Orbital

De: Samantha Harvey

Narrado por: Sarah Naudi

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024

Winner of the 2024 Hawthornden Prize

Shortlisted for the 2024 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction

Shortlisted for the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

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 Times

A slender novel of epic power and the winner of the Booker Prize 2024, 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.

©2023 Samantha Harvey (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Reflections from above the earth

Interesting reflections on humankind and self.

The narrator was good except for a speech issue, a noticeable lisp that was very distracting.

Well written but repetitious

The writing is marvelous and that is usually all I need but it turns out that a plot is nice too. Yes we have characters but in truth nothing happens that would constitute a beginning middle and end, unless you count the numbering of orbits.
If space travel is your thing then you’ll probably love it. It does transcend the everyday human experience while still paying homage to it.

Beautiful book

Orbital’s prose is utterly lyrical. While the characters aren’t people we fully know, by the end, we somehow know them intimately from brief glimpses into their journey. Gorgeous book well deserving of the National Book Award.

A lot of great contemplations

There are many meditative moments throughout this narrative. … images and ideas that will stick with me for a very long time. Very well done.

Updated research wonderful!!

I love space! Carl Sagan no longer with us but this is a very good story and informative piece. Did audible but will get paper copy to have this info on hand! Also some excellent observations about life