returning to earth
November 13, 2024 7:16 PM   Subscribe

“To look at the Earth from space is like a child looking into a mirror and realizing for the first time that the person in the mirror is herself” [ap: Samantha Harvey’s space-station novel ‘Orbital’ (g) wins the Booker Prize for fiction]
posted by HearHere (10 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
So I haven't read the book yet. My question is, is it science fiction, or just naturalistic fiction that happens to be set on the International Space Station?
posted by newdaddy at 7:42 PM on November 13 [2 favorites]


I’m told the latter.
posted by Whale Oil at 7:47 PM on November 13 [1 favorite]


Yes, the latter. I just read it and found it quite good!
posted by sigmagalator at 8:08 PM on November 13 [2 favorites]


Hah! I picked up a copy just a few days ago and had no idea it was nominated for the Booker Prize. I'll put it on the top of my to-read pile.
posted by Kattullus at 12:58 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]


I'm very curious about it. Partly for that persistent subgenre of literary/mainstream types do science fiction.
posted by doctornemo at 5:50 AM on November 14


My question is, is it science fiction, or just naturalistic fiction that happens to be set on the International Space Station?

This reminds me of William Gibson's Pattern Recognition which was his attempt to apply science fiction narrative strategies and techniques to a story set in the real world of the then-current year of 2002.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:17 AM on November 14


Ok, I still haven't read it (a day later) but a friend tells me (PERHAPS A SPOILER(?)) that the book bounces between multiple points of view, including those of an alien and a sentient robot. And human cloning has been banned. I feel like those are pretty clearly science fictional elements as of late 2024.

FWIW, the author has described it as science fiction, but the publisher characterizes it as "science fiction/general" as well as "literary".


posted by newdaddy at 10:33 AM on November 14


Lithub item: "Space Pastoral"
posted by newdaddy at 10:36 AM on November 14


(Not sure about my assertions above now—I may have been mistaken, hearing crosstalk about two different books. I would appreciate a report from someone who has more actual info. Sorry if I misled readers here.)
posted by newdaddy at 11:15 AM on November 14


Yeah definitely no sentient robot or mentions of cloning in Orbital. It's all humans and present-day, though a fictional story. So you must have mixed up with another book.
posted by sigmagalator at 1:21 PM on December 5


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