What We Thought: The Astronaut Wives Club

Evening Readers

The Astronaut Wives Club

by Lily Koppel

Tuesday, May 19

 

The evening’s discussion consisted of a mix of questions and remarks about Lily Koppel’s revelations about the lives of American astronauts and their wives during the intense space race with the Soviet Union. Readers all agreed that the book was a great read, but some had reservations about it. Some wanted more information and details about NASA itself and asked why NASA overlooked the moral lapses of the astronauts. They wondered why more men of the caliber of John Glenn were not selected instead of the ones who strayed from their marriages.

The families were portrayed as an American ideal and afforded rock star status provided with valuable perks far above the usual military benefits. It was decided that military life and the culture of  post-World War II 1950s along with the 1960s before the counterculture kept the wives in the bubble presented by NASA. The test pilots were recruited and represented as “the best of the best” because they were extreme risk takers and lived with the possibility of death every time they flew a mission. Their moral dalliances were just part of a lifestyle that the wives put up with and denied until they could no longer stand it.

The wives were expected to stay home and bake cookies while it was okay for the husbands to have multiple affairs. Depression, alcoholism and divorce were the end result for most wives whose husbands were not killed on the job. The times changed and so did the wives. The close-knit ties and support of the wives for each other appeared to be genuine and helped them through tough times. Some readers felt it was too cloying to be watched by the press and put on television all the time. Others said it was the first reality show and decided that celebrity was the price they had to pay for their extravagant perks.

Some said that too much money was spent by NASA. Others said it was not a frivolous venture but just an extension of the Cold War to keep the Russians at bay. Americans beat the Russians and landed on the moon. There was plenty of money made by a few and the population benefited from the advances technology allowed. We all loved Tang.

When the question was asked, “Who would want to be an astronaut’s wife?” only three raised their hands. Times have changed...We've come a long way, baby!

This Month's Selection: The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel

Evening Readers Book Club

The Astronaut Wives Club

by Lily Koppel

Tuesday, May 19, 6:30 p.m.

As America's Mercury Seven astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, TV cameras focused on the brave smiles of their young wives. Overnight, these women were transformed from military spouses into American royalty. They had tea with Jackie Kennedy, appeared on the cover of Life magazine, and quickly grew into fashion icons.

Annie Glenn, with her picture-perfect marriage, was the envy of the other wives; platinum-blonde Rene Carpenter was proclaimed JFK's favorite; and licensed pilot Trudy Cooper arrived on base with a secret. Together with the other wives they formed the Astronaut Wives Club, meeting regularly to provide support and friendship. Many became next-door neighbors and helped to raise each other's children by day, while going to glam parties at night as the country raced to land a man on the moon.

As their celebrity rose-and as divorce and tragic death began to touch their lives-they continued to rally together, and the wives have now been friends for more than fifty years. The Astronaut Wives Club tells the real story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history.

Please feel free to read The Astronaut Wives Club along with us this month, and join the discussion using the comments section of this blog!

What We Thought: Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh

Evening Reader Book Club

April 2015

Baker Towers

by Jennifer Haigh

Baker Towers is a family saga and a love story, a memory of a time and place now gone. Book club members said the reading the book was like eating comfort food. Although there was sadness and tragedy readers were sustained by the way in which families took care of each other and lived their lives. They loved how the characters came together for each other in the end. They were impressed with the authentic portrayal of characters and their lives, the vivid descriptions of a rural company coal town in Western Pennsylvania and life for young women in Washington DC during WWII and right after. Author Jennifer Haigh creates a real sense of a community and brings the mining town to life through a large cast of minor characters who pass in and out of the Novak’s’ lives.

Everyone agreed that the story was written with great compassion for the people who lived and died in the town. There were many emotional moments when readers spoke about particular events and characters that moved them. They recounted personal stories about their own family history as a result of the truths recounted in the story of Bakerton. It was if they were remembering real people and their reactions to them. This led into several serious discussions about the dynamics of family life and ethnic assimilation of Poles and Italians, whose families permeated the story with distinctive ethnic characteristics, working together but living in separate neighborhoods.

The main theme was the need to escape from the town and the miner’s life, but real escape eluded most. Returning home awaited most of the Novaks, along with those who never left. The second-generation children embraced the home of their parents and willingly built a comfortable life there. Others said that they were waiting for a big event but it never came. Some said the event was WWII and the collapse of the Baker Mine and subsequent demise of the coal industry along with Bakerton. Readers also discussed restoration and renewal, family secrets and conflict, personal growth and how choices affect the paths we take in our lives.

Readers remarked that the book was choppy and the switching back and forth led to readers losing their place and having to start over. Others said that this was how the families lived. Everyone enjoyed reading the book and was very enthusiastic when discussing it. Some said it reminded them the Doll Maker by Harriett Arnow,  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith and At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen. Readers were caught up in the history of World War I and II and recommended  the Ken Follett trilogy covering WWI through WWII; Fall of the Giants, Winter of the World, and Edge of Eternity.

Readers are looking forward to discovering more elaboration about the Novak siblings in the author’s current book of short stories about Bakerton, News from Heaven.

Have you read Baker Towers or other books by Jennifer Haigh? Please share your thoughts in the comments! You don't have to be part of the face-to-face book club to comment, and you may comment anonymously if you would like to.