A Booker Prize that conveys the boredom of astronauts

Winner of the 2024 Booker Prize, Orbital, by Samantha Harvey, is the story of six astronauts who orbit aboard the International Space Station on a routine mission. They soon begin to ask themselves metaphysical questions about the inhabitants of the blue planet. Between science fiction and philosophical fiction, Harvey creates a literary sketch in which she demonstrates an exceptional command of a language that soon transforms into tiring poetic prose. It is true that, faced with a subject as human as life—one's own, that of others and that of everyone—perhaps the focus should have been more direct, closer, and not so based on the literary brilliance of the author. It is the same old debate: the aesthetics of words or the connection with the reader? Expression or communication?

The basic problem ofOrbital The thing is that there is no plot that supports the novel. Nothing happens. There is no narrative. The author describes to the point of boredom what the astronauts see from the space station, and inserts metaphors about race and the human condition, but literally nothing happens in the novel. Each chapter is an orbit around the Earth, and this makes time break up, stretch out and confuse the reader. It is this: turns and more turns and more turns. And lists, lists of "reassuring things", of "surprising things", etc. The point of view is documentary, informative, not literary. It is not science fiction, because it has neither science nor fiction, there is no event that changes people or idea of progress. And that is despite the fact that it is a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Ursula K. Le Guin Fiction.

Sixteen daily laps around the Earth

In some foreign criticism we have read that Orbital It is also a journey to the limits of human certainties, of those truths that, seen from a distance, are susceptible to questioning. Pietro, Chie, Shaun, Nell, Roman and Anton – of very different nationalities that could have provided a lot of play, but which are never reflected upon – find themselves in a close orbit in which they must spend half a year. The characters find themselves in a close orbit in which they must spend half a year. In this orbit they make 16 daily laps around the Earth. Samantha Harvey's novel focuses on a single day and is structured in 16 chapters. We know their actions, their looks, their routines, but we know little about each of them as people. Pietro has the mission of monitoring the microbes on the ship; Chie grows protein crystals; Shaun observes the roots of plants without light or gravity; Nell collects data provided by forty mice on muscle wear in space; Roman and Anton are in charge of maintaining the oxygen generator. Apart from the specific tasks, all characters must clean the bathroom, the kitchen and write down the headaches of the day. Exciting.

At home we would have chosen The fortress, by Yael van der Wouden, as the Booker winner. It was equally or better written, had a very good plot – an essential necessity when we talk about novels – and was not simply contemplation or reflection, which is why we already have essays. It turns out that Orbital It is an anti-novel that won a novel prize. Antinovel, a term invented to sweep gender issues under the carpet and award whatever. Perhaps Harvey just wanted to communicate the monotonous boredom of astronauts. And he has succeeded.