You are a member of the book community, so you have absolutely heard of this book. It was one of the most highly anticipated books of the year and landed on a lot of summer book lists, even before its release earlier this month. But now that the book is out and readers finally have it in their hands, is Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid worth the hype? I’m here to tell you not only is this one 100% worth the hype. Atmosphere might just be Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best book yet.
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
First, let’s get one thing out of the way. Yes, this novel takes place in the 1980s and is about the Space Shuttle Program. In part. But if you’re here for a space adventure, that’s not the main concern of this novel. It’s there, for sure, but this is a romance. It’s also a novel about friendship and family. The characters and their relationships are the main thrust of this story, and yeah, we get a little bit of space thrown in. And a lot of fun references to David Bowie.
Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s chat about what this novel is about. Atmosphere follows Joan Goodwin, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University who leaves academia behind when NASA’s Space Shuttle program welcomes women scientists to apply to join for the first time ever. So she heads to Houston’s Johnson Space Center in the summer of 1980 to train amongst a fascinating group of candidates all from different backgrounds.
So much of this story focuses on the friendships Joan forms with these characters who all share a deep love for outer space. Amongst these new friends is Vanessa Ford, an aeronautical engineer. Joan feels incredibly drawn to Vanessa especially, and soon the two become inseparable. Yes, they start falling for one another.
But there are a lot of challenges for a queer woman in a government space program in the 1980s. Aside from the discrimination Joan and Vanessa face as some of the only women in the program, their love for one another must be kept hidden if they want to keep their jobs. Joan doesn’t even feel comfortable sharing her true self with her sister Barbara or her niece Frances. Still, Joan feels fortunate to have found real love, and she does have the job of her dreams.
Then in December of 1984, a space mission goes wrong. Everything is thrown into question.
Atmosphere goes back and forth in time between the high pressure moments of the STS-LR9 mission in 1984 and the significant events Joan experienced with Vanessa, her coworkers/friends, and her family leading up to this heart-racing mission. While the story shifts perspectives between Vanessa and Joan and we as readers come to care for both of these women, Joan is truly the heart of this story. She is full of life and passion, and I think it would be impossible to read this novel and not feel deeply invested in what happens to her and the people she cares about most.
Is Atmosphere Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best novel yet? It’s definitely the one that made me cry the most. It’s the one that had me by the throat, especially in its final pages. It’s definitely the most romantic Taylor Jenkins Reid novel so far. This is completely worth all the buzz it’s getting, and it is her best novel.
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