“The Calculating Stars” (Lady Astronaut No. 1) by Mary Robinette Kowal
On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.
Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.
Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.
Review
I’m re-reading the first three books in this series so I can read newest book and so I can put the reviews on my site. I do have something of an old review on my Instagram from when I originally read the first book and started the second, but I’ve redone the review for the first book here and there will be reviews for the others.
I enjoyed reading this again, since it’s been a couple years I’d forgotten some details but many of my thoughts have stayed the same. I really liked the world building that went into this series and the way things were discussed among the characters. The author clearly did their research and had help creating this series as detailed at the end of the book. There is also a section at the end of the book that details some historical items that were used to help build the idea that this all could be possible. I do admit to wishing there had been more time spent on the world building and showing how things were developing throughout the country. The space program is important but perhaps a little more could have been said about the conditions on Earth in this book. Still I think it worked out well and because of the timing a lot of time did have to be spent dealing with the sexism and racism that existed. Different reasons for the same progress that needed to be made.
I like the main characters and I thought they were well done, but I felt like some of the other characters could have been developed more beyond their role as someone for Elma to learn from. In that regard I feel like the sexism was perhaps better handled than the racism. Woman didn’t have a lot of rights in the 50s and were treated as if they were fragile creatures who couldn’t possibly handle being in space. Elma was in the Women Air force Service Pilots program during World War 2 and is a mathematician so she gets to join the International Aerospace Coalition that forms after the strike but there are still many roadblocks in place.
On the racism aspect I think it’s decently handled from a white person’s point of view at least, though I would imagine there might be places where some Black readers might wish things were handled differently. As it stands the author handles things by having the main character constantly realizing what she’s missing. Though that might be intentional on the authors part with Elma being well intended but oblivious to wider issues that people are facing as she’s dealing with her own stuff. Elma and her husband are Jewish and have dealt with their own share of discrimination and the events of the second World War as well. I did like that Martin Luther King Jr. and the beginnings of the civil rights movements are also mentioned throughout the book, as the start of changes for Black people going into space. There’s an intent to deal with the racism alongside the sexism that works out well enough as the series goes on.
It does also have to be pointed out that because it’s the 50s its also pre all the advances made by disabled people in getting their rights in the United States as well. Many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were locked away in institutions in the 50s. People with some physical disabilities faired somewhat better – the main character’s brother had polio as a child and uses crutches – but was well educated and had opportunities given to him as Elma had. There are a few other mentions of disability and mental health issues throughout the series (Elma also has an anxiety disorder) but not to a great detail. But a lot of that can be put down to how it was in the 50s. Disabled people were ignored unless they were already actively in the community working along side others and that was rare at the time.
While it’s not the story the author wanted to focus on there are a lot of obvious changes to where the disability rights movement will come from given who likely died when the meteorite struck. That said, other people will have lived and would have made the same choices they already were making in getting out of institutions and fighting to be seen and heard.
Warnings and additional reviews can be found on the StoryGraph page for “The Calculating Stars”.
Book Details
- Author’s Website
- Mary Robinette Kowal
- Publisher / Date
- Tor Books, July 2018
- Genre
- Science Fiction, Alternate History
- Page Count
- 432
- Completion Date
- June 30, 2025
