The book was interesting. It was hard to follow all of the characters. Could have had more character development.

Somewhat interesting but hardly worth the time.

Very insightful and eye-opening concerning the lives of married women in the fifties.

Here finally is the untold story of what happened behind the scenes of the space program during the 50s and 60s. It was a time of intense competition yet fierce loyalty, and astronauts and their wives lived under the intense scrutiny of both NASA and the world. The wives felt they had to conform to the ideal image projected to the world while raising their children virtually single-handed (the astronauts were away from home a lot, and even when they were home were not always \\\"present\\\"), and making their husband\\\'s lives as stress free as possible when they were home. The astronauts, in the mean time, were seen as celebrities and found themselves surrounded by women. While a few marriages were able to withstand the strain most of the couples ended up divorced.

While the information is fascinating the way it is presented makes it extremely hard to enjoy it. While I understand Koppel\\\'s decision to include information about all the wives involved in the program it made it hard to remember any of them. The conversational writing style that attempted to be from the wives perspectives just didn\\\'t work. Ultimately an interesting premise but an uneven delivery.

Interesting and enjoyable read. A bit confusing with all the characters - felt as if I needed a graph. I stopped trying to remember the characters and just enjoyed the read.

There is no story; it is simply an account of things that have already been written, including a couple glaring historical mistakes, that anyone would catch. It is poorly written and has no purpose since it adds nothing. Very disappointing and a waste of time.

The topic has so much potential that is not fulfilled in this story with no plot.

I was in middle grades when Alan Shepard and John Glenn were shot into space. My formative years were the formative years of the space program. This book helped dust off many cobwebs that have accumulated in the 50 ensuing years. Customs were very different then and make for an interesting conversation about whether the changes have been for the better. I felt this book could have used \"more meat.\" It felt like an appetizer, preparing me for something more.

I was disappointed in this book. It read like a Ladies Home Journal article. There was no depth to it. The cast of characters was HUGE. I believe that if the book had focused in on just a few of the wives and given us a more in-depth look at their lives it would have been more satisfying.

A fairly informative read about what the astronauts' wives went through while their husbands trained and blasted into space. However, the book does not delve deeply into any of the issues it mentions and spreads itself too thing by covering all of the wives up through the Apollo program. More depth would have been appreciated. Nonetheless, we had a good discussion about it.

Although this book was a bit confusing with all the different wives and families to keep track of, it does tell the story of a significant piece of the race to space and that is a key piece of our US history.

I couldn't put it down. I felt sorry for the wives when the press would come to their homes for the launches. I also felt bad when an astronaut got killed and how the widows got treated. It seemed weird reading it when John Glenn passed away at the same time.