Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Thoughts:

Reading a sci-fi can alter your brain in ways we think is not possible. Sometimes it’s just the spark of curiosity that ignites inside you to learn more or sometimes it’s the wild imagination cooking up theories inside your brain which you thought were never possible. You start feeling grateful to the world that you live in and also enjoy the luxury of its boredom. Why does it take an apocalyptic book to make us realize the importance of our safe world? Why does it take suffering for us to make us understand the worth of our peaceful and happy life? The answer is simple, we cannot enjoy happiness unless and until we experience what it means for our mind and body to suffer. When we think about it, how can we even experience a positive emotion without even fulling understanding what a negative emotion is? The problem comes when we get too involved or trapped in our negative emotions for us to come to our senses and look at the other side of the coin. It’s all a matter of making the choice to be happy or sad. I know, reading a sci-fi triggers all these thoughts in me or the fact that I wanted to pen these thoughts done so bad that my brain was itching to let it out. I have been consuming a lot of information and the brain may have processed it but want it out somehow. What good does knowledge do if it not shared? Anyway, reading the book made me change the perspective of extra terrestrial life and how they can be our allies in case an adversity arises. These were so many facts in the book which made me want to look up more about space and its properties. For example, I should have know that there is no sound in space because there is no medium to transmit it such as air, and that space is filled with vaccum. Why didn’t I know this? Some details which were lost in memory surfaced back. I may have read somewhere that space does not have oxygen in it but is filled with hydrogen ? And that there is no carbon dioxide in the sun but has helium and nitrogen? Venus has abundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. WOW, that was new to me. I really enjoyed reading this 475 page book which I read for my Pomona community bookclub. The discussion went great and mainly revolved around how much they liked Rocky the alien and how he spoke in music notes. Also one discussion point was how the climax turned out and it kept me wondering how miserable his life would have been living in another planet eating his own flesh to survive. Oh, lord! Hope he goes back to his world. We discussed about things which fascinated us about the book, how the aliens were clever and and advanced in so many aspects that humans but failed to inderstand radiation and how they don’t have eyes and therefore cannot see. They can detect movement or presence of objects by sound waves. They can hear even the smallest noise. Overall loved the apocalyptic world created by Andy Weir, with all the Astrophage infestation of the sun and how the Petrova line transferred them to Venus from the sun to breed and go back. It was also interesting how Dr.Grace conducted his own research and the experiments he performed to identify and learn more about the astrophage and how they have infected other star systems as well. It was interesting to learn about the atmospheric configuration of different planets giving a clear picture as to why humans cannot survive in many of them. The story is told in two different timelines, the past and the present and I felt like as the story progressed I did not care about what happened before the project and all I wanted was to befriend the alien and talk to him. I loved their banter and how soon Rocky picked up to be sarcastic just like humans. It was witty and heartwarming at the same time. This book also made us realize how it is okay not to be selfish and it is not necessary to be thinking how it is our responsibility to save everyone and everything.

Synopsis:

Dr.Grace wakes up in his bed surrounded by high tech equipments, totally groggy and without any memory. He doesn’t know where he is, does not know his name, cannot speak clearly for that matter. He only has a computer detecting his body changes and movements. He finds two dead bodies in adjacent beds as well. The story takes us through his thought process as he regains his memory only to realize that he is on a mission to save the earth for invading astrophages who are about to destroy the sun and render earth uninhabitable. He follow his memories as to how he was recruited for this mission and how he is the lone survivor capable of saving the earth. But things take a turn when he realizes he is not the only person in the space like he thought he was. Who is this person? Is it an ally or enemy? Will he able to save the earth? How will he return to earth if he is on a suicide mission? 

Rating: 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