Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in Uncategorized
Four Stars
Best for:
Anyone wanting a beautiful bit of writing that isn’t about a plot so much as a feeling.
In a nutshell:
A day in the life of four astronauts and two cosmonauts as they orbit the earth 16 times.
Worth quoting:
“We find out about our own unspecialness and in a flush of innocence we feel quite glad – if we’re not special then we might not be alone.”
“We think we’re the wind, but we’re just the leaf.”
Why I chose it:
This was a birthday present from my partner, who clearly knows me well.
Review:
Like many people, occasionally I’ll have a moment where I think about the vastness of space and how I don’t understand it. It nearly takes my breath away when I really contemplate it. At the same time, I would love to spend a few days in space, to view Earth and the cosmos from high above.
This book isn’t plot driven – at the risk of spoiling it, there is not unexpected incident putting the six space travelers at risk. We learn a bit about each of their lives – one has just lost her mother (and will in fact miss her funeral while up in space), others have partners, children. What motivated them to want to be sealed in a tiny can circling the Earth sixteen times each day. How they feel now that they are in space. And that is a bit part of the book.
But most of the book is about Earth – what is going on, how humans relate to each other on it, how it appears from above, how it fits into the universe. The writing is beautiful but not overly flowery. It invokes a mood – for me it was a mixture of calmness, overall peace, and also curiosity. It’s a fairly short novel, but it’s clear why it won the Booker Prize in 2024. I would recommend it to anyone looking for something a bit different.
