Orbital

eBook, 208 pages

Published July 17, 2023 by Grove Atlantic.

ISBN:
978-0-8021-6154-3
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4 stars (6 reviews)

A singular new novel from Betty Trask Prize–winner Samantha Harvey, Orbital is an eloquent meditation on space and life on our planet through the eyes of six astronauts circling the earth in 24 hours.

A slender novel of epic power, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men hurtling through space—not towards the moon or the vast unknown, but around our planet. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts—from America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan—have left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour as the earth reels

below. We glimpse moments of their earthly lives through brief communications with family, their photos and talismans; we watch them whip up dehydrated meals, float in gravity-free sleep, and exercise in regimented routines to prevent atrophying …

2 editions

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space”

5 stars

A single day aboard the space station is 16 orbits of the Earth. A lovely book that takes a different approach to being in space: humanist, tenderness for all we are. Rare in the softness it treats the cold darkness of space, mainly stemming from its point of view above the Earth. Inhabiting a place of extreme contradictions, Harvey draws a circle around our hearts.

Orbital - 5 Stars

5 stars

This little book pretty much blew me away, with its poetic and beautifully-written ruminations on life, space, and the Earth, featuring six astronauts/cosmonauts on the space station. There were many sections that changed or expanded my perspective on things. It definitely called to mind the Pale Blue Dot. It's not flawless - for example, there were a few times when it felt perhaps a bit too sentimental, and I'm not sure why it referred to "mankind" rather than "humankind" through most of the novel (also, an early description of the Japanese astronaut as being "not-quite definable" veered a little too close to the "inscrutable" trope, I thought). Overall, though, it was extremely well done.

Review of 'Orbital' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This isn’t a book about anything. Nothing happens. There is no adventure and the author forgot to add the content of a story. However, there are endless descriptions of the earth from orbit. Page after page of run-on sentences, no paragraph breaks, and lists of things. Also lots of reflections on what it is to be human, what is humanity, and our role in the cosmos. Tedious stuff but an extra star for being relatively short.

Review of 'Orbital' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Thanks so much to the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy for me to review.

Firstly, this book contains the exact recipe for a book that I would love. To Be Taught If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers, Providence by Max Barry, The Freeze Frame Revolution and Blindsight by Peter Watts... if it involves a few people on a spaceship together with no space and no choice but to become deeply invested in each other's lives, I'm very likely going to love it.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey was no exception. We follow one "day" cycle of 6 astronauts from different backgrounds orbiting the earth in the present day, 16 orbits total. However briefly in this quick ~200 page book, we get to spend an intimate amount of time with these astronauts: their thoughts, their duties, and their relationships, almost as if we are the seventh astronaut sharing the claustrophobic space …

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4 stars
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2 stars

Subjects

  • Science Fiction
  • General Fiction
  • Literary Fiction

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