A genre-bending novel set in the very near future in which three astronauts and their families must endure the effects of a training simulation for a pioneering deep-space mission.
What a wonder. The Wanderers is a meditation on space travel but also on how to be an astronaut. The author pulls the reader into the minds of these professionals so deftly that I felt like I was reading their autobiographies. If I ever wondered what it takes to do this work, I know now ... A final consideration in The Wanderers is the role and motivation of the corporation making it all possible. Prime operates like a Silicon Valley version of NASA, but it doesn't answer to Congress or the electorate; it answers only to its shareholders. Does that compromise in any way the future of space travel and exploration? Would a corporation behave differently than a government agency? For those of us who are enthusiastically watching Elon Musk and his SpaceX progress, perhaps we should ask ourselves this question and ponder the implications it has for the humans who climb inside his rockets and blast away.
Is there a point where a simulation - of a Mars mission, of the kind of person we aspire to be - is so realistic that it's as good as the actual thing? Howrey skillfully weaves these questions into an often funny story that grows poignant in its final chapters. We may never plumb the mysteries of outer space; we may never truly understand ourselves or the people we love, she suggests. But there's courage in the attempt.
Even with my colossal disinterest I will gladly acknowledge that The Wanderers truly is a beautifully written novel. Each character shines as unique and realistic creations with complex, tangled lives. Explorers really are a special brand of human, and those traits, quirks, and flaws are dragged to the fore here. There isn’t much of a plot because the action is all character study. This renders the pacing slow; for some the gradual turn will be just right while for others (like me) interminably glacial. As a study of a particular branch of humanity, The Wanderers is striking, a dominating and domineering critique of the people who leave and the ones left behind. No, the real problem is that it was marketed as Station Eleven meets The Martian. Other than its vaguely science-fictional trappings and being contemplative with scattered moments of humor, it’s really nothing at all like either novel.
