Paperback, 200 pages
Español language
Published January 2025 by Anagrama.
Vive momentos épicos y reflexiones profundas a través de las palabras e imágenes que expanden nuestra percepción de la humanidad.
Un himno maravilloso a lo ordinario y lo espectacular narrado a cuatrocientos quilómetros de la tierra.Premio Booker 2024. Un grupo de seis astronautas lleva a cabo una misión rutinaria en la Estación Espacial Internacional, en la órbita terrestre baja. La de Pietro, italiano, es monitorizar los microbios presentes en la nave. Chie, la tripulante japonesa, cultiva cristales de proteínas y, al igual que sus compañeros, es objeto de estudio del impacto de la microgravedad en el funcionamiento neuronal. Shaun, el americano del grupo, observa qué les ocurre a las raíces de las plantas ante la falta de luz y gravedad para saber cuándo y cómo poder cultivarlas. Nell, del Reino Unido, recoge los datos que le proporcionan sus cuarenta ratones acerca del desgaste muscular en el espacio. Roman y Anton, …
Vive momentos épicos y reflexiones profundas a través de las palabras e imágenes que expanden nuestra percepción de la humanidad.
Un himno maravilloso a lo ordinario y lo espectacular narrado a cuatrocientos quilómetros de la tierra.Premio Booker 2024. Un grupo de seis astronautas lleva a cabo una misión rutinaria en la Estación Espacial Internacional, en la órbita terrestre baja. La de Pietro, italiano, es monitorizar los microbios presentes en la nave. Chie, la tripulante japonesa, cultiva cristales de proteínas y, al igual que sus compañeros, es objeto de estudio del impacto de la microgravedad en el funcionamiento neuronal. Shaun, el americano del grupo, observa qué les ocurre a las raíces de las plantas ante la falta de luz y gravedad para saber cuándo y cómo poder cultivarlas. Nell, del Reino Unido, recoge los datos que le proporcionan sus cuarenta ratones acerca del desgaste muscular en el espacio. Roman y Anton, que ocupan el módulo ruso, están al cargo del mantenimiento del generador de oxígeno. Todos deben informar sobre sus cefaleas; todos se acercan en algún momento a las ventanas de observación y fotografían los lugares que les han sido asignados; todos cambian los detectores de humo, limpian el baño y la cocina, arreglan el inodoro. Y luchan contra la disipación de sus cuerpos para no volver a casa con los huesos frágiles y débiles como corderos. Cada uno de ellos pasará en la estación seis meses, más de ciento ochenta días en los que darán unas dieciséis vueltas diarias a la Tierra. En las más de cuatro mil horas que vivirán en el espacio reflexionarán acerca de qué los ha llevado a ser astronautas y hasta qué punto lo que están viviendo ahora se parece a lo que habían imaginado entonces.Orbital es un viaje a los límites de nuestras certezas, un relato sobre el vértigo que produce la confrontación con un vacío cósmico y una transformación existencial: íntima, pero también de un alcance universal, el que nos habla de lo que somos y creemos ser como especie.Una novela con momentos de puro éxtasis contemplativo, capaz de expandir, gracias a una exquisita elección de las imágenes y las palabras, nuestra percepción de lo que la literatura puede llegar a hacer perceptible.
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.
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.
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.
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 …
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 of the research space station they call home. While there is little story that drives the narrative, I didn't think this setting called for that kind of structure. This was a deeply introspective examination of the human condition, aspirations, emotion, and loss. It did not need a strong story progression to be compelling and beautiful.
Also, the amount of research that went into this was extremely commendable. There are so many small details about life in orbit that was clearly informed by actual experts. The acknowledgements thank NASA and the ESA for their insights, so I have to commend the author for being diligent in creating a stunning and authentic story.
While some of the routine activities interrupted with descriptions of the orbital path and philosophizing might read as tedious to some, I found it to be necessary to flesh out the otherwise indescribable experience of an astronaut's relationship with their own humanity while being at the forefront of the terrifying precipice of human achievement. The structure did take some getting used to however, with frequent jumps from one character to another, then to no character at all between paragraphs, but it wasn't too disruptive. Regarding the overall story, I do think I would have appreciated a bit more relationship development between the characters. What was there was done so well, it had me really yearning for more, but otherwise this was an excellent read and I very much recommend it.
