Atmosphere: Book Review

Warning: contains spoilers!

I’m currently sitting in a café; my eyes are watery, and my coffee has gone cold. I wasn’t planning on writing a review of Atmosphere, but here we are. We got off to a slightly rocky start, this book and I, but from about a quarter of the way through up until the very end, my heart was captured, broken into a million pieces, and put back together again.

            Luckily, I’d brought my laptop with me to this rustic, small café in York... along with about five other books I’d just bought on my lone bookshop crawl. Reviews on those will come later... when I’ve read them. But for now, I wanted to write about Atmosphere. I hadn’t planned to cry, of course, otherwise I would have chosen a different location to finish this book, rather than quite an obvious spot in the middle of a café. But I suppose the best books are the ones that surprise you and make you shed a few tears when you’re not expecting them to.

            Let’s rewind a little. What I meant by saying this book and I had a rocky start was that I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did. Call me naïve, or pessimistic, about love. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a love story, but recently, no romance books have made me feel quite the way this one did. So, I went in rather doubtful. That, paired with the sometimes complicated jargon about NASA, stars, space and other sciency things like that, I was worried this book wouldn’t live up to the hype that I’ve seen plastered online or from the words whispered in the book community. Science, and things like that, aren’t my forfeit; it’s never really interested me (or it has, but it’s always seemed like such a big area that I’ve always felt a bit intimated of where to start). English is more my bag. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t say this considering I just created the word ‘sciency’.

            I digress.

            Back to talking about Atmosphere: at first, I also wasn’t sure how much I liked the timeline jumping back and forth... and finding out most of the main side characters (SPOILER ALERT) ultimately die at the end of the chronological story. But because of the different timelines, you find this out quite early on. I wasn’t sure I would connect with the characters the same then going further through the book; because I knew they were to die, I worried I was going to be too melancholy to appreciate them or the relationships they build. I’m not afraid to admit I was wrong. Oh, so wrong.

            Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing was perfect for proving me wrong, actually. The way she described and painted a picture of all the characters, including the ones who you knew were ultimately dead, was in a way that really made each individual shine through. You got to learn about each one carefully through dialogue and subtle body language and expressions, and I could really imagine them well. And normally that is something I struggle with: when there are so many characters, like a large group of friends, or an astronaut crew in this case, I find it hard to separate one from the other if dialogue is samey-same. But that was not the case in this book.

            Now onto the love part.

            This is one of the most real, touching love stories I have read in a long time. Considering the love part didn’t even come in until about halfway through, that’s saying something. Taylor made up for this though, with the romance and arc of Joan and Vanessa’s relationship being illustrated in such a beautiful and enticing way that I forgot all about being sad that there wasn’t much of a love story at the beginning. In total, I have added about thirty mini sticky notes to many different pages when either Joan or Vanessa said something moving to one another. Some conversations between them were so real, poetic, or just lovely to read, that they had to be marked. So many good quotes and not enough sticky notes!

            By itself, the love story was mesmerising and powerful, but with the added ‘forbidden’ element, the story rose to another level. So much more was at stake and their love was defying society norms. Being set in the 80s, being gay was not widely accepted and in fact, frowned upon. And in Atmosphere, this defying characteristic was told in such a powerful, real way. It made you, as a reader, realise that the love between Vanessa and Joan was even stronger because they were going against what everyone else deemed as ‘normal’. It was woven into the story beautifully... and at the same time, made me so angry that their love was something to be hidden. And it made me even angrier that this was true for so many people in the 80s and other eras, and even is still prominent in some way in today’s modern society.

            This was not the only prominent part of the love story that really added depth, so it wasn’t just a ‘love story’, and in fact, was way more. The added discussion of God and the universe stitched into the narrative really made me question, well, everything. It was done in a clever way, through the dialogue between Vanessa and Joan, and there was no ‘info dump’ how there so often can be in books with discussions about wider world topics. I thought Joan’s perspective on God being within everyone and everything and in fact, being the very universe rather than a ‘man in the sky’, was beautiful, and I’d go as far as to say I agreed with her. It was the first time I had been so interested in reading about the concept of God, and the fact that I didn’t disagree was quite shocking to me.

