I am a huge Taylor Jenkins Reid fan. She is a masterful author in the historical fiction genre with a huge body of work that is both easy to read and full of depth, interesting characters and thought-provoking questions.
Following a strong run of books in the same universe, centered on celebrity scandal and drama, she published a new standalone this year. Reid’s newest novel, “Atmosphere,” is set in the 1980s and follows the protagonist, Joan Goodwin, as she becomes one of the first female astronauts in NASA’s space shuttle program. Goodwin is surrounded by a crew of brilliant and driven scientists who desire above all else to go to space. The book primarily follows Goodwin’s professional and personal struggles as she contends with misogyny within NASA and her own romantic feelings for her co-worker, Vanessa Ford.
The novel starts strong, with Goodwin monitoring a mission on the space shuttle from the ground when disaster strikes and the remaining members of the space crew must race against time to get back to Earth before it is too late. The story then moves between extremely high stakes to uncertainty, leaving Goodwin’s life up to fate.
Reid does an excellent job balancing the chemistry between the characters Ford and Goodwin with the risk of being a queer woman in the 80s. Goodwin’s journey with her sexuality is not anything groundbreaking, but its simplicity works to integrate into the fabric of the story. Queer love is normalized without taking away or ignoring the struggles that LGBTQ+ people like Goodwin and Ford faced at the time.
Goodwin, though, falls flat compared to her more dynamic and complex partner. Even when Goodwin grows slowly throughout the novel, she is never really exciting, which is a shame, because a plot in which the main character overcomes so many obstacles and literally goes to space should feel more fulfilling and inspiring. Instead, her journey feels anticlimactic.
The most useful part of the novel is the first chapter, where the stakes are set insanely high, but the story keeps moving back in time to Goodwin’s interpersonal drama. A dramatic tragedy that opened the book with a mission gone wrong on the space shuttle feels more distant and less suspenseful. The book loses momentum because Goodwin’s personal journey is not enough to capture the tense moment it began with.
Like its protagonist, this book falls flat among Taylor Jenkins Reid’s large body of work. Her most popular book, “Daisy Jones and the Six,” is dramatic, experimental and moving. “Atmosphere,” in comparison, feels like a step back in terms of quality and experience. The novel is good, but it’s not great and Reid has shown her audience that she is capable of far more. Though it’s not her best work, the novel is still good and has an important representation of queer love that feels real and grounded.