Orbital: Winner of the Booker Prize

Halfway through this extraordinary novel I had my doubts. After all, you could say that it’s all about going round and round in circles. But in the end Samantha Harvey very much more than justifies her Booker. There are writing gurus who swear that the fundamental secret, bar none, to all good writing is the sentence: get that key component right and you’re on a winning streak from the off. If that were all there was to it, even then Harvey would certainly be a winner. Her sentences are beautifully structured and sparkle and shimmer with wit, insight and feeling. She’s a born writer, but her novel goes way beyond the mere accomplished sentence. The centre of her book is the visionary experience of the Earth seen from space. Oh, the stars and the moon come into it too, but what concerns her are the six astronauts (well, four astronauts and two cosmonauts, Russians) in the space station two hundred and fifty miles above the planet. Orbital is a close, intimate recreation of twenty four hours in the lives of these two women and four men, confined in their cramped metal container as it spins through sixteen orbits, working its way over continents, islands, seas and deserts, while they experience sixteen sunsets and sixteen sunrises (a helpful map at the start shows you their detailed trajectory). They carry out their set routines of cleaning and maintaining the craft, performing the vital physical exercises to keep themselves trim in a weightless environment, and carrying out various scientific experiments. Chie, for example, the Japanese crew member, rejoices when the lab mice she’s supervising finally learn to float, instead of desperately trying to rely on non-existent gravity. Meanwhile, she grieves for her mother, back in Japan, who has just died. She recalls her favourite moments with her, but will miss the funeral. Other events outside impinge. They witness the build up of a super-typhoon in the Pacific, but beyond reporting back to mission control, are of course powerless to do anything about it. They enthusiastically follow the launch of a new Moon-landing expedition, not a little envious of their fellow astronauts. They fret about home and families, treasure the few mementoes mounted around each of their individual cramped sleeping quarters. But the centre of everything is what they see through the windows: ‘They don’t know how it can be that their view is so endlessly repetitive and yet each time, every single time, newly born.’ They experience ‘A sense of gratitude so overwhelming that there’d be nothing they could do with or about it, no word or thought that could be its equal…’ In the end, Harvey’s sense of the extraordinary adventure of orbiting in space, witnessing the marvel of the globe beneath you, widens out into an enthralling vision of mankind’s future explorations and the planetary wonders beyond Earth.

Orbital is really unlike anything you’ll ever read. It takes you on an unforgettable journey, painting a breathtaking picture of our world, of space and everything in between. We see how a voyage around Earth affects six astronauts with varying stories to tell. It’s a beautiful balance of the every day happenings of a space venture, combined with such profound questions and discussions about our existence, what everything means, who we are, where we’ve come from. And I guarantee you’ll be left thinking about what comes next. What else is out there. What it means to be here, alive and present. It’s fascinating, deeply thought-provoking, awe-inspiring. It will fill you with a new found sense of gratitude and wonder. Brilliant! However, if you're looking for a plot, you'll not really find one. It feels more like a love letter to the universe, to the beauty of Earth. If you look at it from this perspective, you'll see it definitely achieves what it sets out to do!

Orbital is a science-fiction novel that follows a group of meteorologist astronauts observing Earth’s weather from space. After one of the crew members loses their mother, the team begins to reflect on their own lives back on Earth. From such a distant vantage point, they feel a growing sense of protectiveness over the planet they’ve left behind. I picked up this book because I’ve been really enjoying science fiction lately and wanted to explore something a little different, something more grounded than the usual alien-driven narratives. However, this novel doesn’t follow a traditional plot. Instead, it moves through each orbit of the Earth, drifting between the thoughts and perspectives of the crew. At times, this made it difficult to stay oriented in the story, as each character has their own way of thinking and interpreting the world. That said, there were moments that genuinely stayed with me. I found myself particularly drawn to the contrast between two astronauts, one religious and one not, and how, despite their differences, their perspectives often overlapped in meaningful ways. Unfortunately, much of the novel left me feeling somewhat disconnected. It’s a book I expected to read in one sitting, especially given its short length, but it took me three days to finish. I didn’t come away with the strong emotional impact I had hoped for. The novel explores powerful themes such as the climate crisis, national borders, global conflict, grief, and human connection. While these ideas are compelling, they didn’t resonate with me as deeply as I expected. At just 136 pages, Orbital is a quick read. I would recommend it to those who enjoy introspective, thought-provoking fiction. However, if you’re looking for a gripping, plot-driven story, this probably isn’t the book for you.

This is definitely a book that divides people! Don't buy this book looking for character development or a strong plot, it won't give you that. Buy it if you enjoy beautifully written prose. I loved this book from cover to cover, it centres the all encompassing presence of the planet Earth and everything else is an aside, and it stunningly juxtaposes the enormity of being in space looking back at Earth with the mundane realities of existing on the space station, realising your dreams, but being a cog in a machine. I would absolutely recommend this book to SOME of my friends. Its like reading 16 chapters of the most beautiful poetry.

Read on Kindle - finished July 2025 This book is more like a painting. Samantha paints beautiful pictures using beautifully collected words in lovely sentences. It’s wonderfully written. There is a real sense of tumbling over and over. There is almost a cadence to the words and sentences. A bit like a very long poem. I would love to go up to space and see the pictures that she has painted. It would be amazing. I enjoyed the book because it was so beautifully written and loved the images it conjured up.

