I love a story about space. Despite the fact that there is no way I would ever leave this beautiful blue Earth because the thought of it terrifies me, a tale about the people who want to explore the vastness of the stars compels me. So when I found out that Taylor Jenkins Reid was writing a book about an astronaut in the 1980s, I was super excited. Also, my gaydar was going off way before I knew it was going to be gay. I just had a feeling, and that feeling was right.
I read this book in one sitting and it broke me out of a weeks-long reading slump, so I thank it for that. Atmosphere follows Joan Goodwin, a physics and astronomy professor who is mostly content with the life she lives. That is, until she sees an ad from NASA looking for female scientists to join the Space Shuttle program, and she knows that going to space is exactly what she needs to do with her life.
My one and only complaint is that I was expecting more focus on more nitty-gritty mission rescue details and outer space problem solving, especially after the scene the book opens with. Instead, most of the book revolves around the years leading up to the pivotal shuttle mission in 1984, as Joan makes friends with her fellow astronauts—and falls in love with one of them as well. I probably should have expected the romance being the key driver in the plot, especially since “A Love Story” is literally on the cover. So I guess I’ll go reread The Martian or watch Apollo 13 or Hidden Figures to sate the part of my brain that likes to watch people solve problems in such a high-stakes environment.
Of course, the stakes for Joan are still high in Atmosphere, even if she isn’t the one trying to escape the crushing dark void of space. Her relationship with Vanessa Ford, one of her fellow astronauts, is dangerous for her career and astronaut aspirations. It’s the 1980s, and being openly queer in such a public facing role as one of NASA’s first female astronauts is something that just isn’t done. I really liked how the two of them balance each other, with Joan being so levelheaded and unshakable, while Vanessa is the hotshot pilot mechanic who wants to fly planes and spaceships and will do anything to make that happen.
Atmosphere also dives into Joan’s family. Her sister Barbara is the single mother of Joan’s niece Frances, whom she loves dearly. Joan and Frances’s relationship is one of my favourite parts of the novel. Joan has her issues with her younger sister (for good reason), but her support of Frances is unwavering. Those parts really reminded me of another book I read this year, Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski, which deals with similar themes of being in a secret lesbian relationship while parenting kids who don’t know about said relationship.
But I think the most interesting relationship in the book is actually between Joan and Lydia Danes, a mission specialist with a will of iron. She is Joan’s foil: they both are extremely intelligent women trying to make it in the male-dominated field of space missions, but Lydia goes about achieving success in such a different way than Joan, choosing to push others down to claw her way to the top because it’s the only way she’s known how to get the recognition she deserves. I thought it was a really fascinating dynamic to read as it gets into the ways women can push each other down to prove their worth to men in the hopes it will help them be seen as equals.
Overall, Atmosphere was a truly engaging and thrilling novel about family, love, the power of a dream, and of course, outer space. I feel like I should read more TJR books, since both this and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo were hits for me and I haven’t picked up anything else by her. I’m so glad I read this, and I wholeheartedly recommend it!
