Fantastic. It’s Robinson Crusoe in space, executed so well that what should have been boring and cliche is instead full of tension and humor. I sped through this book, consuming the whole thing in two days.
Looking forward to watching the movie. Oddly enough, since I know Matt Damon plays the title role, I heard his voice for all of Mark’s journal entries. Felt like a good fit.
Three things I learned about writing:
- You can mix regular narrative with journal entries, but it's best to introduce it gradually, and only once the main storytelling mode has been established.
- Relative dates will do just fine. Most of the time, they don't really matter.
- Humor (in the characters or the narration) makes a bleak or depressing situation much more palatable.
