I'll say up front that this is not my typical genre. The few science fiction novels I've read have had an element of religious-leaning philosophical questions. During the 24-hours of the space station's orbit of earth, the characters receive word that one of the crew members' mothers has died, leading all of the characters to reflect and reminisce. I was especially fascinated by the space station's missions and their observations of the typhoon that hit Earth. It is a lovely, lyrical book.
From the publisher:
Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?
#52BookClub prompt 13: Title is ten letters or less
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