Project Hail Mary

To get this out of the way, the “Hail Mary” in Project Hail Mary is not religious. It’s the low-chance-of-success long shot.

Any Weir has quite the following as a science fiction author. Prior to the movie version of this novel, many people would have recognized him from The Martian (another book-turned-blockbuster-movie). Weir is certainly a skilled science fiction author (extremely heavy on the science—I once read a negative review that said reading PHM was like sitting in a science lecture). He painstakingly details calculations and has receipts for the scientific deductions made by characters. I’m more interested in the personal—and interpersonal—journey of this book. When we first meet the main character, Ryland Grace, he doesn’t know who or where he is. He has to make deductions based on extremely limited information. He then takes action on who he decides he is.

Without giving too much away, this book made me think quite a bit about how much I am guided by who I think I am, and why I think that. What if I lost these ideas I hold to be true about myself? How would I piece together who I am with only me and the clues around me?

Another major theme in the book is interconnectedness. Grace had no family, no close friends. He was a teacher who cared quite deeply about his students, but he depended on no one and no one depended on him. The story arc on how this changes is a beautiful illustration of how we aren’t meant to be alone.

The audio book version of this book is top class. I highly recommend reading it that way if you have the chance.