The Wanderers

I have a lot of books in the digital app I use for library checkouts and The Wanderers by Meg Howrey made its way onto that list somehow; when I was looking for a book available to read right away, I chose it last weekend for long weekend trip. It wasn’t at all what I expected, but maybe exactly what I needed.

The Wanderers is about 3 astronauts and some of the people in their lives as they go into a simulation to prepare for a trip to Mars. It feels like the near future where travel to Mars is doable but to make sure the astronauts are prepared for the long journey and how Mars will be they simulate some work on Mars. Each chapter is told from the point of view of one person and it rotates around between the various characters.

I kept waiting for something to happen and then realized that the point isn’t some big action event, but rather how the simulation changed almost everyone involved in it. They all dealt with the long travel time or being away from family differently. And in each case we get a glimpse into how it affects them and what they do to try and make it work. I ended up liking the book overall, the ending was worth it. But it wasn’t a page turner, it was more quietly interesting.