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Jan 23, 2018
When this book was recommended to me, it was compared to "The Martian." I loved "The Martian," but this book was nothing like it. I'm hesitant to even consider it sci-fi, as the science aspect took a back seat to the rest. Nonetheless, I very much enjoyed "The Wanderers." The premise of this story is a rich private company, Prime, is planning to send humans to Mars, and they select Helen- an American woman, Sergei- a Russian man, and Yoshi- a Japanese man to participate in a simulation of the trip to and from Mars that will take place in Utah. These three are chosen not only for their individual talents and personalities, but also for how they will interact with each other on this long-haul mission. If they do well during this simulation, they will be the first humans to set foot on the red planet. They are very aware of the importance of their "performance" during the simulation, and this leads to everyone essentially acting like the astronauts they assume Prime is expecting. Their families are also included- it's very important for the astronauts to have a supportive family. While there was a bit of cool science, the heart of this novel is relationships (human and otherwise). Relationships between family members and colleagues, blooming relationships that may or may not be socially acceptable, and an interesting bit of relationships with robots. Be warned: there's not a ton of action in this story. It's mostly a lovely character-driven exploration on humanity.