Book Review: Orbital

Orbital
By Samantha Harvey
Review by Josh

A contemplative and awe-inspiring novella on the wonder and profoundness of space travel. Set on the International Space Station, the book tells the story of 6 astronauts and their experiences as they orbit around the earth. With 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets within a day the daily orbit of an ISS astronauts is as bizarre as it is inspiring. It’s this interplay of indescribability and profound meaningfulness that Orbital gracefully floats around in.

The book focuses less on heavy plot beats and more on the quiet moments of space exploration. The floating around in your sleeping bag dreaming of earth, the daily analysis of a typhoon as seen from orbit, the experience of seeing your home, and the home of all life from a wholly new perspective. It’s these moments that are less common in books on space, not the science and grandness of what we as a species are accomplishing but the more subtle effects on the human psyche, how such an experience alters ones perception of life on our planet. A remarkable book, moving, fascinating, thought-provoking and short enough you’ll want to read it again the moment you finish.

For fans of Anne Carson’s poetic prose, This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, and Audition by Pip Adam.