Review: Atmosphere, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Title: Atmosphere

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Genre: Historical/Romance

Date of Publication: June 3rd, 2025

Number of Pages: 352

See it on Goodreads: Atmosphere

Summary

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 easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted 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, everything changes in an instant.

Review - Love Is the Limit

In my latest reading wrap-up, I mentioned my weird relationship with Taylor Jenkins Reid's books. Whenever she has something new, I read the synopsis and I don't really feel particularly interested in picking it up. However, if I decide to read it, I just can't stop reading it until it's done. This doesn't mean that I'm not enjoying her books - on the contrary, I think that her writing is amazing. It's just that not all of her themes sound intriguing to me. 

Having said that, Atmosphere is my third book by the author. Initially, I wasn't planning on reading it (unless it was a book club pick). However, when I finished reading The Emperor of Gladness, I was a bit at a loss of what to pick up next. So, when browsing possible reads, I noticed the words space, astronauts, and NASA on the synopsis. If you know one thing about me, it's that I'm fascinated with space, and I read space-related books all the time. Plus, I knew that I would at least enjoy it, if not love it. 

And this was exactly the case with Atmosphere. I did read it pretty fast, and I did enjoy it. If you'd ask me, I wouldn't say that it's the best Taylor Jenkins Reid book I've read (that would be The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo), but not the worst (hot take, but that would be Daisy Jones and the Six). In fact, for the first part of the book, I thought that this would be a 5*.

In Atmosphere, we are following Joan, a young professor of astronomy, who joins NASA’s Space Shuttle program. We see her get through her training, her hopes to become one of the first women that will travel to space, and her relationships with the other trainees, and in particular her relationship to Vanessa. The narration is split between her training days and that fateful day in December 1984. This was an element that I enjoyed a lot, as it kept me reading to find out what would eventually happen.

Having said that, I must admit that the amount of space in this space-related book wasn't nearly enough. And I'm not just talking about them traveling to space - I would have wanted to see their training in more detail. Granted, I get that, in its heart, Atmosphere is a love story, but there was another story thread that just took over the book, instead of the actual training, and even the romance. 

The story threat I'm talking about has to do about Joan's sister and niece, Barb and Frances respectively. Barb was just the worst person that took advantage of Joan, and made her feel guilty in every chance she got. Frances was a neglected child, and Joan had to act more like a parent to her than anything else. Adding this to the story though, took so much away from the rest of the book.

On the other side, the romance side of this book was great. I enjoyed how gradually it developed, and I rejoiced when Joan and Vanessa finally got together. Still, I would have liked if the author had explored the forbidden element of their relationship some more, as we are talking about NASA in the '80s. The ending, in particular, felt a bit too unrealistic to me, but I'm keeping it vague.

However, the thing that bothered the most in this book was Joan's view of science, space, and religion. All the things she said about space and its enormity felt a bit too simplistic - things that I would expect someone that has just started reading about space to say, and not an astronomer. They were things I had been thinking about after reading A Brief History of Time. When it comes to religion, Joan felt a bit preachy, even though I do believe that it's an interesting theme to explore. 

One of the quotes I liked was this one: 

"Well, we are the stars", Joan said. "And the stars are us. Every atom in our bodies was once out there. Was once a part of them. To look at the night sky is to look at pars of who you once were, who you may one day be."

All in all, Atmosphere was a quick and interesting read. I don't regret picking it up, even though it wasn't my favourite. I believe that you will find something to love in it, whether it is the sapphic romance, the conversations about space, science, and religion, or the quiet family moments between Joan and Frances. 

Read more of my reviews here.