Orb by Gary Tarulli_Review

Orb by Gary Tarulli
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Immediately my attention is caught as that fine reader’s hook sinks in. The subtle trace of humour in which it is couched only makes me want to know more, to read on. Amazingly, a short way into the novel, I discovered that the society of that far future is Dystopian (really, why should that have surprised me?) As a voracious, lifelong reader, a writer, and a reviewer, the notion of existence in a society where reading is considered to waste energy and time is so mind-boggling as to make me light-headed. Pray I never live to see such!

Author Gary Tarulli has such a wry turn of phrase and sense of irony that reading this novel is comparable to having an in-person conversation, and would make the novel worth the reading even if it didn’t have a great story-which it does.

Protagonist Kyle Lorenzo (who might be characterized as in the throes of a mid-life crisis) decides to throw over his routine life and travel out of the Solar System, the sole writer on the spaceship packed with scientists and technicians. Why would a normal Earthling in a dystopian society decide to travel on a vessel where he sticks out because of his occupation and nature, to a planet he’s never seen? Similarly, why would the expedition’s Screening Committee determine a writer was necessary at all?  There  are reasons for everything, and I’ll leave it to the reader to find out, with my recommendation. Don’t put this one aside, don’t delay, just get it, read, and enjoy!


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