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"Ravishingly beautiful." — Joshua Ferris, New York TimesA slender novel of epic power, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space. 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 muscles; we witness them form bonds that will stand between them and utter solitude. Most of all, we are with them as they behold and record their silent blue planet. Their experiences of sixteen sunrises and sunsets and the bright, blinking constellations of the galaxy are at once breathtakingly awesome and surprisingly intimate.Profound and contemplative, Orbital is a moving elegy to our environment and planet.
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Orbital
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"Ravishingly beautiful." — Joshua Ferris, New York TimesA slender novel of epic power, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space. 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 muscles; we witness them form bonds that will stand between them and utter solitude. Most of all, we are with them as they behold and record their silent blue planet. Their experiences of sixteen sunrises and sunsets and the bright, blinking constellations of the galaxy are at once breathtakingly awesome and surprisingly intimate.Profound and contemplative, Orbital is a moving elegy to our environment and planet.
Popular Reviews(6)
Reviewed by Bethslow progression and now what i was expecting from a sci-fi book.
Reviewed by kencongratulations to this book for winning the booker, but it's an okay narrative at best. this waxing poetic about protecting the earth and loving it but for the people to be outside, literally in space and distant from all that happens in it, gives it a weird tinge that i seem unable to name. the lack of plot is forgivable but the least this book can offer is wonderful prose but it's nowhere to be seen.
Reviewed by IzzylizzyWe go so far away, just to feel so close, Distance us from life, to finally feel alive.
Reviewed by Sarah StöckleBreathtaking
Reviewed by JenniferNo plot just vibes