BookBrowse Reviews Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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Best-selling author Taylor Jenkins Reid crafts a moving story set against the early days of NASA's Space Shuttle program.

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Taylor Jenkins Reid's new novel, Atmosphere, opens with a bang—literally. It's 1984, and astronaut Joan Goodwin is acting as NASA Command's CAPCOM ("Capsule Communications," the person who relays instructions to the personnel in space) when the unthinkable happens: A satellite explodes, sending shrapnel through the hull of the space shuttle and injuring some of the crew. Time is of the essence as oxygen leaks from the vessel; Joan becomes the sole link between Ground Control and the astronauts aloft, forced to stay calm as the situation degrades.

The story then rewinds seven years to when Joan, a university professor in physics and astronomy, learns that NASA is recruiting for their astronaut program, and that for the first time, women are invited to apply. She's never considered a career in space, but she applies at her sister's insistence—and when she's rejected in the first round, she's surprised by how disappointed she is. A year later, the opportunity presents itself again, and she jumps at the chance, this time becoming one of sixteen individuals who are selected for Group 9. (The previous class, Group 8, included Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space; see Beyond the Book.)

At first, Joan feels out of place at the Space Center, surrounded by extremely smart and capable people who are primarily white men. Throughout her career, Joan has more often been dismissed than praised, and has always been awkward around others, so she finds "a familiar peace in going unnoticed" by her NASA teammates. But as she reluctantly begins socializing with them, she develops deep bonds with her team, forming perhaps the first true friendships of her life. The others, in turn, come to appreciate not only Joan's brilliance and passion, but her calm demeanor and ability to prevent petty disagreements between other members from disrupting the mission. "Being an astronaut," she realizes, "is not just about getting up there. It is about being a member of the team that gets the crew up there."

Atmosphere's plot follows Joan's professional and personal journey over the ensuing years, until the main storyline meets up with the currently unfolding emergency. We read about Joan's training as an astronaut and her first voyage into space, and we watch her transform from an awkward introvert into a confident woman and respected leader. She also discovers how to parent her sister's daughter, Frances, in a plotline that adds interesting depth to her character. Perhaps the core of the book, though, is how Joan learns that her desires—both her career ambitions and her romantic feelings, including realizing that she's gay and in love with a fellow astronaut—are legitimate and deserve to be embraced.

Atmosphere is subtitled "A Love Story," but which aspect of the novel that subtitle is referring to can be read ambiguously. Atmosphere is a relatively conventional love story in the way Joan comes to develop feelings for and begin a relationship with the mission's aeronautical engineer, Vanessa. But Joan's love extends well beyond this single relationship: Her relationship with her niece deepens over the course of the novel, as do her relationships with her fellow astronauts. The novel packs in quite a lot of emotional content for a book ostensibly about the Space Shuttle program.

Another genuine love of Joan's is space itself. Her passion for the cosmos is a constant undercurrent throughout Atmosphere—and that passion includes a reverence for God, whom she conceives of not as the world's sole creator but as a force that's a part of every atom across space and time. "The Jewish philosopher Spinoza said that God did not necessarily make the universe, but that God is the universe," she tells Vanessa by way of explaining her faith. "The unfolding of the universe is God in action. Which would mean science and math are a part of God."

I do have a couple of quibbles about the novel. One is that Reid's dialogue sometimes comes across as artificial—more like lengthy soliloquies about the nature of the universe than conversations one might have with another person. These can be interesting and occasionally moving, but are not always convincing as real exchanges. Also, while the book does reference both sexism and homophobia at NASA, it's not to the extent that I would have expected. Joan and Vanessa's teammates, for example, seem aware of their relationship and approve of it—something that seems a little unrealistic for the era, and perhaps a missed opportunity for narrative conflict.

I also think that this beautifully written book may suffer from the expectations set by its marketers. While the scenes set aboard the shuttle are intense and propulsive, they're few and far between; most of the story is character-driven and rather quiet. Readers expecting a thriller will likely find the book slow-moving, particularly in its early chapters. But Joan Goodwin is an unforgettable, complex character, and it's following her journey of self-discovery that keeps the pages turning.

This review first ran in the July 2, 2025 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.