Orbital by Samantha Harvey

 A friend whose taste in books generally coincides with mine recommended "Orbital," so I thought I'd enjoy it. I saw it won the 2024 Booker Prize and, although I've been disappointed in Booker Prize-winning books before, I decided to give it a try. Were it not so short, I would have given up after about 50 pages. This book is not for everyone.

The book focuses on the lives of six astronauts aboard a space station for 24 hours and the 16 orbits they make around the Earth. There are side trips involving a typhoon that is developing, a family affected by it, as well as a space shot to the moon, all of which I found interesting. Mostly, it was a geography lesson as the space station orbited the Earth. 

I'm sorry to say I am not a fan of this book. I found myself skimming over the navel-gazing about the beauty of sunrises over different continents and the dreams the astronauts had. There were interesting parts, but they were few and far between. 

2.5/5 stars.

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