Thanks for this review. It effectively articulates what I found so flat about Orbital: the repetitive, clunkily poetical prose; the barely-there characters; the empty paeans to Our Shared Humanity as a substitute for actual emotion.
I was genuinely baffled not only that Orbital received such rapturous praise, but that Harvey wrote such a shitty book. The Wilderness, Dear Thief, and The Western Wind are all sharply written novels with well-defined characters and sustained narrative momentum. The Western Wind in particular has one of the most creative temporal structures I've encountered in a work of recent literary fiction. It's hard to believe that the same author was responsible for Orbital.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Harvey's critical breakthrough came from a piece of weakly written centrist pablum rather than, you know, a good book, and I don't know whether that was a cynical calculation on her part or she just got lost in the sauce and/or lobotomized, but still, sad to see. Her other novels are worth checking out, anyway.
Such a clever, well-done and totally damning review! I am so tired of these treacly “humans are awesome” tree-killers. Thanks for the expert commentary. May I use it in my editing class? I keep telling students that characters need depth, need to be portrayed as imperfect and occasionally nasty, even if the writer feels they are themselves nice. Because we aren’t.
GREAT REVIEW ! Im happy to read someone articulating what is so bad about this book both in style AND in substance. Not like i cared too much about it before, but reading Orbital was the moment i started to ignore all the Booker Prize recommendations for good
So much of modern literary fiction is just naked propaganda. I’m not even politically aligned with anybody these days, but ever since 2020ish my amusement has turned to annoyance and is turning into open hostility.
I started reading Orbital right after it was announced as the winner, but oh my goodness, was it boring! It felt largely pretentious and made me completely lose interest in it. I couldn't articulate why, but I'm glad to have read this review- I agree to a lot of what's discussed.
Well, we have to end apartheid for one. And slow down the nuclear arms race, stop terrorism and world hunger. We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless, and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights, while also promoting equal rights for women. We have to encourage a return to traditional moral values. Most importantly, we have to promote general social concern and less materialism in young people.
Hahaha exactlyyyyy. what also gripes me is it's reach for a universal voice that sounds entirely like an overly sentimental middle-class English woman. I was expecting to discover that Nell was narrating the whole thing but no. No self awareness at all
"Astronauts do not actively "pick up" or collect orbital space debris during spacewalks. Traveling at speeds over \(17,500\) mph, even flecks of paint can puncture a spacesuit, making manual collection far too dangerous." (to quote AI 'answer' to my non-question - not hallucinating imo))
Thanks for this review. It effectively articulates what I found so flat about Orbital: the repetitive, clunkily poetical prose; the barely-there characters; the empty paeans to Our Shared Humanity as a substitute for actual emotion.
I was genuinely baffled not only that Orbital received such rapturous praise, but that Harvey wrote such a shitty book. The Wilderness, Dear Thief, and The Western Wind are all sharply written novels with well-defined characters and sustained narrative momentum. The Western Wind in particular has one of the most creative temporal structures I've encountered in a work of recent literary fiction. It's hard to believe that the same author was responsible for Orbital.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Harvey's critical breakthrough came from a piece of weakly written centrist pablum rather than, you know, a good book, and I don't know whether that was a cynical calculation on her part or she just got lost in the sauce and/or lobotomized, but still, sad to see. Her other novels are worth checking out, anyway.
Such a clever, well-done and totally damning review! I am so tired of these treacly “humans are awesome” tree-killers. Thanks for the expert commentary. May I use it in my editing class? I keep telling students that characters need depth, need to be portrayed as imperfect and occasionally nasty, even if the writer feels they are themselves nice. Because we aren’t.
GREAT REVIEW ! Im happy to read someone articulating what is so bad about this book both in style AND in substance. Not like i cared too much about it before, but reading Orbital was the moment i started to ignore all the Booker Prize recommendations for good
Finally!!! Thank you so much for this review, this is spot on.
So much of modern literary fiction is just naked propaganda. I’m not even politically aligned with anybody these days, but ever since 2020ish my amusement has turned to annoyance and is turning into open hostility.
I started reading Orbital right after it was announced as the winner, but oh my goodness, was it boring! It felt largely pretentious and made me completely lose interest in it. I couldn't articulate why, but I'm glad to have read this review- I agree to a lot of what's discussed.
Shame, Booker used to be a reliable signal for good reading.
Well, we have to end apartheid for one. And slow down the nuclear arms race, stop terrorism and world hunger. We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless, and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights, while also promoting equal rights for women. We have to encourage a return to traditional moral values. Most importantly, we have to promote general social concern and less materialism in young people.
Spot on!!! This is awesome
Hahaha exactlyyyyy. what also gripes me is it's reach for a universal voice that sounds entirely like an overly sentimental middle-class English woman. I was expecting to discover that Nell was narrating the whole thing but no. No self awareness at all
So it's science fantasy?
"Astronauts do not actively "pick up" or collect orbital space debris during spacewalks. Traveling at speeds over \(17,500\) mph, even flecks of paint can puncture a spacesuit, making manual collection far too dangerous." (to quote AI 'answer' to my non-question - not hallucinating imo))