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A review by nuts246
The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
When seven test pilots were selected by NASA to be the first men to train to be astronauts, overnight their wives were thrust into the limelight too. The nation expected the 'Mercury Seven' to have families that lived upto the All American ideal. Wives who were attractive but in a non-threatening way. Smart but not ambitious. Loyal wives and loving mothers who were always well turned out and kept beautiful homes.
The women, however, were individuals, with dreams and aspirations of their own. One was a pilot herself, another hid what she believed was an unsavoury past. They were women who had married their childhood sweethearts and women who had put their husband through college. They were exactly the kind of women that Betty Friedan wrote about in 'The Feminine Mystique'. But over the course of the Mercury program and beyond, they evolved and became the women they were meant to be.
This book was a fascinating read. My only complaint was that instead of restricting its scope to the wives of the Mercury Seven, the book tried to talk about all wives of the first three batches of astronauts. None of them were done in much detail, and it somewhat diluted the impact the book might otherwise have made.
The women, however, were individuals, with dreams and aspirations of their own. One was a pilot herself, another hid what she believed was an unsavoury past. They were women who had married their childhood sweethearts and women who had put their husband through college. They were exactly the kind of women that Betty Friedan wrote about in 'The Feminine Mystique'. But over the course of the Mercury program and beyond, they evolved and became the women they were meant to be.
This book was a fascinating read. My only complaint was that instead of restricting its scope to the wives of the Mercury Seven, the book tried to talk about all wives of the first three batches of astronauts. None of them were done in much detail, and it somewhat diluted the impact the book might otherwise have made.