The Best Novel I’ve Read In A Decade

It proves, once and for all, that size doesn’t matter

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Some books are like eating a delicious meal. They ask to be enjoyed consciously, slowly, intentionally.

I haven’t been this enthralled by a book since reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. However, that epic has close to 1,000 pages while Orbital by Samantha Harvey has only 136.

So this experience has been more like going to a Michelin Star restaurant: the portions are small but the quality is top notch.

Size doesn’t matter (I don’t care what they say)

If it did, Orbital wouldn’t have won The Man Booker Prize award in 2024.

That’s not to say that all Man Booker Prize winners are brilliant, but it’s a pretty good gauge.

Two of my favourites over the last twenty years, for example, have been The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James.

I’d recommend reading those in a heartbeat too.

What makes a novel good?

That’s the big question, isn’t it? And my answer may differ from yours.