Samantha Harvey's "Orbital"

[SylvanMoon]

I can't believe that Samantha Harvey's "Orbital" actually won the Booker. I've been trying to read it, but it's tedious. I don't care about any of the characters or the repetition of the views of the earth or the typhoon or the descriptions of their daily life on the space station. I don't care about their relationships with the other astronauts or their families. The existential musings on life, the universe and all that are not profound or anything new. There's no plot driving the narrative. And the prose is driving me nuts with list after list after list. I don't find it in the least poetic or clever. I don't always like the Booker short lists and thought this was perhaps a long-listed one. But I'm gob smacked that it actually won. Does anyone understand what merits it has that deserves that prize?

Tried to read it three times, don’t think I ever made it further than the third chapter and I hardly ever leave a book unfinished, no matter how terrible!

It is awful, completely agree!

I've read it . It's ok but meh. Expected more .

I read it last year and absolutely loved it. I thought the experience of the astronauts looking down on the world was beautiful and poetic and the practicalities of living in space were described in ways that were thought provoking and sometimes funny. I would recommend it highly.

Just thought I should put that out there as I don’t want people to be put off reading it!

The only book in 15 years of going to my book club that nobody finished.

Couldn't agree more. I picked it up thinking it would be a great, quick read. 3 weeks later, I don't think I'd made it past page 30 and promptly hurled in to the nearest charity shop!

I think it’s even more frustrating that it’s so short and so feels totally achievable but then it’s such a bore to read that it becomes impossible.

Yep, despite the great premise, it was truly awful. I made myself finish it as it was so short and I was convinced it was going to get better. Sadly it didn’t.

What particularly was "poetic"? The views of the world from the space craft or the prose? It's fine that the descriptions of living in space and how the earth appears from a distance are thought-provoking. But I struggled to even understand how this was marketed as a novel. Yes, it's fiction, but has nothing resembling the narrative arc we expect in novels.
I'm genuinely interested to hear what might have won it the Booker.

I’ve read it and found it dreary. But it would make a great A level text! The language is beautiful.

I loved it. The sense of separation and observation from the earth made me feel as if I’d experienced going to space. And the gentle but intense introduction of environmental risk I found really chilling.

I’ve lent it to my daughter who’s taken it to uni, so I can’t quote from it! I just thought it was beautifully written. But clearly not for everyone 😂

It divided my book club. A marmite book for us.

Another who loved it.

I liked it for the reasons expressed by others upthread.

Another who loved it, though I’ve preferred others of her novels. (The Wilderness is brilliant.)