Final Verdict for “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir: 5 Stars. Including Tau Ceti and 40 Eridani and Sol. Overall, I loved this story.
Let’s get my minor quibbles out of the way…
I did have a couple of the world’s most minor hangups with this story. Not nearly enough to derail my standing ovation, but there, and worth discussing.
1. Mark Watney, is that you?
I probably would not have even noticed this if not for the fact that I read Weir’s “The Martian” less than a year ago, and have seen that film adaptation more times than I care to count – it’s a favorite movie in my household, played on repeat.
In short, Ryland Grace’s voice reads almost exactly like Mark Watney’s. An incredibly similar character-voice and tone to his personality. Not a carbon-copy character, and Grace, being a schoolteacher, habitually avoids profanity in a way that Watney almost indulges in, but the shared sense of humor, problem-solving style, and so on are too alike not to comment on. I don’t think the story itself necessarily suffers for that, but it’s there for me.
2. Political Correctness – Earnest Portrayal or Embedded Critique?
I had to laugh at a couple of moments in the flashback scenes as the Earth organizes Project Hail Mary and its time-buying strategies while the mission goes on. There was some pretty wild political correctness from some characters in the face of scientific reality, played completely straight.
I’m not certain whether Mr. Weir intended these characters’ moments of politically correct posturing to be played as straight as the math and science, or if they were intended as an element of tongue-in-cheek commentary on what happens when a luxury belief runs into a hard reality that contradicts it. It felt more like the latter to me as a reader, although your own mileage may vary.
Climate Activism
The climatologist character has a major chip on his shoulder about “climate denial” and has an absolute certainty that anthropogenic climate change is a supreme problem for humanity. Yet, a handful of pages later, he comments that he can’t be certain about projections for the efficacy of the solar-dimming mitigation strategies he’s ordered to spearhead, citing the complexity of climate and the influences on it as well as documented prehistoric climate change. When the concept matches the climatologist’s worldview (the character volunteers his own history as a crypto-hippie activist), it is scientifically-proven fact beyond question and perfectly predictable. When the concept contradicts his worldview, suddenly he acknowledges the complex nature of climate and the difficulty of precise predictability in the field and how climate has changed throughout the planet’s history. Seeing the juxtaposition was interesting, as a reader.
Demographic Representation Debate
Similarly, when the time comes to select the crew for the Hail Mary, Grace is shocked by, and argues against, Stratt’s dispassionate assertions about the likely demographics of the crew. Stratt explains that the best-qualified crew will likely be predominately, if not entirely, male. Furthermore, she states that a mixed-sex crew, even if all members are ideally qualified, will add risk to the mission as a matter of simple biological and human reality.
Grace has no substantial argument against Stratt’s, other than to effectively call her a misogynist and insist that elite scientists and astronauts tasked with saving humanity will naturally maintain professionalism. Meanwhile, members of the primary and alternate crew fairly swiftly embark on an intimate relationship during training. Stratt wasn’t wrong, and Grace never really engages with the fact that his “right” opinion had zero explanatory predictive power. Although he is subjected to some incredibly awkward conversations with the crew members).
The dangling dissonance in both exchanges left an interesting door open to consider the treatment as subtle critique of the blind spots that political correctness create against hard, uncomfortable realities.
Now, niggling minor catches aside, on to the stuff that is putting this book up along my all-time favorite sci-fi stories.
Grace, Redemption, Salvation
This isn’t an overtly religious story. I’m pretty sure it isn’t supposed to be.
Much like in “The Martian,” Weir places science and problem-solving using the scientific method and a high level of competence with scientific knowledge and technical skill front and center. That’s ultimately “what the story is about” – Very Smart People solving Very Hard Problems, with personal and global scales. His characters never really question metaphysics or theology, even when they are grappling emotionally with the likelihood of death. No one even questions what comes after, if anything. They only grapple with death as a risk, and one that it would be preferable to avoid.
That’s not a complaint on my part, simply an observation, and not an unexpected one – it’s hard sci-fi, after all. It’s “not that kind of book.”
Indeed, all the characters avoid religion as a topic almost completely. For all of the conversations between Grace and Rocky over Human and Eridian culture, we never learn whether Eridians have, or historically had, a religious tradition(s), or what their metaphysical beliefs are like. When Grace exclaims “Oh God!” in moments of panic, and Rocky expresses confusion at the phrase, Grace waves off Rocky’s confusion rather than explain and discuss.
This was particularly striking given the way that Weir treats the two characters’ otherwise highly detailed conversations and comparisons of biology, ecology, sense perception, and other elements of cultural tradition. It was surprising that after all that groundwork, Rocky’s insatiable curiosity ends at “why do you yell “oh God” when you panic – question?” And Grace doesn’t wonder if any Eridians believe in a higher power? It feels like a gaping hole in the otherwise comprehensive Human/Eridian cultural exchange, conspicuous by its absence.
But it’s Also Right There on the Tin
All the same that religion is nominally absent from the story, Ryland Grace’s journey is almost entirely one of redemption and salvation, personally and globally, through personal sacrifice of the greatest degree. While “The Martian” is a story about survival and getting home, “Project Hail Mary” is a story about salvation. As much as Grace getting home is something that he wants if he can get it, it’s never part of the mission or the real gamble that is the Hail Mary project.
I have a very, very hard time believing that these threads and themes are accidental. Even as overt reference to religion or metaphysics are almost completely absent, this work felt downright Christian in overall theme.
I mean, really, a ship called the Hail Mary, and its lone surviving crewmember’s name is Grace? As in, to be perfectly blunt, “Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee…”?
Mr. Weir, I don’t think I could have made it through all those chapters without lampshading this. I salute you for that.
Redemption for love of the world(s)
I’ll attempt to avoid spoilers, here, as best I can. No promises.
The first real twist, undoes everything that Grace assumed through his amnesia about his presence on the ship and what that says about his personal character. It’s not a complete “dark night of the soul” moment (there is another bigger one), but it forces Grace to accept that heroic voluntary self-sacrifice isn’t the only way to land on a suicide mission to save a planet. The other way ends up being the opposite of a man’s finest hour.
Okay, this is really hard to unpack completely spoiler-risk free. I’m avoiding specifics, but the vibe of the ending will probably come through anyway. Sorry.
In the actual “dark night of the soul” moment a few chapters later, Grace has the opportunity to make the same basic choice over again. This time, he chooses the heroic and sacrificial path that he refused the first time. Grace redeems himself in his own eyes for his earlier failure, living up to the vision and assumptions that Rocky (and presumably all of Earth back home) has about him and his personal character and virtue, and earning the salvation of two civilizations. It doesn’t get a whole lot more religious than the grace of a second chances to redeem yourself, and, by redemptive sacrifice, save the world. Hail Mary, indeed.
I’m not familiar with Mr. Weir’s religious beliefs, if any. And I’m not sure if these underlying themes were half as intentional as the science-thriller and first-contact plot. But it read beautifully. Uplifting and inspiring in a way that is entirely consistent with what Christian teaching asks of humanity and extrapolating that teaching to the stars… all without uttering the “C” word.
Conclusion
I can’t gush enough about this book. The audiobook version was wonderful, but am adding a hard copy to my physical library. I will absolutely be spending time with Grace and Rocky aboard the Hail Mary again.
I’m also very, very much looking forward to the film adaptation, releasing later this month. The trailers look phenomenal. I will be going enthusiastically to a movie theater for the first time in years to see this adventure on the big screen. I’ll probably even open a vein for some theater popcorn.
If you enjoyed this review, you may also enjoy my essay on the false heroism of Gaston in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” (1991).
Until next time, may the muse be with you!
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