Booker Prize Winner Reaction for 2024

I hated James...

so you did not read it. wtf?

I am really struggling w Orbital. I am on Page 93 but it feels like 930. I am determined to finish it. Maybe I will take a shot for each country the author mentions. I do appreciate the author's writing. There are some beautiful words. The words just don't speak to me.

Tough break for Percival Everett. He should have swept, and the Booker should have been the easy one to win. But in hindsight, it's a blatantly political win for Orbital, very "sorry to this man." A woman hadn't won in five years (or a British woman for that matter), and five women were on the shortlist. Everett was sadly American window-dressing. Still, he won the Kirkus and NBA, with the Pulitzer looking like frontrunner status. We can only hope and wait. 🤞

Ugly book. It glorifies ruzzia and ruzzians without any reflection on how this awful country wages war right now against Ukraine killing people every day

I loved Orbital. I just read it today.
I thought it was beautiful and melancholy.
It felt like a big long epitaph for earth.
Maybe I’m just in the right mood for this at this time.

I found the book terribly boring.

I loved Orbital but didn't think it would win. I read the longlist, and it seemed to me the panel chose meditative books. I thought that SYD would win. James was in my top 3, but I just didn't think it was going to win. In the end, those short-listed writers will find new readers, and that has to be a good thing.

Coriander

Me too. I tried orbital multiple times and put it down every time

I’m a bit surprised by how often you mention “the lists” when talking about Orbital, since they’re just occasionally seen in the text. They are a coping mechanism used by one of the characters and not central to the plot.

Generally speaking, I find them as intrusive as a poem or a song lyric inserted into a narrative text would be.

I only just found your channel, lucky me! I haven't read Orbital, but I wanted to chime in on Klara and the Sun, longlisted in 2021 and here goes. I couldn't put it down. The ending devastated me. Wrecked me. I adore this book. But I'm a grandmother to one extraordinary child (currently an actor/singer/dancer/composer who does Broadway, for God's sake), so this is my point: books can hit readers hard when they touch an emotionally loaded aspect of the reader's life to the core. Also, I'm a dedicated Ishiguro fan. If a book makes it to the top of these mountains, we pay attention, maybe love them, maybe not, but regardless, I love hearing from insightful readers who let me in on their experiences with extraordinary work. Glad to be here! Ps, Pynchon made me nuts. He increasingly speaks to our times, though, doesn't he...

My favourites of those I read were My Friends Stoneyard devotional James and Safe keep in that order . I dnfed Orbital but own it so might give it another try

Future will bring more stress with no safe places to curl up with cosy books.

Pretentious ‘oh look I’m so verbose and clever’ type of amateurish writing. Not near any sort of winner in my book. Really really bad choice. 👎👎👎

I haven't read Orbital yet and this is my first time watching your channel, so objectively I feel that your bias toward James (which I also haven't read but doesn't appeal to me at all) is largely based on the fact you personally didn't like Orbital, therefore it didn't deserve to win. This may not be the case but it's how it came across to me.

i wish people wouldn't review books they haven't read. i wish people wouldn't say they understood what the author was saying when they haven't read the book.

I loved Orbital, it was one of my favorite books of the last year.
Harvey's prose is wonderful.

great review

After the election I thought they might not give the Booker to an American.

For some reason it just dawned on me that your site name is a take on DF Wallace short non fiction collection...

I did have a feeling that James wouldn't win because the subject matter is too American (as a non-American, I have yet to read Huckleberry Finn). And I had a feeling that Orbital would be a timely win because the book reflects upon Earth as a shared shelter for all of us. My first choice was Stone Yard Devotional though.

I totally agree with you on the book. I got the point so quickly in and then it felt soooo long despite it being so short. Even in my own review on GR I said it was less about astronauts and more about Harvey describing every country on earth in depth.

I’m a little heartbroken for the Safe Keep. That’s my winner.

One of the shortlist picks I chose to read! I LOVED orbital. I thought every single sentence was perfectly curated, and by the end I wanted to write an essay about it.

As much as I enjoy good writing, my priority is a good story. Good writing alone is not enough for me, and I find that most books that I DNF are these kind of books. The best, good writing and good story!

Personally, I also DNF orbital I really did not enjoy my read. But IDK. Maybe I’ll try again… perhaps another reason for it winning might’ve been that they wanted to pick a female author.. 🤔

Hope Everett gets the Pulitzer - would be a worthy winner. I did like Orbital, though was rooting for James. The Safekeep was a powerful read and being in the Netherlands at the time gave it an extra resonance. For me this wasn't a vintage Booker year.

Thanks for your thoughts - I really don't like lists in books either. In the UK, we say Marmite instead of cilantro, which is a salty spread that people either love or hate.
I think James wouldn't win with 5 women on the list, although gender should be irrelevant, it would be a bad look.
Personally The Safe Keep was my favourite, and think My Friends from the longlist should have ultimately won it!

After reading what some of the judges said about Orbital I thought I would read it. After listening to this I don’t think I’ll read it. I’m being cilantro within myself.

I read "Space: The human story" by Tim Peake this summer. It did all of the reflecting on earth and our role in the universe anyone could ask for, without being "in your face" about it, as I thought Orbital kind of did. I think I get that the repetitiveness as form mirrors the content. But I didn't feel any connection to any of the characters. As if they were there to serve some poetic purpose.

Percival Everett has won the Kirkus Prize which I believe is an accomplishment, it is an award that provides the author with both recognition and 50k which isn't bad tbh.

