"The cussing book!"

I never saw The Martian. I know it got critical acclaim, but I saw the posters, shrugged, and moved on. 

But I knew what it was and I like space. 

The Martian was on my mind when I saw Project Hail Mary on Audible. It was by the same author Andy Weir, and the narrator was Ray Porter. You probably don't know who Ray Porter is, but he was one of the first narrators I heard on Audible and he was amazing. He did voices, accents, and helped sell me on using Audible in the first place.

I bought, listened, and loved Project Hail Mary. 

So when I needed a new book for Shane and I to listen to I thought of The Martian. I wanted to listen to something new. Something different. Something I wanted to listen to. I tried putting on 40,000 Leagues Under the Sea and wasn't feeling it (and neither was Shane).

My thoughts went back to Project Hail Mary. It was full of tons of math and science stuff. Shane liked math and science stuff. It could be educational. But it was also adult, so that may make it exciting for a kid (and interesting to me).

I looked The Martian up online. The movie came up and it said 12+. That meant if we liked the book, we could watch the movie afterward. The one complaint was language.

I was okay with that. I didn't want grotesque violence, horror, or sex. People cuss. That's real world, isn't it? I avoid coarse language and I expect Shane to, but that doesn't mean people around him won't. Wouldn't it be good for Shane to be able to hear a bad word and NOT look scandalized or point it out? (Which he does do).

I did a quick glance at what Common Sense media said about the book, but I'd already talked myself into buying it short of something huge. The "Parents say 13+" seemed close enough.

And I liked the bullet breakdown.

I was hooked. I bought The Martian.

I put the book on for Shane and the first line was "I'm pretty much f*#$$#!" 

Shane was hooked.

There was a lot more cussing in the book than I realized and Shane loved every instance. He wanted me to clarify what some of the metaphors meant! He even wondered if he could use some of them, which I replied, "Being stuck on a planet alone and thinking you're going to die is an acceptable time to cuss."

Well, we started on the road. The book was really good even if there was a lot of cussing, so I let it go. I looked forward to finishing it when I picked up Shane from Nana's.

Shane must have been looking forward to it, too, because Nana said he spoke highly of "the cussing book."

If you know my mom, you're already laughing. Consider this sentence a pause to catch you breath. 

You see, Nana doesn't cuss. You might describe her as "puritanical." She's all in for Jesus. Using foul language growing up would've got me in trouble. Sure, I cussed, but I knew better than to do it anywhere she could have heard me.

So I sent my son to be with my saintly mother and he told her all about how much he loved the cursing in our audio book. He didn't mention the name of the book! He just mentioned the glorious amount of foul language.

To...my...MOTHER. 

(Thanks, kid).

Nana and I had a laugh over it. I think I'm still in the will.

The book did end up being an excellent read. There were things that went over Shane's head (including a few adult references!), but he got exposed to lots of science and space exploration concepts. It was a good story and if you're not afraid of a guy on Mars dropping F bombs while talking a lot of real science trying to survive and stay sane then it's the book for you!