This science fiction novel won the Booker Prize! Some people say it’s not SF but in my opinion a book set in space would be SF even if it’s literary fiction. Of course, the literary establishment avoids the term to ensure that genre snobs read it.

I rarely read Booker Prizewinners. The only ones I have enjoyed are The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. I did not expect to enjoy reading Orbital, despite its space station setting. Sadly my instinct was correct but at least I’ve now read one of the most talked-about books of the moment. Actually the saddest thing for me is that I have no strong feelings about this slim volume. I feel quite neutral about it. I liked the concept of a group of astronauts going about their routines and contemplating the Earth from space. The author’s observations were both beautiful and mundane.

I felt that the same points were being made repeatedly and the lists of various geographical features were not interesting. Maybe the book should have been a collection of poems, keeping the marvellous bits and jettisoning the filler.

In summary, this book did not ‘rocket’ my world and I’m giving it a mediocre 3 ‘star’ rating, but if you ‘planet’ to read I hope you find it ‘sun’-derful. ‘Moon’-y apologies for the puns.