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Up until now, I’ve avoided reading any Taylor Jenkins Reid, just providing her popular books with Rapid Ratings, because they’ve all tended to be rated high, with strong profanity. And most of her topics haven’t really appealed to me. But Atmosphere did. I am a space fanatic and grew up in the space shuttle era, so the setting of this book really grabbed me.
So, yes, I really did enjoy all the space stuff. TJR did her research, including talking to and reading books by Jeffrey Kluger, whose nonfiction account of the Gemini program I just read and thoroughly appreciated.
In Atmosphere, we follow the life of fictional astronaut Joan Goodwin, who is chosen to be in the second group of astronaut candidates that included women. (Sally Ride was in the first group and then, as we all know, was the first US woman in space, and this is mentioned in this book.) Joan has always looked up to the stars; she teaches physics and astronomy at a university in Texas and is very involved in the life of her niece, Frances.
When she is accepted by NASA to train to go up into space, Joan is excited and proud. Of course, she and the other women chosen commiserate about what they face in a profession previously open only to men, and still dominated by males. They have to think and step carefully. And they work hard.
Over the course of a few years, the book follows Joan’s training before and after she fully becomes an astronaut. I admit I did most get into the details about the program and what these intrepid scientists and pilots had to go through to prepare to go into space. But I did appreciate the other parts: the relationships built with the other astronauts in her class and the sweet devotion Joan always shows to her niece. Another central part of the story, of course, is how she falls in love with another astronaut: a woman. And at that time, LGBTQ relationships (or even being in that group) were forbidden. The two have to hide what they have.
The climax of the novel is a mission on the shuttle that threatens the lives of several of the characters and could expose —thereby destroy — Joan’s relationship. The book goes back and forth between the present of this high-pressure mission and the past that all led up to it, and it all works really well.
I liked Atmosphere but probably still won’t pick up TJR books from here on out; this one was special.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 19 uses of strong language, around 10 instances of moderate profanity, 10 uses of mild language, and about a dozen instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes kissing, a few brief scenes with not much detail, a few more instances of closed-door/understood sex, and one scene with some details of removal of clothing and a bit more. All is between two women. There is also a scene in which a group of astronauts go into a strip club and Joan spends time watching the women undressing, etc.
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