Hi Greg, Orbital beat James in the spreadsheet I use to log and rate my reads. I'm happy for the author.
Having read Martyr! now as well (whose many debut-novel issues left our entire reading group with ambivalent feelings about it at best), I'm on board with your wish for James to win the National Book Award. That award seems a better fit for it than the Booker imo.

I’m somewhere in the middle with Orbital. I think it’s more poetry than fiction, I wish it had an actual plot, I definitely do not think it deserved this award. But I still appreciate it for what it is. I read it in chunks, a cycle a day, and I think that made it easier

EDIT: Orbital gives a message of hope after the election. The world is beautiful and will continue to thrive no matter who runs what individual country

Harvey has good writing skills, but the book is just good, not great. Awards everywhere make less sense than they used to. Not saying it about this Booker in particular, but I just think awards should be on merit, not to represent some cause or to stir the pot. Don’t even get me started about awards like the Hugo in recent years. Frankly, James was never gonna win as the only male author in the shortlist. I certainly hope and expect James to win other awards.

I didn't have a horse in this race, but if I did, it wouldn't have been Orbital. She can write a beautiful sentence, but I had the same problem with the lists and also just with the whole writing exercise feel of the whole book.

The worst winner of the Booker ever. This was a pretentious pile of 💩. I cannot accept that this was, even objectively, better than Safekeep, James or Stoneyard Devotional. Those 3 all had more purpose and message than Orbital. My Friends was not even shortlisted and that was a very poignant book.
I love literature, I teach it! But I think I will ignore the Booker after this; it is just words, words, and more words in any fashion

I'm a huge geography and space nerd, so Orbital scratched an inch for me, which is why I think I liked it so much. That being said, I do feel like if the book was a bit longer and had more of a plot or mystery or character intrigue, then those moments of describing the earth might have stood out more.

I sort of had a feeling about Orbital as the announcement came closer. I really enjoyed it. The lists didn't bother me at all! I was more engrossed with the writing and the humanity of the characters. I loved the themes and it felt like a really timely book to me. It's as much about isolation as it is shared humanity. Looking at Earth through the characters' eyes was thrilling, and very connecting in a way. I loved the connections between the characters and the people they were thinking of on Earth. Loved all the space information also, the logistics of actually living in space. It's funny: it felt like the right book at the right time for me. I do want to get to James as well, though.

James is based on an American classic. I like the idea that the Booker Prize has a more international outlook. How many people outside of the US are familiar with and interested in Huckleberry Finn and/or the African American experience? For me, this belongs to the Pulitzer Prize.

I watched the announcement livestream and was a bit disappointed by it. Granted, I haven’t read any of them yet but still. James is the only one that had an intriguing premise for me. The scifi people I follow didn’t care for Orbital. You and other litfic people I follow didn’t care for Orbital. Just because it won the Booker doesn’t make me want to pick it up.

I don't know if my impression of Orbital was affected by my listening to it instead of reading it, but I felt like I was listening to an entry in a contest to describe the earth with as many similes and metaphors as possible, in a hundred pages (or so) or less. This was similar to a composition assignment I had back in seventh grade, except we had a two-page limit.
Looking back ten years, I had never read more than two books from Booker's long list until this year, and this is only the second winner I have ever read. I just don't think Booker Prize and I have much in common.
But I did learn something interesting from the book: the India-Pakistan border is the only international border you can see from space at night.

I thought the beginning of Orbital was great: it excited me. The language was beautiful. The imagery was phenomenal. However getting into the reading I did find the book repetitive and I found the attempt at creating round characters failed miserably. The characters to be are flat: no passion ,for me no real interest. In addition I felt I needed to check my maps for geographical locations of countries, seas. That spoilt the book for me. However Some of her language was really great and that saved the book. The ending was anti-climatic. To be honest a bit like James’ ending. I must say James’ language was inclusive of his culture and brought back into focus Twain’s Huck. So beautiful - almost classical. James really my choice. I am so disappointed.

I've lost the intent of the Booker Prize. It should be for brilliant books, not just stories, but amazing writing too. I get so interested in the booker prize, then I get deflated and felt the books in the short list just didn't represent the quality I would expect from the booker prize.

A bit of a surprise but I didn’t hate the book, I just found it forgettable..😮on to next year!

I too DNFed Orbital. No regrets 😊

I’m disappointed that James didn’t win, but I’m glad people are reading… I’m trying to finish the life impossible by Matt Haig but might need to pick up a cinnamon bun book!

Orbital was my pick this year... for the shortlist. My Friends should have won it all.

Yes! Loved this year's winner!

Oh dear! 😂
I've been ignoring all Booker hype in an effort to stop myself buying books, as my apartment is staring to resemble a hoarder's. I do have a Booker Prize project however, so I've bought Orbital this morning. On first response to hearing the prize, I thought it sounded interesting and at least not as depressing as Prophet Song, which I am still trudging through. Response has been very positive here. I saw a tweet saying Orbital has been the bestseller amongst independent booksellers for the last month (it's already out in paperback). I saw a review (TLS) comparing it to Virginia Woolf's The Waves (not a positive for me I have to admit), and your review seems to corroborate that. Yikes.
I think James might have been my preferred winner too. I'll TBR that.
Being cynical (apologies) - I wonder to what extent the jury was influenced by identity issues? This is the first woman winner since 2019, in a list dominated by women. If they had chosen a male author there would have been media.uproar. Similarly, the Booker Prize constantly gets complaints here about the lack of British winners so a British woman author does tick all the boxes. /cynicism

James is just fantastic but in style it was very different from anything else on the shortlist so I think the jury was more keen on reflective books. I think there would have been some complaining though if the only man on the shortlist was the winner! I actually thought SYD would win but I really liked Orbital.