Letters from Tomis

Harvey, Samantha. Orbital. Grove Press, 2023.

Samantha Harvey’s Orbital is a novel that promises a cosmic journey, but for me, it struggled to lift off. The premise—a narrative intertwining personal exploration with the vastness of space—had incredible potential. However, I found the execution fell short of its ambition.

The prose, while often lyrical, occasionally became overly dense, making it difficult to fully engage with the story. Harvey’s talent for crafting intricate sentences is undeniable, but here it sometimes felt like style took precedence over substance, leaving key emotional moments feeling muted.

The characters, though intriguing, lacked depth in their development. Their struggles and triumphs felt more like ideas than lived experiences, which made it hard to form a meaningful connection. Similarly, the pacing was uneven, with stretches of introspection that felt repetitive and slowed the narrative momentum.

That said, there were glimmers of brilliance in the novel’s thematic exploration of isolation and the human desire for connection. Readers who appreciate meditative storytelling might find more to love here than I did. Unfortunately, for me, Orbital failed to fully harness the gravity of its ideas, leaving me adrift rather than inspired.

While I respect Harvey’s ambition and craft, this particular work simply didn’t resonate as I’d hoped.