Taylor Jenkins Reid
Penguin
By Cushla McKinney
Netflix is currently showing a documentary on Sally Ride, who made history in 1983 as the first American woman to go into space.
Everything about it, from the distinctive style and colour of ’80s TV footage to prevailing social mores (Ride had to conceal her sexuality to retain her position at Nasa) is a reminder of just how much has changed over intervening decades, recent setbacks notwithstanding.
In Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid captures the tone, spirit and aesthetic of the time beautifully, with a love story that is as much about the wonder of the stars as it is the intricacies of the human heart.
The novel opens at Johnson Space Centre on December 29, 1984, with Capcom (‘‘capsule communicator’’) Joan Goodwin attempting to guide the woman she loves back to Earth in the wake of a catastrophic shuttle accident.
The remainder of the novel traces her path to this point, from her first admission to Nasa as an astronaut candidate in 1978 (the year after Ride’s intake) to now, surrounded by a team of people who are ‘‘more than just her friends . . .[they are] part of what make her the exact Capcom they need today, but also the very last person who should have to do the job’’.
We get to know her fellow trainees along the way, from Jimmy, whose hostility towards his female counterparts is born of a fear of appearing weak, to Griff, whose affections Joan tries to, but cannot, reciprocate.
Because right from the moment she meets Vanessa Ford, her heart is lost, although it takes her some time to realise it.
On the face of it, I shouldn’t have enjoyed this novel as much as I did.
Most of the characters are stereotypes, especially the women: Donna, married and pregnant before the end of training; Lydia, who is willing to ‘‘[pretend] sexist jokes are funny just so men will give [her] the chance to do something [she is] probably better at than they are’’; and the maverick Vanessa, who has pulled herself out of poverty and addiction through sheer determination.
As for Joan herself, she is too good to be true.
Somehow, despite myself, I managed to suspend my disbelief and lose myself in the story, because it felt like the perfect antidote to current ills.
Yes, it was a racist, sexist, homophobic society — one to which we seem to be rapidly returning — but it also had an innocence, a sense of hope, wonder and shared purpose that seems to have been lost in the past few years.
Cushla McKinney is a Dunedin scientist
