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A review by beate251
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It is the early 80s. Joan, an astronomer and astrophysicist professor and Vanessa, an aeronautical engineer, both in their thirties, meet and fall in love trying to become one of the first female American astronauts. It's a time full of wonder for space travel, stars and new worlds but also a time where homosexuality was forbidden so liaisons had to be conducted in private because some people thought gays were evil and couldn't be let near children. Joan's tender love for her niece Frances debunks all that thoroughly of course.
I got this book on the strength of the author's name, without knowing anything about the story. I had equally loved Daisy Jones and the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but this must be her best yet. Why else would I read a book about fictional female astronauts in the NASA space shuttle programme in the early to mid eighties and be utterly absorbed, even though I haven't got a clue about the terminology that's freely banded about?
There are two timelines, the one spanning the years in the NASA training programme, and the one day in December 1984 when tragedy strikes, and the start of which opens the book. While you're reading the space rescue story you don't want it to pause and when it switches to the love story, that soft, swooning romance, you don't want it to end either. And that is the mark of a great storyteller. I loved all the characters, Griff, Hank, Donna, Frances, even Lydia. Ok, maybe not Barbara and Daniel, they were awful parents.
I loved the short chapters that made it impossible for me to stop reading. I was rooting for Joan and Vanessa from the beginning, and there was always an undercurrent of tension - will they get the life they want? And that ending, oh my God, it nearly broke me. I ended up in floods of tears at 3am. This has to become a movie. If I could have given six stars, I would. Such an emotional story so beautifully told, about our passions and our place in the world - to find where we can belong. Bravo. Read if you love Hidden Figures and Apollo 13, coupled with found family and lesbians.
I got this book on the strength of the author's name, without knowing anything about the story. I had equally loved Daisy Jones and the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but this must be her best yet. Why else would I read a book about fictional female astronauts in the NASA space shuttle programme in the early to mid eighties and be utterly absorbed, even though I haven't got a clue about the terminology that's freely banded about?
There are two timelines, the one spanning the years in the NASA training programme, and the one day in December 1984 when tragedy strikes, and the start of which opens the book. While you're reading the space rescue story you don't want it to pause and when it switches to the love story, that soft, swooning romance, you don't want it to end either. And that is the mark of a great storyteller. I loved all the characters, Griff, Hank, Donna, Frances, even Lydia. Ok, maybe not Barbara and Daniel, they were awful parents.
I loved the short chapters that made it impossible for me to stop reading. I was rooting for Joan and Vanessa from the beginning, and there was always an undercurrent of tension - will they get the life they want? And that ending, oh my God, it nearly broke me. I ended up in floods of tears at 3am. This has to become a movie. If I could have given six stars, I would. Such an emotional story so beautifully told, about our passions and our place in the world - to find where we can belong. Bravo. Read if you love Hidden Figures and Apollo 13, coupled with found family and lesbians.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment