Atmosphere

By: Taylor Jenkins Reid

“Bravery is being unafraid of something other people are afraid of. Courage is being afraid, but strong enough to do it anyway.”

It’s the 1980s and Joan Goodwin applies to be an astronaut with NASA. She gets in and then begins her training. There she meets a group of fellow people studying to be astronauts along side of her – Hank, John, Lydia, Vanessa, and Donna. She studies hard and learns all that she can so she can make it up to space. Joan finds love where she least expected it as well. But then there’s mission STS-LR9, and it changes everyone’s lives.

I feel like I am probably one of the last people to read this book, and honestly, if it wasn’t for book club, I probably wouldn’t have read it at all. I did like the book. While NASA and space isn’t too interesting for me, the relationships between the characters is what made this book. One of the best relationships in this book is that of Joan and her niece, Frances. Frances’ life with her mother isn’t the easiest, but she finds love and solitude with Joan. It’s really a beautiful relationship. On the same breath, I hated Barbara, Joan’s sister, and I really wanted to shake some sense into her. She was so selfish.

I was ready to rate this book a 3/5, that’s how I truly felt about it. I didn’t love most the book. It’s told in dual timelines, and while the beginning of the book starts off really well, and the chapters in between the past are really good, the past chapters felt drawn out. But then I got to the end. And Reid just knocked the end out of the park. It was beautiful and gut wrenching at the same time. I cried. So this ending kicked the star rating up to 4 stars.

I know I’m an outlier here, but I always will give my honest opionion.

Publish Date: June 3, 2025
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