The Wanderers Hardcover – March 14, 2017

I've read it three times and this one was a gift. Give it to any women in your life who are over fifty and still seeking adventures, or anyone interested in space or Mars, or daughters/sons/spouses of complicated people, or anyone who just loves great writing. Pairs well with Orbital or The Martian.

Do you read books based on one-star reviews? I sure do. Several reviews of this one complained that it was so character-driven that almost nothing happened. That's like catnip to me.It was also untrue: Plenty of things happened. But not big explosions, heart-breaking reveals, or dramatic cliff-hanging moments. This is a novel that took place mainly in the characters' minds and hearts. It is exquisitely well done and I adored it.The premise is that a trio of astronauts are preparing for a Mars trip, but they're going to do a 17-month-long dry run before they take the actual trip. They'll be like Biosphere 2, but even more locked in, and they won't even be able to see out even when doing walks on the pretend planetary surface. The novel follows the three main astronauts as well as some of their closest family; the people they have left behind.It's beautiful, it's compelling, it's thought-provoking, and it is a very deftly done novel.

Well written character study that gives no answers, leaving you with a sense of, huh. OK. The writing is good, the characters well explored, especially Helen and her daughter. But as someone else mentioned, there was an implied promise of a plot twist that was never resolved. Resolution is key to reader satisfaction.

Meg Howrey has written a literary book about space travel without alien raiders or man eating space bugs. Instead she has crafted a deep character study of three astronauts and the people they leave behind. We know we're in for art when we read the Wittgenstein quotation in the front and we're not disappointed. The novel begins with Helen Kane an astronaut, retired from active duty after twenty-one years at NASA. "It had been the right thing to do...she was prepared for it." And then in the next paragraph: "She had not prepared. You can't train for irrelevance." Now she's interviewing at "Prime Space" a private company, which hopes to send a crew to Mars. We see her in her interview mode preparing to give the CEO "PIG: Polite, Interested, Good humored." She gets the job, of course, and then we meet her daughter, Mireille. "A terrible thing has happened to Mireille: she has been selected as the spa employee of the month." But Mireille longs to be a successful actress. Helen will share a long isolation simulation with two other astronauts, Sergei, a Russian astronaut, who leaves behind his two sons, and Yoshi who adores his wife, without realizing the difficulty she has relating to other living beings. I won't tell you more, because THE WANDERERS is a space you will want to explore yourself.

Let me just say that while I found the exploration of the human condition in this book fascinating and quite moving it ultimately didn't feel like a science fiction novel but rather a human drama that explored the fringes of how we define ourselves versus how we project versions of ourselves for others. It's about that fundamental duality and it's quite brilliantly explored in the context of a space mission simulation but, and perhaps this is the sci-fi geek in me, I kept waiting for a big reveal, something that went beyond the revelations the characters discover about themselves but rather a big, impactful on humanity, reveal and the fact that it never came left me feeling dissatisfied.

this is my first experience with the author's work. Both the human qualities between all involved in the book, emotions, childhood histories, etc.were exceptionally written. if you like psychological insight; want to experience what it is like to take a trip to mars this book will fullfill for you. By example the stories show how our minds take us over during stressful times and perhaps our own minds will be the next frontier. This was quite a read. It is not a beach novel. But an insightful viewing of both heros going on a simulated trip to mars and their families left behind waiting for their return. Probably one of the better reads for me. Only give it a try if you are able and willing to think about what each character is saying.