Atmosphere: A Love Story

“So when Joan walks into the Mission control building that morning with a black coffee in her hand, she is at ease. She is not anxious or terrified or heartbroken.

All of that will come later.”

The novel opens on December 29, 1984, as Joan enters Mission Control to monitor the spacewalk aboard the shuttle Navigator. By juxtaposing Joan’s current calm with her impending anxiety and heartbreak, this passage ominously foreshadows the crisis that is about to occur and introduces tension and anticipation to the novel’s tone.

“After that, Barbara kept calling. Barbara needed money for an apartment. Barbara needed help finding out if she could get her tuition money refunded now that she was officially dropping out. Barbara needed Joan there when she finally told Mom and Dad. Barbara needed Barbara needed Barbara needed.”

Joan reflects on her relationship with her sister, Barbara, whose constant need for help and attention has been the primary focus of Joan’s life. This passage concisely and accurately encapsulates their dynamic, including Joan’s consistent acquiescence to Barbara’s demands. The changes to this dynamic form a central element of the plot and Joan’s character growth.

“Didn’t Lydia understand that if one of them made it seem like it was okay, the rest of them would be sidelined as humorless? Didn’t Lydia get that this was how the men kept them separate and underestimated? With these small jokes that made them look petty if they got upset?”

Joan is frustrated by Lydia’s permissive attitude toward Jimmy Hayman’s crude, sexist jokes. Jimmy Hayman’s remarks exemplify the gender discrimination that the women face, and the differing ways that Joan and Lydia respond to that discrimination contributes to the theme of Navigating Gender and Sexuality Discrimination and to marking the two characters as foils for each other.