“Well, we are the stars…And the stars are us. Every atom in our bodies was once out there. Was once a part of them. To look at the night sky is to look at parts of who you once were, who you may one day be,” (Reid 90).
Joan Goodwin lives a quiet life. She loves her niece Frances and is content with working as a professor of physics and astronomy, though she’s always wished to be amongst the stars she studies. When she learns that NASA is seeking women scientists to join the Space Shuttle program in the summer of 1980 and is selected as one of the candidates, Joan trains and befriends the other astronauts and finds a place for herself in the world she never thought she could have. But then on a mission in the Fall of 1984 everything changes.
If Taylor Jenkins Reid is publishing a new book then you know it’s going to be a good one. I may not have been the hugest fans of Malibu Rising or Carrie Soto Is Back (though I did enjoy the latter more), I love the amount of research that Reid puts into her books. She full delves into the setting and time period and takes readers along with her on her characters journeys. I’ll be honest that Atmosphere wasn’t high on my list when it was released. I knew of it’s existence and that it was about women astronauts, but it seemed very different from her other works. It was only after my sister read and raved over it that I decided to give it a read, and I’m so glad I did.
Atmosphere might be my new favourite of Reid’s works. I thought Joan was a fantastic character to follow. I loved her journey of self-discovery, her dedication to her work and her great love for the people around her. One of my favourite parts in the novel was a discussion between Joan and another character about philosophy and God that I found just brilliant and echoed a lot of thoughts I’d had on the subject. And yes, there is romance, but I thought it was beautifully done. One reviewer described this book perfectly as “a novel about romance, NOT a romance novel” which really sums up why I liked the book as much as I did. Seeing Joan recognize her capacity to love and seeing that love in action was such a tender and beautiful thing to read.
My one issue is that we do a bit of a speed-run over the romance once the initial feelings are recognized, but having some time to ponder the novel after reading I can see why this is done. While the novel does go through the span of four years in a very short amount of time, the flitting back and forth between the events of the 1984 space mission and 1984 and the prep to it built a lot of tension. It allowed readers to see how we got to this point and ended with a great emotional outcome.
Atmosphere is a fantastic novel that you can tell Reid enjoyed researching and writing. I liked the focus away from her more pop culturally favourite characters and hope she explores this side of her writing more!
Publication: June 3 2025
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages: 352 pages (Paperback)
Source: Library
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Queer, Romance
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
Sarah O'Connor 