The Terranauts (novel)
| Author | T. C. Boyle |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Ecco |
Publication date | 25 October, 2016 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 528 |
| ISBN | 978-0062349408 |
| Preceded by | The Harder They Come |
The Terranauts is a novel by T. C. Boyle, published in October 2016 by Ecco. It is set in a glassed-in biodome in Arizona, closely similar to the real-life Biosphere II. The plot focuses on two of the inside crew and one jealous outsider.
Plot
The setting is "Ecosphere 2," a very close analogy of the real-life ecological experiment Biosphere II, which was a 3.14 acre glass-enclosed biodome in Oracle Junction, Arizona. The novel is set in the fictional town of Tillman but the physical description of E2, as it's known, is exactly that of the Biosphere.
As with the real-life experiment, four men and four women are shut in for a two-year mission, determined to be self-sufficient in food, water and oxygen. Also as with the real thing, technical problems and major personal strife threaten to end the mission prematurely.
There are three narrators in Boyle's literary device--insiders Dawn Chapman and Ramsay Roothoorp, and outsider Linda Ryu. Chapman (nickname E) and Roothoorp (Vodge) quickly become one of several sexually active couples inside E2, and Ryu develops from being Chapman's best friend into a devious spy working for the mission management team. When E turns up pregnant and decides to give birth inside rather than break closure, the repercussions are dramatic. How the insiders react, and how the management ultimately turns the crisis to its cynical advantage, are the meat of this novel.
See also
External links
- T.C. Boyle official web site
- TED talk: Jane Poynter on Life in Biosphere II
- YouTube - Biosphere 2 crewmember & author Jane Poynter interview
- "The Terranauts". goodreads.com.