A review by sterlingisreading
Orbital by Samantha Harvey

adventurous reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is a good read-in-one-sitting book. I enjoyed the beauty of the prose and the depth of its philosophizing about space and existence, but let’s be honest: it’s 200 pages describing what the earth looks like from orbit. It’s not really a novel, more of a meditation; a meditation on humanity, progress, possibility, the earth itself. It reminded me of Upstream by Mary Oliver.  I liked the characters, what little we learn of them. I feel like it winning The Booker Prize reveals where we are in this moment: we’re suspended and floating while chaos engulfs the earth; we’re ruminating on humanity’s progress, all of our flaws and all of our destruction, paralyzed in our debate about where, as a species, we go from here.