Notes on "Atmosphere: A Love Story"

Some lovely takeaways from MR's July Book Club

If you missed our book club chat about “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid last week, I’m leaving some highlights here. As usual, it was fun, smart, and nerdy—MR readers continue to be the best. Also: I still cannot watch a space launch without getting a lump in my throat, and learning about how completely badass lady astronauts are is such an inspiration, and the energy we could all use right now.

If you didn’t make the chat (or even if you did!), I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book, TJR, or even just your space obsession in the comments.

Totally fine, definitely not getting teary just reading about women in space.

Four Takeaways from “Atmosphere”

1. We really could use more stories in which 100% of the main characters are women. The book’s historical fiction premise centers a romance between two women who are about to become some of NASA’s first female astronauts. As such, it really successfully takes us into the male-dominated world of NASA

   but keeps the story squarely on women.

   The subplot is around the main character’s relationship with her sister and her beloved niece, so it feels like about 90% of the dialogue is between women.

   We spend the entire book in the pov and minds of women,

   and we are really only invested in female characters through the whole thing. More of this, please! It passes the Bechdel test with flying colors.

   As one male MR book clubber noted:

   

   

   2. There’s a reason that sapphic love stories are having a moment, and those of us who are straight would really do well to read more queer lit. (Speaking of the Bechdel test—queer women in literature created the test! The concept is based on a comic strip by Allison Bechdel featuring two lesbian characters just trying to find a movie to watch that’s not not egregiously centered around male narratives.

   Queer lit is much more likely to center women and treat them with respect. Some of us in the book chat noted that since gay marriage was legalized a decade ago in 2015, we have already forgotten a bit how new that hard-won freedom is, and how fragile. Because this book is set in the 80’s, it really brings home how high stakes it has been through most of history to be in a lesbian relationship, or any queer relationship. As writer Danika Ellis of the Lesbrary puts it:

   “One of the many, many reasons to read more diversely is to learn about experiences different from your own. This is one of the best parts of reading: being able to walk around in someone else’s head. The thing about living in a heterosexist culture is that you’re steeped in it, even if you’re queer positive and really trying.

   Even as a queer person, I still deal with having to unlearn a lot of what straight (not to mention white, cis, abled) society teaches from an early age. One of the best ways to do that is through consciously choosing the media you absorb in order to counteract some of those messages.” -Danika Ellis

   As LBTQ+ rights are under attack, there has never been a better time to fight stigma and normalize the queer experience. Taylor Jenkins Reid acknowledged her own bisexuality when the book came out, and noted that she “knows what it’s like to be surprised by having feelings for a woman.”

3. We chatted quite a lot about how the subtitle of the book is “A Love Story,” and in what ways the book could be considered a “love story” in addition to the romance between the main character Joan and her love interest, Vanessa.

   Readers had a lot of great responses to this—a love for science and space, passion for a skill or subject (Joan is an astrophysicist in love with the study of the stars, Vanessa is a pilot obsessed with flight). Love for chosen family and a team (the bonds between the NASA crew feel incredibly tender as they learn to rely on each other for life and death).

   But I one of my favorite “love stories” that we chatted about were the main character’s very real love for her niece, who she helps raise from the time she’s a newborn. We just don’t give enough credit to the beloved aunties and chosen family (often women) in kids’ lives that can be incredibly sustaining. (Shout out to Lisa Sibbett of the Auntie Bulletin, who documents this beautifully in her newsletter!)

   

   Probably my favorite “love story” was the takeaway that this is a story about a woman who falls in love with herself, and learns to choose herself—by burning down her old life, chasing hard after something she’s always wanted to do but was told women couldn’t do (go to space), and finally gives herself permission to love who she loves.

   

4. This isn’t really a takeaway so much as an open question: I’m curious what people thought about Barbara’s character. I’ll admit that I felt a little weird about the fact that the “villain” of the story was a single mom (Joan’s manipulative sister Barbara who abdicates responsibility for taking care of her child in order to marry a rich guy who is not interested in raising a child).

   

   And I mean, she’s written in a way that very relatable, and really easy not to like! Still, I’m always wary about any put-down of single moms, and anything that seems to pit women with children against women without children. But the book group did a great job of talking through how Barbara’s character was important to the plot and meaning of the story, not just a stereotype or low blow:

   

   And we ended on a reader adding this little gem, which I’m still thinking about:

   

   There’s still a lot to say about the book and the discussion—after reading the book would you want to go to space? Curious what TJR fans thought of this book vs. her others (I’ll admit that I usually like my fiction a little more literary than this, which read as more commercial—but TJR has a lot of fans, and feminist fans, for a reason!). And what about that ending?? Even this jaded reader was a puddle of genuine tears in the end—why does the ending work SO well?

What did you think—and what do you think of TJR?

---

Thanks so much to everyone who joined the discussion—which was smart, fun, and nerdy. MR readers continue to be my favorite book club readers.

What should we read next time? We could do runners-up from our summer fiction list, (see descriptions here).

Or we could add in some nonfiction or feminist classics (I’ve had my eye on feminist classic “The Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler for a while!), and “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly would pair well with “Atmosphere.”

Or leave other suggestions in the comments!

---

MR’s Reading Women Book Club is made possible by paying MR subscribers. THANK YOU for being a part of MR and contributing to independent feminist writing, and being part of creating a nice feminist space on the internet!