Throughout American history women have had to fight for a seat at the table in countless fields and organizations, and NASA was no exception. In the early 1980s, Joan Goodwin is elated to be among the first female candidates accepted to take part in the fledgling space shuttle program. Going from her comfortable life as a physics and astronomy professor to the rigorous training program her new assignment requires is a major adjustment, but she quickly makes friends with some of her fellow recruits and puts her all into the program in the hopes of one day being able to venture into outer space.
Taylor Jenkins Reid has a gift for creating fully formed and engaging characters and it is on full display in Atmosphere. Joan is instantly endearing and easy to root for, with just enough flaws to make her realistic, as are her new friends at NASA, even those we get to know the least about. Her personal dilemmas are finely drawn and compelling, as she struggles to relate to her younger sister, who’s parenting style leaves much to be desired, while trying to make time for her beloved niece Frances and contend with her burgeoning feelings for fellow cadet Vanessa.
As if that weren’t enough to deal with, the book intersperses Joan’s journey towards becoming an astronaut with flash forwards to a Space Shuttle disaster that sees her on Earth in Mission Control and nearly all of her new friends, including Vanessa, aboard the severely damaged craft. As the two timelines grow nearer to each other, the tension builds leading to a breathtaking finale that will keep readers furiously turning the pages through a stream of well-earned tears.
With its themes of family, both natural and found, and self-acceptance as well as an authentic feeling look at coming out in an environment that frowns upon such behavior this is a deeply moving story capped off with one of the most sweetly and passionately romantic love stories of our time. With copious humor, plenty of swoon-worthy moments, surprising depth, and a near constant undercurrent of suspense, Atmosphere will make you have all the feels and inspire you to look at the night sky a little differently. By the time I turned the final pages my heart had been both broken and filled and I couldn’t help but think I had just read one of the best books of the year. ★★★★★
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Taylor Jenkins Reid will be speaking at Surfside Park here in Avalon on Monday, July 28th, 2025 at 7pm! If you enjoyed this book or any of her others, make sure to come and see her in person! More info can be found here.
This event in no way influenced the review.
★★★★★ = Excellent | ★★★★ = Very Good | ★★★ = Good | ★★ = Fair | ★ = Poor
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