The Terranauts

August 1, 2016
In his 16th novel, Boyle (The Harder They Come) weaves a sprawling tale of achievement, yearning, pride, and human weakness. On March 6, 1994, eight “Terranauts” from different scientific backgrounds enter E2, a sealed three-acre world within a world outside Tillman, Ariz., to embark on the grand hundred-year vision of billionaire futurist Jeremiah Reed (known portentously as “God the Creator”), “one of the first to recognize that our species... was well on its way to destroying or at least depleting the global ecosystem and might just need an escape valve.” Narrated by Dawn Chapman, the affable, telegenic darling of the crew; Linda Ryu, the book’s id and a spurned Terranaut whose close friendship with Dawn sours as the project wears on; and Ramsay Roothoorp, the sexually adventurous man-child whose incessant rationalizing, political plays, and mercurial personality provide much of the story’s humor (and twisted psychological insight), the two-year mission exposes the fragility of interpersonal relationships and tests the limits of the human body. In a multilayered work that recalls the tragicomic realism of Saul Bellow and John Updike, Boyle observes his characters with scientific rigor and a good deal of genuine empathy as they struggle to maintain their identities in the most communal of settings. Agent: Georges Borchardt, Georges Borchardt Literary.

May 1, 2016

Boyle returns quickly after the New York Times best-selling The Harder They Come with an ecorelevant work set in 1994. Eight scientists called the Terranauts are living in E2, an enclosed, presumably sustainable compound meant to model a possible off-Earth colony. Its motto, "Nothing in, nothing out," sums up both the mission and its risks; E2 has to work on its own, and everyone is watching to see whether it will fail. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2016

Set in 1994, this book offers a fresh take on an old conceit: assemble a disparate group of people, put them in a secluded environment, and see what ensues. In this case, the setting is E2, a sealed, Biosphere-like artificial ecological system. In a project led by Jeremiah Reed, part ecological visionary and part huckster, the eight scientists, or "terranauts," as they've been dubbed, picked for Mission Two will live for two years in a three-acre artificial earth. The story is told through the divergent perspectives of three participants: Dawn Chapman, the attractive young ecologist and animal keeper; Ramsay Roothoorp, the slick-surfaced communications officer and ladies' man; and Linda Ryu, Dawn's presumptive best friend, who was left off the project and is constantly scheming to get inside--generally at Dawn's expense. What begins in the throes of ecological idealism eventually devolves into petty squabbles and infighting, especially after Dawn becomes pregnant by Ramsay and decides to have her baby inside E2. VERDICT Beneath the high-tech sheen is a rather old-fashioned theme: how idealistic enterprises can crumble owing to the foibles and fragility of human nature. This is one of Boyle's best--and quite possibly one of the best of the year. [See Prepub Alert, 4/3/16.]--Lawrence Rungren, Andover, MA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Soap opera, satire, and religious allegory find an uneasy balance within this earthbound version of a space colony.There's a lot of back story in the latest from the prolific, eclectic Boyle (The Harder They Come, 2015, etc.). As a scientific experiment in the "ecology of closed systems," with lessons learned for when "we'd have to seed life elsewhere--on Mars, to begin with," four men and four women are chosen by Mission Control (from 16 finalists) to live in a sealed compound in the Arizona desert for two years. They are designated "Mission Two" after an unfortunate accident aborted "Mission One." Ultimately, the grand design calls for 50 such two-year missions, a full century of data collection. Three different first-person narrators provide alternating perspectives in separate chapters that advance the plot. Dawn and Ramsay have both been chosen, like the rest, because of media attractiveness to bring public support to an enterprise that relies on it, while Linda, a Korean-American also-ran who remains behind as a monitor on those under glass, feels like her looks and ethnicity have unfairly deprived her. Ramsay maintains that "there are winners and losers in life" and that Linda "was one of the losers." Dawn and Linda have bonded throughout the training and selection process, but Linda now finds herself transitioning "from best friend to frenemy." Though the plot also involves a God and a Judas in Mission Control, and eventually an Eve as well, the focus throughout these 500-plus pages rarely shifts from its central obsession: who among "what our species has come to consider prime breeding stock" will pair with whom? Those on the inside gossip and speculate, as does Mission Control, as does the public at large. "Since we were all unmarried, there was endless speculation in the press about which of us might pair up, one rag even going so far as to post odds," writes Dawn. Amid the changing allegiances and alliances, sex eventually has consequences, though the reader wearied by two years of this might not much care. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 15, 2016
Soap opera, satire, and religious allegory find an uneasy balance within this earthbound version of a space colony.Theres a lot of back story in the latest from the prolific, eclectic Boyle (The Harder They Come, 2015, etc.). As a scientific experiment in the ecology of closed systems, with lessons learned for when wed have to seed life elsewhereon Mars, to begin with, four men and four women are chosen by Mission Control (from 16 finalists) to live in a sealed compound in the Arizona desert for two years. They are designated Mission Two after an unfortunate accident aborted Mission One. Ultimately, the grand design calls for 50 such two-year missions, a full century of data collection. Three different first-person narrators provide alternating perspectives in separate chapters that advance the plot. Dawn and Ramsay have both been chosen, like the rest, because of media attractiveness to bring public support to an enterprise that relies on it, while Linda, a Korean-American also-ran who remains behind as a monitor on those under glass, feels like her looks and ethnicity have unfairly deprived her. Ramsay maintains that there are winners and losers in life and that Linda was one of the losers. Dawn and Linda have bonded throughout the training and selection process, but Linda now finds herself transitioning from best friend to frenemy. Though the plot also involves a God and a Judas in Mission Control, and eventually an Eve as well, the focus throughout these 500-plus pages rarely shifts from its central obsession: who among what our species has come to consider prime breeding stock will pair with whom? Those on the inside gossip and speculate, as does Mission Control, as does the public at large. Since we were all unmarried, there was endless speculation in the press about which of us might pair up, one rag even going so far as to post odds, writes Dawn. Amid the changing allegiances and alliances, sex eventually has consequences, though the reader wearied by two years of this might not much care.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2016
An avid, droll, and Darwinian-minded observer of nature both human and at-large, Boyle (The Harder They Come, 2015) loves pressure-cooker situations, whether it's life on a small island or in a hippie commune or an architect's studio. His latest closed-systems drama is a masterful variation on the infamous 1990s Biosphere 2 experiments during which scientists lived in a large terrarium under the Arizona sun, seeking new ecological understandings with an eye to long-term space missions. Boyle's glassed-in, three-acre world, Ecosphere 2prison for some, paradise for othersengenders science theater and theater of the absurd. Three intriguing, often surprising narrators provide opposing perspectives on the arduous experiences of eight terranauts struggling to survive in the bubble for two years. Linda reports from the outside, enraged by her relegation to support staff. Dawn, her friend, becomes the most zealous of the terranauts. Mercurial Ramsay, Dawn's lover, counts the days to liberation. The group endures near-starvation, dangerously low oxygen levels, sexual complications, and betrayals under the constant scrutiny of the project's cultish mastermind, hordes of tourists, the voracious press, and baleful Linda. As Boyle raises the stakes to see how his lab humans react, he also suggests disquieting questions about our strengths and weaknesses, ourdeleterious impact on the planet, and our ability to address environmental concerns. A virtuoso storyteller and a connoisseur of hubris, Boyle mesmerizes and provokes. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Boyle is a literary star, and an all-points publicity campaign and author tour will launch this shrewd and irresistible novel of ambition and folly.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)