Book Club: Let's Talk About "Orbital," by Samantha Harvey

The Book Review

The New York Times

Books, Arts

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In "Orbital," by Samantha Harvey, a group of astronauts in the International Space Station orbit the Earth 16 times over 24 hours. This simple and beautiful novel won the 2024 Booker Prize. On this week's episode, MJ Franklin discusses Harvey's slim book with fellow Book Review editors Joumana Khatib and Jennifer Harlan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Gilbert Cruz, editor of the New York Times Book Review, and this is the book review
0:12.7	It's time for our monthly book club gathering, which drops at the end of every month,
0:17.7	hosted as always by our editor, MJ Franklin.
0:22.8	Last month, we discussed Alan Hollinghurst's Our Evenings, and in December, MJ and co talked about small things like these
0:28.8	by Claire Keegan. You can find all of our Book Review Book Club episodes on NYTimes.com
0:35.2	or whatever platform you use to listen to the Book review podcast. M.J. Take it away.
0:44.2	Hello and welcome to another book club episode of the book review podcast. I'm M.J. Franklin. I'm an editor
0:50.4	here at the New York Times Book Review. And for this month's Book Review Book Club, we're talking about Orbital by Samantha Harvey. We chose this book for a few reasons. First,
0:59.9	last year, it won a literal award called the Booker Prize. Ever heard of it? It's one of the most
1:04.3	prestigious literary awards in the world, and we thought, if it's good enough for the Booker Prize,
1:09.3	it's good enough for us.
1:16.2	The second reason, last month, we selected a large sweeping novel as our book club book.
1:20.7	That was Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst, and we believe in balance here at the book review.
1:24.6	So I thought, let's choose a slim but equally mighty novel next.
1:28.9	And third, and this is selfish, I just wanted to talk about it with someone.
1:34.8	I read this book in one big sweep over one weekend, and afterward I was like, I just need to discuss this with other readers. And then I thought, wait a second, we have a book club. So that's
1:40.1	what we're here to do. And speaking of talking about it with other readers, joining me today in the
1:44.5	studio are two of my wonderful colleagues, fellow editors. Let's just dive in. First, we have a familiar
1:50.4	voice, a frequent book clubber, a fan favorite, Jumanukatib. Hi, Jumana. Hey, MJ. Welcome back.
1:56.6	I'm happy to be here. And also with us as a new voice, a first-time guest, not only on this book club, but on the book review podcast in general, Jen Harlan. Welcome, Jen.
2:07.7	Hello, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to talk with you all.
2:10.7	Jen, can you tell us what do you do here at the book review?
	...

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