Book review: ‘Wanderers’ looks at space exploration from various points of view – Florida Times-Union

THE WANDERERS

Author: Meg Howrey

Data: G.P. Putnams Sons, 384 pages, $27

The framework for Meg Howreys The Wanderers is space exploration, specifically the effects on three space travel veterans and those closest to them of an elaborate 17-month earthbound simulation of travel to Mars and back.

When you evaluate whether this novel would be a good choice for you, do something that will gain or lose it a lot of this is something I might enjoy points, depending on your perspective and mood. Assume, whatever the Martian motif or cover blurbs may suggest, that the book is NOT sci-fi or anything much like it. Instead, its literary fiction whose space-travel theme provides some special tools for examining human personality, identity, and relationships. Also, assume it is NOT plot-driven: the narrative framework IS the plot, and everything else is the exposition and evolution of the characters.

A few years into the future, privatization of space exploration is the accepted reality. The moon is an immediate target for mining, but the president of multinational Prime Space Inc. has his sights set on a crewed mission to Mars. Primes immediate project is to recruit primary and backup three-person crews for the fully automated craft, and quickly plunge the primary crew into a simulation so intense that even space veterans, as the crew all are, will not be able to find anything unrealistic about it.

Prime Space has opted for a three-person crew of American, Japanese, and Russian space travel veterans. They havent worked together before, but Prime Spaces personality-matching algorithms have been working overtime to pick a crew that will be compatible and complementary.

American Helen Kane is the ultimate astronaut, a technically ultra-qualified pragmatist who has worked hard to adapt her personality to politically or personally complex situations. In her 50s, she is thrilled and relieved to have an opportunity to return to outer space. Yoshihiro (Yoshi) Tanaka, the youngest crew member, is adaptable and has an artistic sensibility. Sergei Kuznetsov is a decisive character with a big personality. Perhaps to highlight what a capable three-way match Prime Space has pulled off, each of the crew is fluent in the native languages of the other two.

The story is told from seven points of view, those of Helen, Helens adult daughter, Yoshi, Yoshis wife, Sergei, one of Sergeis adolescent sons and a Prime Space family liaison employee. The daughter, the wife and the son each have developing life narratives apart, if not wholly detached, from what is happening with the Mars simulation.

Some of the individual chapters covering the non-crew characters read like stand-alone short stories. The narratives, in and out of the simulation, have themes that mirror each other: the limits of love, boundaries between human and artificial intelligence, and differences between the outwardly perceived and inner selves. The characters sometimes verge on becoming human-bodied avatars for specific character traits, but the author keeps them relatable.

If youre looking for a nail biter, this is not your book. If youre open to a space themed, humane and generally hopeful thought-provoker about humans on and potentially off of the home planet, give it a try.

Anne Payne organizes the Jax Freestyle Book Club for Real Readers at meetup.com.

More here:

Book review: 'Wanderers' looks at space exploration from various points of view - Florida Times-Union