Orbital tracks a group of astronauts on the surreal experience of a tour on the International Space Station. They are crammed together with different nationalities, backgrounds, beliefs, etc. and become a found family while juggling the continual tasks of keeping all the systems maintained and staying alive, while getting news from home about the mundane and also being passed by other astronauts headed back to the moon.
Although short on plot, there are great characters and vivid descriptions of the day to day life and adaptations to the anti-gravity of continuous falling in orbit and life without the resistance and forces acting on them.

I’ve always wanted to experience the overview effect- or the feeling that astronauts get when they look back at the Earth from space. They think of how fragile and beautiful the world is, and they want to protect it. They also think less about materialistic things and start to believe that borders don’t matter. This book attempts to re-create that feeling of looking back at the Earth from space, and meditating on all of the people going about their daily lives on this small blue dot in the vastness of space, and how incredibly fragile and vulnerable we are. But also, how incredibly lucky we are to have this beautiful place to call home.

This short book isn’t a story with a definitive plot or character, arcs or anything like that. This book reads more like poetry in an attempt to get the reader to feel an incredible awe about our planet, this beautiful blue oasis in space.

Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for inviting me to listen to this amazing audiobook before release date!

This was a well written book it was about astronauts and cosmonauts in a rock rocket circling the earth it talked about what they saw and what they thought and what the experience and was very interesting and kept my attention during the whole book I would recommend it for people that are interested in what might happen during a space trip

3.5⭐️

I can’t recall another book I’ve read that was at once so interesting and so dull. Samantha Harvey clearly did research on the effects of living in space, and there are some fantastic phrases and insights, but it’s all done at such a remove that it was impossible to connect with the story. I felt like as a reader, I was viewing the characters at the same remove as they as astronauts were viewing the Earth. Perhaps that was intentional, but it just didn’t work for me, and I was left feeling largely unmoved.

Sarah Naudi provided a clear if somewhat monotonous narration of the audiobook.

Thank you Samantha Harvey, RB Media, and NetGalley for providing this ALC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Orbital is about six astronauts as they orbit the earth, and it gives us a glimpse into what they go through as far as routine, thoughts, memories, etc. As it is only a novella, there are not deep character dives, but what you see is enough to help you grasp who they are. More than that, the story gives such an interesting perspective into something I’ve never given much thought to, and really makes the reader think about the earth and humanity in general. The author managed to write about many cultures and world views from a very non-opinionated viewpoint, and did it beautifully . The writing is poetic and enchanting and thought-provoking. The narrator does a great job as well, and adds to the poetic feeling of the audiobook. The only issue I had was that it did get confusing at times, jumping from person to memory pretty frequently. There isn’t really a plot or point to this other than to make you think, but that was fine since it really was a short easy listen. Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me to read this audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have never been to space. Yet, I feel like I did. The language and imagery in this novel is superb. This novel really makes you question why we can't all get along, and that if we could see the beautiful earth from space, that we would. We'd never fight again, or destroy our planet. This novel also considers how intertwined we really are. The description of the planet was one of the most beautiful pieces of literature I've read in a long time.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator on this book did a wonderful job! The descriptions and the way she handled them really made me feel like I was right there in space with the characters! That being said, the whole book kind of felt like a glorified description of earth from space. I appreciated all of the details but the main idea of the story sometimes got lost for me in the view from space. I still thought it was beautifully written and if you’re into books about outer space and astronauts, this book will most likely interest you.

This is my first book by Harvey and will definitely not be my last. Wow, what a powerful slim novel. I think it's so brilliant that Harvey tells a story about humanity, art, artifacts, and the whole world that is only possible from the perspective of its cosmonaut narrators in space. To better understand the power that the world holds, Harvey pulls her observers (and therefore her readers) out of the Earth and into space. Looking at a typhoon in the Pacific, for example, is made all the more powerful when seen from the distance of space. That is so interesting! A novelist practicing restraint, Harvey is ultimately able to tell a universal story about humanity in less than 200 pages. Some reviewers are making some comparisons to modernist authors like Woolf, and I can see that. Astronomical, tender, personal, huge and sublime, this is a novel to behold.

It releases in the U.S. this Tuesday, December 5th. I would highly recommend it!

Orbital narrates the lives of six astronauts on the International Space Station. This is more than a slice of life storage. We get in to each astronaut's head and get glimpses of their earthly lives. The book is almost meditative in a way. The narrator has a very soothing voice, the book just washes over you.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Although marketed as a novel, Orbital reads more like an extended essay: a sort of existential musing on life, our planet, space-travel and our humbling smallness in the scope of things. When approached as such, it’s an incredibly successful work. It’s eloquent, stunningly worded and insightful, and manages the “largeness” of its themes without outstaying its welcome. It’s the sign of a brilliant author who understands their craft ánd subjectmatter, to be able to condense so much down into an under-200-page novella.
Had Orbital been marketed as a literary essay, or piece of non-fiction writing, this would’ve been the end of my review: 5/5 stars, succeeded in everything it set out to do. Unfortunately, it’s marketed to be a novel, and as as a novel it falls flat in some requirements.
A successful novel requires a few key elements: a setting, themes/message, characters and some form of plot/progression. Orbital delivers the former two, but not the latter. Our six cosmonauts never get enough page-time to develop into full characters, and simply exist as vessels for the authors ideas. There’s no development or arc to any of them, making all of them incredibly forgettable.
Thematically, this might actually be the authors point: a commentary on how small and brief we all are. If I view the book through the lens of a non-fiction essay, that makes perfect sense. But if you go in expecting a novel with an actual storyline, character-interactions and development, I fear you’ll come away disappointed.