The way this was also written as a conversation between Vanessa and Joan was another way that brought their relationship to life. It was nice to read two characters discussing wider views on the world and at times not really agreeing with each other yet still listening and appreciating what one another has to say and still loving them for it. So often in romance books, there is no depth to characters' discussions and opinions on complicated matters are often forgotten, so the romance story can lack depth and narrative. This absolutely wasn’t the case here. And that’s why I loved it even more. Sometimes complicated world views are missed from romance books in fear of taking away from the love part of the storyline, but this case proved that it actually adds, not takes away, something.

Joan’s arc also consisted of her facing dilemmas and thoughts about falling in love with the universe, or in her case what God is. As the story progressed, she became more infatuated with life and the world alongside becoming more infatuated with Vanessa. At times it was written like the two things went hand in hand, and I thought this was beautiful. It was uplifting to read this story from her perspective; she had led me by hand through her trials and tribulations, such as her pessimistic view of love that turned into (what felt like) an earth-shattering love for Vanessa, her niece, and her own life. Then, from Vanessa’s perspective, it was so emotional to read her deep love for Joan and how she had changed her mind about what she loved most in this world: her career or Joan. In the end, they got a happy ending, and I am so, so glad. I think I would have been weeping in this café rather than shedding a few tears if the ending went an alternative route. So, thank you to Taylor for not breaking my heart too much.

My heart did crack though, when Joan had panicked that their relationship might be discovered and would impact Vanessa’s career at NASA (I will mention, she held no worry for her own career because her love for Vanessa outweighed this). When she tried to break it off with Vanessa, I was so worried the narrative was taking a turn for the worse. But my heart was revived when they decided that their love was more important than anything else and they would somehow figure it out. Then my heart was broken again when I thought Vanessa was barrelling to her death from space. After the way Taylor killed off all the other characters I wouldn’t have been surprised if the ending was a little depressing also, but luckily for me and my heart, this wasn’t the case.

            Let’s jump to another topic in this book: family and personal issues. I liked how, alongside the narrative of female astronauts in the 80s and their society-defying love story, both Joan and Vanessa’s lives as individuals shined through also. More so Joan’s than Vanessa’s, with the narrative mainly being from her perspective. Her sister and her relationship with her was painted very well and I found myself feeling just as frustrated at Barbara as Joan was. Then her love for her niece and this sub-plot was truly touching. Both things really added depth to Joan’s character as a person and really helped the characters truly come to life. I connected with her and found myself feeling each emotion with her as I dived further and further into the story and her life. Showing Joan’s family life through the narrative and outlining Vanessa’s relationships with her mother and late father through dialogue, added a raw and real layer to the whole book. Their love, despite being fiery and complicated at times, was a peaceful, safe place for them both. And it was a pleasure to read how they had found themselves in one another and could have a break from their busy, stressful lives when being in each other’s company.

            I will go as far as to say it is one of the best love stories I have ever read. It should be considered a modern classic as far as I’m concerned, because it touched me in a way that I hadn’t even expected. It was written in a way I wasn’t sure I would like but grew to love. And it opened not just my heart, but my mind. It got me thinking about the world itself, outside of family, careers, and love. It got me searching the origin stories of female astronauts online, as well as stars and other sciency things I normally don’t really think about. It got me feeling giddy and excited and made me want to fall in love with the world... and myself.

            Thank you, Taylor, for blessing me with this book. I can add it to my romance bookshelf with a heavy heart and a smile on my face, knowing that I can go back and re-read this in the future knowing it will touch me just the same as it has done today. And thanks for making me cry in a coffee shop.

About the Author:

Chloe D'Inverno works in marketing and is the Editor-in-Chief/Founder of Everywhere Publication. A passionate reader and writer, she loves nothing more than getting lost in a good book with a chai latte in hand. When she’s not reading or writing reviews, you’ll find her dreaming up creative ideas and sharing stories that inspire.