Atmosphere: A Love Story

Welp, that tore my heart out of my chest and stomped on it. I just finished Atmosphere, which is now my favorite TJR book since [b:Daisy Jones & The Six|40597810|Daisy Jones & The Six|Taylor Jenkins Reid|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580255154l/40597810._SY75_.jpg|61127102]. It's straight narrative (no oral history or excerpts from news reports as in Daisy), which bummed me out until I realized it was the only way to tell such an intimate story.

After an explosive beginning set in 1984, the story goes back seven years to the day Joan Goodwin learns that NASA is accepting female candidates to become space shuttle astronauts. At first, the plot doesn't deviate from space cowboy cliches: the sexism, show more the Top Gun-level competitiveness, and the unique camaraderie. But little by little something richer emerges through Joan's love story with Vanessa, a fellow astronaut that upends all of her previous beliefs about herself, her body, and her emotions. There are also engaging family dynamics that tug at the heartstrings. Joan may be a little too perfect (and a tad self-righteous), but it's easy to root for the achievement of her long-held professional dreams and newly realized personal ones. The book does not engage in the debate about the wisdom of spending billions of dollars on the space program when there are many other domestic needs; for Joan it's all about the wonder of the stars and the potential to expand scientific knowledge.

Would have appreciated an epilogue after being put through the emotional wringer of the climactic chapter, but I can understand TJR's choice to go out with a bang (that's not a spoiler). show less

It's 1980 and Joan Goodwin — astronomy professor, devoted aunt, quiet keeper of a life she thought was enough — sees that NASA is accepting applications from women for the first time. She applies. She gets rejected. She applies again. This time she gets in. What follows is Joan's journey through astronaut training at Johnson Space Center in Houston, alongside a cohort of remarkable people: easygoing pilot Hank Redmond, warm Donna Fitzgerald, fierce mission specialist Lydia Danes, and Vanessa Ford — aeronautical engineer, effortlessly cool, the kind of person you clock across a room and think that is an astronaut. The novel opens in December 1984, with Joan at Mission Control watching the shuttle Navigator prepare for launch, show more already telling us that what she's feeling that morning — ease, calm — is not what she'll feel later. Then it jumps back four years and slowly builds toward that moment. It's also a queer love story, a found family story, and a meditation on what women sacrifice and carry when they are the first. Loosely connected to TJR's existing universe — yes, Mick Riva appears.

[May contain spoilers]
Joan and Vanessa fall in love during training — a relationship that has to stay hidden given the era and the stakes. The navigator mission goes catastrophically wrong. Commander Steve Hagen, pilot Hank Redmond, and Griff all die. Lydia and Vanessa survive but are unconscious and in danger. Joan spends the novel's present-day sections working Mission Control to bring them home — knowing Vanessa is up there and not knowing if she'll make it back. Vanessa does survive. The emotional devastation of losing Hank — warm, beloved Hank — is where most readers report completely falling apart. Joan eventually realizes she prefers Mission Control to being in space herself, which is its own quiet reckoning about who we are versus who we thought we wanted to be. Frances, Joan's niece, is a throughline about the cost of Joan's ambition to the people who needed her on the ground.
What I think: This is TJR operating at full power — nonlinear structure that pays off, a queer love story that's tender rather than tragic, found family dynamics that will wreck you, and enough historical texture to feel grounded. Hank's death is going to hit you like a truck. You'll probably cry at least twice. show less

Okay, I'm an straight, old, white guy. I'm SO not TJR's target audience. Like...not even a little bit.

But, when everyone was raving about DAISY JONES AND THE SIX, I had to give it a shot. I mean, come on, it was Fleetwood Mac, but bent and twisted a bit more, right? And I enjoyed the hell out of it. So, I thought I'd give her another shot. EVELYN HUGO was almost as enjoyable. So, now, as of today, I've just finished my seventh (?) TJR novel.

I had a feeling this one might grab me, because I'm a space nerd. I'm not going to give anything away here, but here's what I'll tell you: with the exception of what I thought was a bit heavy-handed couple of sections on God, and some dialogue that was a little too stereotypical romance genre for my show more liking, overall, the rest of the book was amazing. I took one star off for those elements.

...and that's even taking in the absolutely bizarre pacing of the novel, going from current time period to back a ways, to further back, to in between, to full-on flashback, to current time...with cliffhangers set, and then tons and tons of pages before we get back around to it. It was the weirdest paced novel I may have ever read (aside from, maybe, HOUSE OF LEAVES, but I don't count that one, because 80% of that was crap filler). Still, somehow, TJR made it work.

I do absolutely want to call out the well-drawn and slow burn of the central romance in this story. Again, I am SO NOT a romance guy, but this story, and all the things it says about just allowing people to love who they love?

Perfect.

And I will say, yes, I'm the ridiculous sap that had a huge lump in my throat and glassy eyes for the last chunk of pages. TJR got me. I knew exactly how I was being manipulated by the writing...and she got me anyway.

But yeah, I'll absolutely keep reading her novels, even if I'm not the target audience. show less

My first Taylor Jenkins Reid experience was Maybe in Another Life in 2015. She hasn't let me down over the past ten years. There have been ugly cries about characters that I thought FOR SURE were real people (Daisy Jones & The Six), more ugly cries about characters that I wished were real. She has *almost* convinced me to watch tennis (but I talked myself out of that). So many complicated people with complicated relationships. And here, in Atmosphere, we have a not complicated relationship with complicated circumstances. A relationship that felt inevitable, perfect, except society sucked in the 1980s (and it isn't THAT much better now but it is a little better). I was SOBBING at the end. She really ratcheted up the suspense because I show more KNEW the whole time there would be this very dramatic ending but she made me LOVE these characters along the way. I related so much to Joan, and the entire conversation about God: SO GOOD.