A day in the life of 6 astronauts on the International Space Station. 16 orbits round Earth. Their observations, their thoughts. The vastness, the wonder. The all consuming dream, the mundane reality. The bigness and smallness of everything. The geography. This is beautifully written, objective and yet totally personal. It slips between thoughts and feelings of the six seamlessly, a single family, almost a single organism. The prose is poetic and has a touch of stream of consciousness with some sentences not completely formed. Lists appear in odd places. It feels slightly autistic, thoughts trump feelings, thoughts almost are feelings. The characters are separate but not very distinct. They interact with one another, operate as a single unit, seem to be gentle with one another. Personality is not relevant or useful in this environment. Subtle differences are apparent but overall there is a feeling of oneness. There is very little plot. Someone’s mother dies, there’s a typhoon on earth, there a small crack in the skin of the Space Station. But these things are not the point of the book, and they aren’t developed like plot lines. I think the idea here is that life goes on even though stuff happens. The real point of the book is a philosophical outlook on Earth, how beautiful, wonderful, fragile. What a welcoming, loving planet. Heaven on Earth. We are one tribe and we have a beautiful home.

This book clearly required a lot of study of how the international space station works , its orbits and equipment, which I found interesting and informative. The language was elegant, very descriptive but in a poetic, mostly pleasant way (though it did feel, many times, like it was trying very hard to make every sentence deep and taking itself too seriously). The main message was simple and clear, although maybe a little too simple as it's exactly the kind of message you'd expect about how little the differences we see on earth matter when you're up in space. I didn't dislike the book or the characters, though they felt a little lifeless to me. Considering that you are kind of reading the characters' thoughts and reflections for most of the book, I was expecting to feel a little more from their introspection, but it really didn't go almost anywhere. There isn't really a story (I didn't expect it) or character development, as this book is more of a long exposure picture of a day in space, but I still thought there would be more to it. It was ok, but only that. I read it out of curiosity, but I don't think I'll ever read it again nor that I would have missed anything if I had skipped it entirely. I'm a little confused as to why this book won any prize or particular attention: it does what it says it will do, fairly elegantly, but nothing more than that, and considering the supposed warmth of the message I felt kind of cold and underwhelmed. It's a short book, but it took be a while to go through it: it wasn't exactly boring, but I never once felt any motivation to read one more chapter or even just one more page, as literally you'd get nothing more, no new perspective; it all felt the same thing repeated over and over till the end. I found it mildly disappointing.

Found it intriguing and interesting to start with but grew bored by the repetitive nature and philosophical musings. Perhaps a “Marmite” read. Clearly some loved it as borne out in our book group.

Quick delivery; as expected. Would have liked if the packaging was a bit better because the day it was delivered, it was raining and the edges of the book were a little soggy. Not too much but they were.

Het gaat over 3 astronauten en 2 cosmonauten in ISS die in een baan om de aarde gaat. Het is een meditatieve roman over leven, tijd en de menselijke ervaring waarbij de baanbeweging om de aarde als metafoor wordt gebruikt. Alle astronauten hebben een soort van muizenissen. Het gaat vooral over Chie, die haar moeder verliest terwijl ze in het ISS is. En over een mega Orkaan over de Fillipijnen. Het is doorspekt met Global Warming retoriek. Ook gaat het over de maanlanding van een groep andere astronauten, dat is nog niet gebeurd. Dus het verhaal speelt in de toekomst. Eigenlijk gaat het nergens over terwijl het overal over gaat, deelt alleen ervaringen en herinneringen van de ruimtevaarders. Het is een tour de force en het voelt soms kunstmatig hoe de schrijver bepaalde dingen mooi of filosofische wil overbrengen. De ervaring van het in een baan om de aarde vliegen vind ik wel heel goed beschreven. De ervaring van het in de ruimte zijn. Ook heb ik nieuwe dingen geleerd over het in de ruimte zijn; zoals dat de astronauten eigen niet echt gewichtsloos zijn omdat ze nog steeds in het magnetisch veld van de aarde bevinden, maar zweven door de valbeweging omdat ze zo snel gaan. 16 zonsopgangen. Het irriteerde me dat het boek eigenlijk nergens naar toe werkte en het verhaal ineens eindigt. Ondanks deze frustratie, was de thematiek intrigerend.

Brilliant

Das Buch begleitet eine Gruppe von Astronauten auf der ISS in einem einzigen Tag und verbindet poetische Sprache mit existenziellen Fragen und tiefen Reflexionen über Zeit, Menschlichkeit und die Schönheit und Zerbrechlichkeit der Erde. Ein tiefgreifendes, eindrucksvolles Buch das man bis zum Schluss nicht weglegen möchte, und hängen bleibt.

Well, you will if you read this book. Beautiful, flowing prose will take you to the inside of the space station together with another six travelers of various nationalities. You will feel you are inside, watching with them the wonder of Mother Earth as the craft circles up and down the equator and joining them in scientific experiments. Inevitably, miss Philosophy joins in too, as the crew members reflect on their assigned duties, their mission and the purpose of it all.