Five Stars and Ugly Crying
Book Review: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Published: June 3, 2025 by Ballantine Books
Buy this book at: Bookshop.org
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Synopsis:
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 easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted 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, it all changes in an instant.
Rating:
Review:
“Bravery is being unafraid of something other people are afraid of. Courage is being afraid, but strong enough to do it anyway.”
Initially I wasn’t sure what I was going to think about this book. In the beginning chapters I struggled to connect with the story. I didn’t feel like I could connect to the Joan or the other characters and I was struggling with the plot. I found it frustrating that we open with a pivotal and exciting moment and then come to a complete halt to explore the several years preceding that moment. This plot is a slow burn. However, there’s many important reasons to stay focused on the plot because it becomes so instrumental later on.
Once we got to know Joan a little more, I absolutely fell in love with this book. I was expecting more space than we got, but by the middle I didn’t really care anymore. I was so engrossed in Joan and her budding friendships and romance and her relationship with her sister and niece.
I saw a review that said “This book feels like the author is simultaneously breaking your heart and giving you a kiss on the forehead” and I couldn’t agree more. I can’t remember the last time I was aware at 2am and ugly crying to a book ending, but this one was the one. Nail biting tension, sweet tenderness, frustrating familial relationships, heartbreaking outcomes, all contained within these pages.
I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. But I will say, this is the easier five stars I’ve ever given. This will undoubtedly be a Top 10 Book of all time for me. I just saw it on the shelf at the bookstore and starting crying again, I am tearing up just writing this review. Seriously, read this book.
“You make my life worth something. And I can promise you with my entire body that you will never be alone. Every day, you can wake up and go to bed knowing there is someone whose heart is bursting, barely able to contain how much they love you. I know you’re my niece, Frances. But you have always, too, been mine.”