I respect the fact that it was initially a self-published book and that it sold enough to become a big-name-publisher title and eventually a Hollywood film. Imagination turned into piles of cash.
It is, in many ways good and bad, a novel that reflects our current state of mind and means of communicating. The intermingling of blog posts, limited narration and omniscient narration is clever at times but also a concession to our collective attention deficit.
Watney’s gallows humor is enjoyable at first and generates sympathy (as intended by the author) but after a while becomes tiresome and/or a bit too unbelievable given the dire circumstances. If Damon adopts his Jason Bourne obsessive demeanor given the isolation then perhaps the smart-aleck Watney will become a bit more likeable on film.
As a critic pointed out elsewhere, some do’s and don’t’s of fiction are trampled or ignored altogether, especially in Mission Control where characters are introduced and, at best, remain utterly static or, at worst, are forgotten altogether. The personalities and backstories of Watney’s crewmates are occasionally mentioned but ultimately left unfinished and unrelated to the story arc.
Robinson Crusoe has been told and retold countless times (e.g. ‘Castaway’) and a high-tech version can’t hurt even if the rather obvious denouement isn’t worth the suspense.
Weir was able to self-publish this book which would have been “fixed” by a traditional publisher if it was picked up at all, and that is the joy I find in the new publishing era. Not every story needs to fit the New York publisher checklist of what a successful novel should be. It’s up to the writers and readers again to determine what will become popular.