Tuesday Book Review

Four-star review of Orbital by Samantha Harvey

I listened to the audio version of this book. Rather than a story, it was a day in the life of six astronauts, actually four astronauts and two cosmonauts, aboard the orbiting space station. Each orbit was a chapter filled with observations, thoughts and emotions, and philosophizing, sixteen orbits in all as the station took ninety minutes to circumnavigate the big blue marble of Earth. It was interesting rather than engrossing and I learned a few things I didn’t know before. It was difficult to empathize with the six people other than to sympathize with the Japanese member of the crew whose mother died during the time she was away. We learned little about these people even though we were witness to a few of their memories and dreams. The writing is poetically lovely, especially when describing the views of Earth and a typhoon that develops throughout the day.