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Orbital  By  cover art

Orbital

By: Samantha Harvey
Narrated by: Sarah Naudi
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Publisher's summary

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 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. So are the marks of civilization far below, encrusted on the planet on which we live.

Profound, contemplative, and gorgeous, Orbital is an eloquent meditation on space and a moving elegy to our humanity, environment, and planet.

©2023 Samantha Harvey (P)2023 Penguin Audio

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What listeners say about Orbital

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The details about daily life in space felt realistic.

The story takes place in a single day for six astronauts orbiting the earth in a space station. The lives are seen through communications with family, and thoughts while observing the space around them.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Exquisite!

This was a gem of a novel. Beautiful and meaningful. I will listen to this many more times! I recommend it to everyone!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good geography lesson.

Thin sketches of half the characters.
Sounds like ship breaks up in 7 yrs. The crack.
Roman , likely has lymphoma. Too much radiation- time in space.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Dull

Very little happens and there is zero character development. This was an atmospheric sketch more than anything. It might have made a mediocre short story, but at book length it felt flat. Don’t purchase this title. It’s a waste of money.

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1 person found this helpful