What's really crazy is I haven't even read everything in her bibliography yet, I need to read One True Loves, After I Do, and Forever, Interrupted. It's good to have books to look forward to. show less

I enjoyed it more than I expected — I was surprised by the attachment I felt to the astronauts I knew were going to die. Not too much gay angst, which was a relief. The wedding chapter was a reminder of how far queer rights have come, and how lucky I am to love my wife openly and legally. The dread around the deaths is structured and made more impactful by the novel's structure. No epilogue was the right decision. A gay romance that makes you love people you know won't survive, and ends with a happy but ambiguous ending.

IT’S MIDNIGHT, AND IVE BEEN SOBBING LISTENING FOR THE LAST HOUR, AND EVERY EMOTION IN MY BODY IS HAPPENING AT ONCE.

(I’m going to come back tomorrow with more thoughts after I’ve slept bc I HAVE THEM)

~~~
OKAY, POST SLEEP THOUGHTS:

i'm still bereft. i know taylor jenkins reid is very popular, and i get why her books appeal to a lot of people. for me, the only ones i've read and really had emotional reactions to were this one and evelyn, for... obvious reasons to anyone who knows me. they felt like she picked two of my fav things (old hollywood and space!) and gave me sapphic romance and wonderful character study and delicous family feelings on top of it in a way that just HITS, for me. i love space. i am in no way smart enough to show more ever have been an astronaut, but i wanted to, for a while, as a kid. i did a project on the women in the 80s who went to space in elementary school and it stuck with me and is still something that i remember. i loved joan. i loved vanessa. i really enjoyed their dynamic and i SOBBED for nearly the full final hour of this audiobook (and i highly rec the audiobook version!! the narrators are both ones i've already loved and they knock it out of the park, here).

what really surprised me, and took this one futher over the edge towards I'M HAVING AN EMOIONAL REACTION was the relationship with joan, and her niece, frances. i was totally unprepared for it. i have a six year old niece that i adore, and spend a lot of time with, and GOD, i got a lot of the feelings joan was dealing with, here. it's wonderful to have kids in your life, and i don't ever really want to be a mother, but it is hard to love kids that aren't your own, sometimes, and a lot of joan's emotions re: frances (tho, not the actual trajectory of the arc) hit on my own.

now, about that ending: THANK YOU SO MUCH TAYLOR, FOR NOT KILLING VANESSA. i was prepared for it. i thought it was happening for the full last hour (for most of the book, tbh) and my GOD. it would have hurt. i would have understood it. it would have made sense. but my GOD, especially right now, with fascism incoming and queer rights being stripped left and right, it's so important to me that she didn't. they get to live. they get to be in love. they get to go to space, and have their kid, and being in love and alive. and that, is, so so so important to me, specifically. and i'm so fucking grateful bc i still have emotinal damage over cecilia. AND THAT LYDIA LIVED!! (i am assuming that bc i CAN and it makes sense) bc my god she grew on me and i love her and i imagine that she rlly got dragged into their little bubble fully, now

IT WAS DESIGNED ALMOST PERFECTLY FOR ME. THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND I SHALL RE-READ MANY TIMES. show less

Before I read the last 50 pages of Atmosphere, I would have said that this wasn’t my favourite Taylor Jenkins Reid novel. The first third is mainly about space (not my jam), the second focuses heavily on relationships but the third is where it all comes together to create a devastatingly emotional ending. I cry at very few books, but Atmosphere had the tears running down my face.

Surprisingly, this novel contains no mention of Mick Riva but is set in the 1980s as Joan is accepted on to a NASA program to train astronauts. She’s a jaded academic and astronomer and space is something she’s always wanted to do, so why not? Joan has a complicated family dynamic with a spoiled brat of a sister, Barbara, who insists that Joan must show more continue looking after her daughter Frances regularly. But that’s no issue for Joan as Frances is the highlight in her life – until NASA. The training program is intense both physically and intellectually and the group becomes close, even if not all of them are friends. Vanessa, an engineer and Joan become good friends and then fall in love. As it’s 1980, they must keep their relationship secret from everything – their employer, friends, family and strangers – to get what they’ve dreamed for. But Vanessa is on board mission STS-LR9, where everything goes wrong in one brief moment. Joan is on Earth, working in mission control. How will the mission’s story end?

The first part of the story focuses on Joan and why she loves space, with quite a bit of information about the universe and stars. It’s nice to read, but not really my thing. It’s a good set up for how gravity and relationships tether the astronauts to Earth, but Northern hemisphere stars aren’t my thing when all I can see is the Southern Cross. As the story develops into focusing on Vanessa and Joan’s relationship, the space falls away into the background but so does some of the camaraderie between the astronaut group. I missed that, along side the challenges of NASA training. But then there was a new challenge on the horizon as Joan and Vanessa’s employer gave a not-so-subtle warning about being a woman and gay in the 80s. This is where the tension really ramps up, alongside Joan’s family issues and then finally a space emergency. The tautness of this section leaps off the page as the reader comes to the realisation that this could end up very, very badly. As the seconds count down, it became harder to read on but yet I was desperate to know what happened. It’s very emotional and fraught with danger.

This is the kind of book I’d like an epilogue on for present day for my reassurance, but it is so much more powerful without it. While I didn’t always care for the space themes, TJR can make any topic into a great story no matter what (even tennis). This is a read to persevere with, as it’s so rewarding ultimately. I’m still disappointed by no Mick Riva cameo though.

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