Some notes on the audiobook: the narrator does a great job and she has a wonderful calming voice to listen to. Had I known beforehand the type of book this would be, I would’ve preferred a physical read. With literary essays, where the focus is so strongly on the language and writing, this is just my personal preference. Again: more of a critique towards the marketing than the actual book itself.

Overall: if you’re in the market for a philosophical, literary essay on space, humanity and the environment, this one is for you! If you expect a space-novella with a plot and deep characters: you might want to reconsider.

Thanks to RB-Media and Netgalley for providing me with an Audio-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

"The earth is the answer to every question. The earth is the face of an exulted lover. They watch it sleep and wake and become lost in its habit. The earth is a mother waiting for her children, full of stories and rapture and longing."

A piece of writing masterfully created through a beautiful prose is what this book was. An absolutely charming experience. It is about six people, two women and four women who are orbiting around earth in a spacecraft for some mission (I didn't really understand what that was). And there is so much in this short book. No, there were no aliens, no space wars, no black holes or evil spaceships attacking. There was no plot. It was only feelings. The prose was so unexpectedly beautiful and lyrical, it was like music and poetry. I really loved it and enjoyed it a lot.

"All your dreams of adventure and freedom and discovery culminate in the aspiration to become an astronaut and then you get up here and you are trapped and spend your days packing and unpacking things and fiddle in a laboratory with pea shoots and cotton roots and go nowhere but round and round with the same old thoughts going round and round with you."

So the basic purpose of this book is to de-fantasize space travelling. It depicts the spacecraft as a prison. There is no semblance of a normal life in space. They are just living for their crew on earth. Being an astronaut comes with its price. They know they are getting themselves into something big and hard, but they do it, because it's what they live for. When you are passionate about something, some dream, you go for it, regardless of the trials. That's who the cosmonauts really are. Leaving their spouses and children down on the earth, having to substitute their presence by the photos and letters they had taken along, or the occasional calls and meetings on their devices. Eating space food, sleeping in sleeping bags, staring at the continents zooming past like trees through a train window. Going round and round, and maybe his daughter will keep loving him like she says on that photo and her husband will always wait for her, maybe her mother's funeral will go okay without her and maybe his wife will take good care of the kids. There is so much depression and pathos that it tore at my heart at times.

"In its bareness the thought brings them some relief from the anguishes of space, the loneliness of being here and the apprehension of leaving here. It was never really about them and it is not about them now, what they want, what they think, what they believe, their arrival and their return. It's about those four astronauts on their way now to the moon. And the next men and women. The men and women who are one day going to live on a new lunar station. those who will go into deeper space and the decades of men and women who come after them. Except it's not even about that. It's just about the future. About the siren song of other worlds, some grand abstract dream of interplanetary life, of humanity uncoupled from its hobbled earth and set free, the conquest of the void."

This book talks a lot about technology and the progress of mankind, specifically from the point of view of an astronaut. How they think humanity is progressing, and how they are writing their own fate or not. I loved it yeah, there is much to say but also not much at all. Again, the prose was majestic. The reason I am giving it three stars is that it's not very enjoyable. I loved the prose and the concept sure, but there was I think a big lack of some explanations. It was basically just a homage to the bravery of astronauts. It's definitely worth reading.

"Daylight spills blue on a snowy landmass moving into view and against the black rim of the earth is a light bright mauve that brings the pain of elation to the gut. What might be the gobi desert rolls out beneath you while the ground crew gives soothing instructions and your partner leafs through the manual attached to the arm of his spacesuit and you can just about see his face through the sun visor, a tranquil oval of a human face in the enormous animity of the universe."

I thought that the author went a little too far in the floweriness of writing and the story felt kinda obscured a bit. I would've liked there to be some proper storyline or a profound setting, some history and most importantly a concrete ending. This book starts and ends with that same poetic flowery writing. That I think is a negative point but anyway, I liked it and I'm glad I read it.

"He seems to know that something is ending. that all good things must go this way. Towards fracture and fallout. So many astronauts and cosmonauts have passed through here. This orbiting laboratory, this science experiment in the carefully controlled nurturing of peace. It's going to end and it will end through the restless spirit of endeavor that made it possible in the first place, striking out further and deeper. The moon. The moon. Mars. The moon."

This is different from anything I have read. It is character driven, but more in snippets than deep portraits. It’s a quiet, gentle exploration of time and space.

If you were in the mood for shoegaze, read this.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audioarc. Wonderful narration.

Meandering perspectives of several astronauts on a space station orbiting earth in a day. To be honest this was incredibly boring. The idea of what’s important to us being so vastly different from person to person and how we can distance ourselves (physically, emotionally and mentally) from concerns was interesting, but not enough to carry this slog.

THIS BOOK. I love books about astronauts and space, but they always seem to disappoint in one way or another. This one blew them all out of the water. It's as much about life in space as it is life on Earth. And what a beautiful love letter to Earth this is. It reminded me of the "overview effect," in which astronauts say seeing the planet from space permanently changes their perspective about life and the planet. They see how small and beautiful it is and, when they come home, they see everything differently. I'm never going to have that experience, but I feel like this book got me as close as possible.

I was able to read this in a single sitting. I couldn't not, but I vaguely regret not making it last longer. There's not a wasted word in this book, and I can't wait to reread it.