It feels so strange to read a book just, you know, to read it. This middle-aged-lady book isn't for the Mass. Teen Choice Book Award or Netgally and I just picked it up for no reason (other than I really loved Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - although Reid's earlier books can kiss my butt) but then I put it down because it begins with a horrible accident in space and then proceeds to make me fall in love with all the people who are likely going to die in the carnage. No THANK you!
But then my book club chose it and I was back on board. So I guess I broke my rule about not reading anything that I don't fall in love with, but for me and Atmosphere, it was a slow burn. I did end up loving it.
Maybe it is the fact that I read before bed and often fall asleep with my book on my lap, but I had a really hard time lining up the secondary characters in my head (my fault, not Taylor's) but once I did, this beauty really came together for me.
It deals with women in the space program in the 80s who fall in love and it ticks all the ideological boxes pretty deftly. I didn't feel preached to, but I did feel I was given a little lesson. No harm, no foul - it's important stuff. It is also about family and expectations and love and drive - alittle something for everyone.
My book club liked it overall and I had an interesting conversation with my goddaughter - a grown-up now and a voracious reader - and she said that while she loves pretty much the same TJR books that I do (she also loathes the early ones) she didn't care for Carrie Soto is Back. I haven't read that one, and I may yet give it a try, but I theorized without having read it, as I so often do, that one of Reid's strengths is creating a sense of unexpected community and maybe that was what was missing. Frankly, I can't remember if she said that was the case or if we just became distracted by the cheese board. But I digress...
This was an engaging and heartfelt work of historical fiction (from the 80s, for the love of God...) that made me interested in the space program for the first time since the moon landing in 1968. And I am not even sure I was interested then, but there is a picture of toddler me sitting enraptured in front of the TV as Neil Armstrong made his famous leap for mankind. Maybe I was just thrilled to be able to watch TV in the daytime. Who can say?
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