous book was also not on Earth, it was on Mars, and this place is also different. I don’t think it was even in the solar system, so it was just an extra part that really added on to the interesting part of the alien since it was in a different solar system.

Petersen: So what did you like about Ryland’s character?

Nguyen: What I liked about his character was he was a problem solver. He found out ways to, you know, go through problems and  eventually work up to it. You know, there was obviously some failures that we know in the book, but having him recoup from those failures and then doing something else to eventually reach that goal that he was originally planning to do, it was really impressive for him to have that perseverance to power through even though there were so many problems and, you know, possible impending doom and death since he was far, far away from home.

Petersen: When Rocky was introduced to the story what were your initial thoughts?

Nguyen: See, my initial thoughts of Rocky, it was like “oh no he’s gonna do something bad to him.” And you know, outside of the book, aliens are seen as a dangerous threat. But as Rocky introduced himself or at least tried introducing himself in his language, throughout the book I was able to see that he was a chill guy to partner up with with all those problems and stuff.

Petersen: What about Andy Weir’s writing style makes him a unique author?

Nguyen: His writing sticks out to me because it’s more technical. It’s fascinating to me because it utilizes that. In regular books that I’ve read, it’s just like a basic story, you know, a story that progresses through. But with this author, he really dials in on the technical specifications and that’s what gets me into his books a lot more. His explanation of really boring science stuff, he makes it fun by putting in, you know, humor, and it just makes it more enjoyable to read.

Petersen: What makes “Project Hail Mary’s” story so captivating?

Nguyen: You know, it’s the thought of, you know, you’re lost in space, and you have no way back home, and you’re almost out of fuel. And if you don’t do something, you’re going to die. So that theme or starting plot really catches you on to read it.

Petersen: Awesome. Thank you so much.

Nguyen: Yeah, for sure.

Petersen: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of “Turning the Page.” Make sure to visit lseclarion.com for more stories from the Clarion News team. And I hope you tune in again to listen to more book reviews.