“The reaction to your book choice” I was told, “was sceptical”. I hadn’t made the last meeting and I knew that there would be a certain reluctance to sci-fi, but pushed ahead anyway in part to keep pushing people out of their comfort zones and in part because I knew it was a story which even the most ardent anti-sci-fi readers seemed to enjoy.
The shop was packed. We had to move the furniture around particularly because there was even some youth with very long legs (although one was my son so perhaps he doesn’t count?). Louisa kindly agreed to run the evening and started by asking about the science, which dominates the book.
The general feel was that the maths and physics made the story flow, and even those who (like me) had not a sprinkle of science in their bones found that they were following it on the whole, or just letting it wash over them. It didn’t stop the book being a page-turner because it all seemed so logical – and that is in part because the main character is a teacher and therefore we are being taught whether we like it or not. Those who were scientists (and we had some real scientists amongst us!) had checked the science and told us that it all worked, and they had found it very satisfying to check it through. The accuracy of the science also contributes to the plausibility of what is, let’s face it, a highly unlikely plot.
The characters were well built. Grace was likeable but less plausible. Stratt (his boss) accuses him of being a coward and he does seem to run away from a lot of challenges. However what, asked the Book Clubbers, is the point in being a hero when you’re on your own? He seemed to have less fear than average maybe because he had less to lose with no dependent or loved ones left behind at home. Also, the time related issues of space travel meant that even his ‘children’ would be adults by the time he got home. Everyone loved Rocky who had depth to his character despite being an alien, and there was a feeling that Stratt (the boss) was there really to provide humour, although she also contributed to the tension with her authority over-riding all the world leaders which had to the sense of world emergency.
The book continually moves in time. The present finds us in space with Grace and Rocky trying to work out how to save their planets and get home. The past gives us the story of how Grace got there in the first place. Everyone had quite liked this. It helped the story move along and created tension, whilst explaining to both the character and the readers how we all got to be stuck in space in the first place.
We talked about the ending which someone commented was surprising but uplifting. Some were frustrated that we didn’t actually know that the world had been saved (it was implied rather than given), whilst others felt that the ending acknowledged the risk inherent in space missions and that the characters had been given choices and we could all understand the rationale on which their decisions were based.
Project Hail Mary was felt to be a subtly political book highlighting the irony that we are all trying so hard to save the planet whilst in reality we are killing it. We talked about human supremacy. Weir creates aliens who are superior to humans in material science, but humans were superior in all other aspects – and the advancement on both sides was equal.
Everyone felt that as a whole the book was very uplifting and enjoyable. The group was much larger than normal, but was a self-selecting group of people who came because they had enjoyed it and wanted to talk about it. At least two others have popped in to let me know they didn’t like it at all!!
If you want to try more sci-fi the suggestions were Michael Crichton (maybe avoid Jurassic Park) or Stephen Baxter’s Flood or Ark.
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