Atmosphere

by Taylor Jenkins Reid ★★★★★

It's December 29, 1984. A crew of astronauts is aboard one of the fledgling voyages of the NASA space shuttle Navigator, just its third flight ever. Joan Goodwin sits in the Johnson Space Center Mission Control, playing the role of CAPCOM, the Capsule Communicator who serves as the primary point of contact with the spacecraft crew. The astronauts in space aren't just fellow graduates of the NASA space program like Joan; they're some of her closest friends, which makes it all the more harrowing when disaster strikes. A malfunction leads to a hull puncture and depressurization of the shuttle, and suddenly five of the people Joan loves most are in grave danger.

It's a harrowing start to the novel, and after introducing the primary conflict in the "present day" timeline, author Taylor Jenkins Reid pauses that narrative to flashback to the years leading up to it. In doing so, she builds the characters and relationships that turn a collection of names in peril into a group of people the reader cares deeply for. By the time she returns to December 1984, we know the crew, and we most certainly know our primary protagonist, Joan Goodwin.

Joan started her quest to become a NASA astronaut as one of the first women admitted into the space program, leaving her position as a professor of astrophysics at Rice to attempt to journey to the stars about which she had taught young minds for years. Reid chronicles her pathway through astronaut training, as she's put through intense exercises while also forming bonds outside of the classroom with her fellow astronaut hopefuls. She's joined in the program by a cross-section of men and women, who primarily fall into two groups: military pilots (who were, until recently, the only people eligible to be NASA astronauts) and scientists/mission specialists.

As an astrophysicist with no military experience, Joan is, of course, in the mission specialist group. That group is relegated to passenger status—they're not permitted to fly the shuttle, only to perform experiments once the crew is in space. That also happens to be the category into which all the women in her class fall, since the military was not accepting female pilots at the time. Like with her previous novels, Reid creates strong female characters who are trailblazers in a mostly male-dominated arena (Daisy Jones and Carrie Soto in particular come to mind). Joan and other women in their NASA class enter a space program that was designed with only men in mind, and they constantly have to deal with everything from spacesuits not fitting properly to male and media skepticism about their abilities—especially in high-stress, emotional situations—forcing them to continuously prove themselves and overdeliver against expectations.

Reid does do an equitable job of creating male characters who run the gamut from overly chauvinistic to fairly progressive (for the time), and most types in between. While she clearly wants to draw attention to the imbalance of the situation for Joan and the other women in the novel, Reid is far more successful because she has a balanced cross-section of good eggs and bad among the male characters. Her females characters are equally nuanced, and each deals with the iniquities they endure in different ways.

Atmosphere is subtitled "A Love Story", and there is indeed love in many forms. Virginal Joan, who's never had a serious boyfriend before, finds her own identity and love in the program. Reid also heavily explores the notion of found family, primarily among the astronaut class, as well as through Joan's relationship with her niece Frances. Franny is of course a blood relative, but Joan has always been more than an aunt to her, taking custody of Franny most weekends to give Joan's sister Barbara a break. Reid takes the strong bonds Joan forms with Franny and her fellow astronauts and juxtaposes those with Joan's strained relationship with Barbara, who is one of the more infuriating characters you'll ever meet. Barbara possesses a never-ending litany of caustic excuses and out-of-touch insults that will make most readers want to hurl the book across the room, but she's an awesome villain because of it. It also helps to prop up the authentic love between Joan and Franny, one of the more perfectly rendered relationships in the book.

All of the above makes for an intensely emotional ride. There is tragedy and sacrifice, injustice and perseverance, and only the most hard-hearted will emerge from the journey as anything but a blubbering mess of tears. Reid manages to build characters you care deeply about while capturing their struggles and love for each other in a way that strikes a perfect chord, infusing the book with emotional heft without drifting too far into sappiness. I've enjoyed Reid's other novels, but I think Atmosphere rises to another level as her finest effort yet. It's among the best books I've read this year, and it has a shot to finish the year as the best. Very highly recommended.

Lastly, if you choose to listen to the audiobook, BarlinsBooks favorite Julia Whelan narrates, with an assist from Kristen DiMercurio. The emotional performance by Whelan, in particular, adds an extra dimension to the novel (even if Whelan's voice for Mission Specialist Hank Griffin is identical to Hayden Anderson's from Great Big Beautiful Life—not to mention every other Emily Henry leading man!). Enjoy!