The Guardian view on the Booker prize winner: a whole new perspective | Editorial
Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, a love letter to our wounded planet, is the perfect choice for the political moment
“To look at the Earth from space is a bit like a child looking into a mirror and realising for the first time that the person in the mirror is herself. What we do to the Earth we do to ourselves,” the novelist and winner of this year’s Booker prize, Samantha Harvey, said in her acceptance speech last week.
Orbital, the winning novel, gives us the view from space. Set on the International Space Station (ISS), it records one day from the perspectives of six astronauts. One day in space means 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets. Instead of the asteroids and aliens of science-fiction, here is the mundane routine of chores, meals and sleep. The characters’ backstories are glimpsed as briefly as passing stars. The only narrative propulsion is a typhoon threatening the Philippines. Nature replaces human drama as the novel’s focus. It is all about perspective.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Topics
-
The Guardian view on ‘indie beer’: crafting a new identity | Editorial
World - The Guardian - October 25 -
The Guardian view on female-led horror: time for a new formula | Editorial
World - The Guardian - October 30 -
Booker prize 2024: and the winner is... you, the reader
World - The Guardian - November 10 -
The Guardian view on Labour and the US election: a storm in a teacup | Editorial
World - The Guardian - October 24 -
The Guardian view on Israel v the UN: the making of an outlaw state | Editorial
World - The Guardian - October 28 -
The Guardian view on Georgia’s election: drifting dismally into Moscow’s orbit | Editorial
World - The Guardian - October 28 -
The Guardian view on climate-linked disasters: Spain’s tragedy will not be the last | Editorial
World - The Guardian - November 1 -
The Guardian view on the US election and women: what’s different this time? | Editorial
World - The Guardian - November 3 -
The Guardian view on America’s electoral college: time to scrap an antidemocratic relic | Editorial
World - The Guardian - November 4
More from The Guardian
-
Biden lifts ban on Ukraine using US weapons to strike deeper into Russia
World - The Guardian - 8 hours ago -
Israeli strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah media chief Mohammed Afif
World - The Guardian - 11 hours ago -
RFK Jr’s vaccine views ‘dangerous’, cousin Caroline Kennedy warns Australian audience
World - The Guardian - 1 hour ago -
Lidia Thorpe defiant after Senate censures her protest against King Charles: ‘I’ll do it again’
World - The Guardian - 2 hours ago -
Alan Jones charged with 24 indecent assault and sexual touching offences against eight victims
World - The Guardian - 48 minutes ago
Latest in World
-
Brazil hosts a G20 summit overshadowed by wars and Trump's return, aiming for a deal to fight hunger
World - ABC News - 9 minutes ago -
Australian senate censures Indigenous lawmaker who yelled at King Charles III
World - ABC News - 17 minutes ago -
As Beijing Threatens, Taiwan Looks Nervously at Trump
World - The Wall Street Journal - 24 minutes ago -
Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Stir Fears of Sectarian Strife
World - The Wall Street Journal - 24 minutes ago -
Biden authorizes Ukraine to use US-supplied longer range missiles for deeper strikes inside Russia
World - ABC News - 25 minutes ago