The Wanderers

By: Meg Howrey

Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò

Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Station Eleven meets The Martian in this brilliantly inventive novel about three astronauts training for the first-ever mission to Mars, an experience that will push the boundary between real and unreal, test their relationships, and leave each of them - and their families - changed forever.

In an age of space exploration, we search to find ourselves.

In four years aerospace giant Prime Space will put the first humans on Mars. Helen Kane, Yoshihiro Tanaka, and Sergei Kuznetsov must prove they're the crew for the historic voyage by spending 17 months in the most realistic simulation ever created. Constantly observed by Prime Space's team of "Obbers", Helen, Yoshi, and Sergei must appear ever in control. But as their surreal pantomime progresses, each soon realizes that the complications of inner space are no less fraught than those of outer space. The borders between what is real and unreal begin to blur, and each astronaut is forced to confront demons past and present, even as they struggle to navigate their increasingly claustrophobic quarters - and each other.

Astonishingly imaginative, tenderly comedic, and unerringly wise, The Wanderers explores the differences between those who go and those who stay, telling a story about the desire behind all exploration: the longing for discovery and the great search to understand the human heart.

Library Journal, A Big Fiction pick for March 2017.

©2017 Meg Howrey (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Engrossing.... Although the contours of a space drama may seem familiar to a 21st-century readership, Howrey, through the poetry of her writing and the richness of her characters, makes it all seem new. A lyrical and subtle space opera." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

"Three astronauts and those who know them best explore the limits of truth and love in Howrey’s genre-bending novel.... The voices are distinct, each member reviewing and acting on his or her own emotional telemetry with equal parts brilliance and blunder, and the stakes are high, with any heartbeat capable of tipping the scales against the crew’s survival.... With these believably fragile and idealistic characters at the helm, Howrey’s insightful novel will take readers to a place where they too can 'lift their heads and wonder.'" (Publishers Weekly)

"Howrey presents an extraordinarily empathetic and well-realized look at the astronauts and their families as they progress through the Eidolon mission. Compelling and timely, these parallel tales of exploration, both through the galaxy and within, should win over a wide variety of readers." (Library Journal)

Remarkable character development

The sci-fi element is pretty excellent in this book, and there's plenty of it to keep the story engaging on that level. What I found remarkable in this book was the depth of character development and the author's extraordinary insight into a diverse set personalities and their individual thought life. Excellent.

Meh...

What did you like best about The Wanderers? What did you like least?

The story is good, however I was hoping for a little more exciting story line. Mostly this is a story about the personalities of the astronauts and their families. After a few chapters, there wasn't much to keep me engaged. It was, however, interesting to imagine how they and their families must control their feelings for the sake of the career. The narration became a little monotonous for me. I finished the book but only because I am very stubborn and am unwilling to cut my losses!

Would you be willing to try another book from Meg Howrey? Why or why not?

No thanks. While the author's prose is great, I didn't find the story engaging. The style of writing isn't for me.

Which character – as performed by Mozhan Marno – was your favorite?

None really. I never developed an attachment to any of them.

Was The Wanderers worth the listening time?

No.

Well written but disappointing non-ending

I thoroughly enjoyed this book up until the last few minutes. It was very well written and the character development was great. I loved the narrator. She did a great job with the 7 different voices.

**SPOILERS** But it was very anticlimactic. It was as if the last quarter of the book was lost. Nothing exciting happened. It just ended. I was disappointed.

Hmmm... ok.

What did you love best about The Wanderers?

She must have read "Packing for Mars" by Mary Roach. The tech and science was reasonable for the mission.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I enjoyed all the astronauts. I would have enjoyed more time with them and less with the family members.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Mozhan Marno?

It would depend on the book. Several times I got confused who was speaking. She attempted different voices. Sometimes they got muddled, especially during a fast back and forth.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I needed a break half way through.

Any additional comments?

I wanted more of the mission and a post mission review. I was left wanting more.

A Book About Disconnection

I am a big fan of Meg Howrey. The Cranes Dance is the best, most underappreciated ballet novel that's out there. I'd rate it well above Maggie Shipstead's Astonish Me. Her writing is reminiscent of Lionel Shriver's--that kind of deeply analytical, deeply beautiful prose. When I saw that she had a new book coming out, I preordered it and eagerly waited for it to be available for download. And then it took me close to a year and a half to finish it.

I really hate to say it, but this was a slog. I am not the type of reader who requires constant action in a story to stay engaged. I am both an avid reader and writer of literary fiction. I enjoy a good character study. However, the main problem with The Wanderers is that it is a story about disconnected people. And they're all so disconnected, I couldn't connect to them.

I couldn't find any attachment to any of the characters, and it's not because they're flat so much as it's because they're all these broken objects floating in space. They're unreachable. They're interesting, sure, but you never really get close enough to any of them to explore that. The only character that comes close to being an exception is Dimitri, one of Sergei's sons. But even he is a bit too disconnected. Everyone's reactions are muted, their affects too calculated. They're almost not real people--more like robots.

And don't let the description fool you: this book is not really about space or Mars or any of that. That stuff is in there--it is apparent that Howrey has done an impressive amount of detailed research--but it's not the point. The book is definitely mis-marketed with comparisons to Station Eleven and The Martian. This is a book of character studies. And so there really isn't a lot going on. Lots of introspection from really sad, really broken, and/or really out of touch people. It was hard for me to get through ten hours of that.

The narrator does a good job. She has to handle a lot of different accents, and a lot of different characters. She doesn't necessarily differentiate all that much between characters' voices, but she does a good job with the accents, and I was never really confused as to who was talking.

I am sad that I can't recommend this book. There's just too much stagnancy. I look forward to what Meg Howrey does next, because the writing really is beautiful, but this was a miss for me.

Emotions in (simulated) Space

I love this story. All the characters are well rounded and interesting, there is not one point of view that I would skip or wouldn't want to listen to.

The story is similar to the Martian in that they have astronauts going to mars and there are problems but the problems in this story are far more emotional. While the Martian is mostly scientifically accurate, it tends to miss the emotional counterpart which is done well and completely in The Wanderers without being too much or too little. Unlike Helen and Meeps this book gets the emotional just right.

What a horrible ending....

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No! I read the tag line that this book was a combination of 'The Martian,' and 'Station 11.' Both of these are books I absolutely loved and have listened to multiple times.

I finished this book in about 3 days. I had very obsessive dreams about this book and highly anticipated a good ending. What a huge let down. I'm sure it was meant to be profound and thought evoking, but it was just enormously frustrating.

In short, I'm returning this book and getting my credit back.

Tedious, Wordy, at Times Rediculus.

Would you try another book from Meg Howrey and/or Mozhan Marno?

No

What was most disappointing about Meg Howrey’s story?

Paraphrasing..."At the event the character decided to pretend to be a mentally ill person trying to act normal."

What three words best describe Mozhan Marno’s performance?

Tolerable, nice to fall asleep to

Could you see The Wanderers being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Well at least the descriptions of the non verbal thinking would be at a minimum.

Astronauts are people too

From the perspective of us average folk astronauts seem like people that are as near perfect in every respect as we can imagine. This story shows us that side and all their other very human other selves. All the same great and petty torments. All the complex interwoven narratives are compelling, sweet, neurotic, intelligent and many times blind as are all of ours (mine at least). I had to slog through a few passages but they were short and few, I started it three times and I am very happy I finally finished it. I very definitely recommend it.

Literary fiction for space, only not in space.

I loved this story. I believe I'll pick up a physical copy of it for my own library since I only listened to the audio version.