| Seven of us met to discuss this Booker Prize winning book. Background details about the author – Samantha Harvey lived in several different countries as she was growing up and as an adult taught English in Japan. Her academic background is in Philosophy and English. She has published five novels with very different settings. ”Orbital” was awarded the Booker prize in 2024 and it afterwards became the fastest selling winning book ever. Some author’s views on the book taken from interview – This is an emotionally lead book showing the contrast between the domestic and the majestic – the small daily tasks and the wonder of space seen from the space station. She writes out of fascination and love for the subject and enjoys research as well as writing. The book is set in space but focusses on the earth. It is a “hymn to the earth”. She hopes fiction can change people’s views on climate change. Points from our discussion – The book describes one 24-hour period in space during which time the space station orbits the earth 16 times. We found it hard to imagine 16 “days” compressed into one with sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets. Each orbit has its own chapter containing quite dense and lyrical descriptions of the view of the earth, interspersed with fascinating details of life on board and anecdotes about one or other of the astronauts. It is an unusual book in that it has no real plot. The nearest approximation to a plot line is the descriptions of a typhoon developing and threatening the Philippine Islands. Even this has no definite conclusion. One of the astronauts has links to a family living in the Philippines but we are left not knowing if they survived. |
