Staff Pick: Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Published on 28th April 2025
Orbital, the 2024 Booker Prize-winning novel by Samantha Harvey may not appeal to readers seeking a fast-paced or plot-driven story.
The book focuses on the lives of six astronauts orbiting Earth, exploring themes of humanity, existence, and the beauty of our planet.
The book is praised for its poetic prose, thought-provoking questions, and ability to make readers contemplate the nature of life and the universe.
It really divided readers and I got as much as a kick out of reading the bad reviews as the book!
• The story makes you feel trapped.
• A wholly unremarkable and boring space voyage. 90% repetitive imagery, 5% character development that fails to engage the reader in any meaningful way.
• Orbital odyssey dull and underwhelming!
Personally I loved this little book (136 pages).
While a book doesn't strictly require dramatic events in every chapter, it needs a sense of movement, conflict, or development to engage the reader. Okay.
Do we need something to happen all the time in life and in literature?
Why can't we just be?
'Orbital' is available in the libraries as books, eBooks, and eAudiobooks.
This tongue-in-cheek and slightly ironic book review is by Karen from Library Comms.