| Kip Dawson is a Pharmiculical salesman who is whipped by his domineering wife and estranged from his children. He wins a trip to orbit around the earth from a fairly new-formed private company. He has dreamed of space travel his whole life. He and the pilot begin orbit but the pilot is killed almost immediately and communication equipment and main engines are not working. kip knows that there will be no rescue. NASA administrator is against any mission to save any failed private launch because he dislaikes all privatization of space travel.
Knowing he will die in a few days when carbon minoxide builds up, Kip decides to record his last thoughts on a laptop that he hopes someone will find 60-100 years from now when someone gets around to opening the continuosuly orbiting craft. He shares his most intimate thoughts about his past (including the women he dated and scored with and his marriage), and his current thoughts on a variety of subjects. He does not know that the whole world is watching his every keystroke through an internet download. Many of his comments are laugh out loud funny while still dealing with serious psychological questions like what does my life mean, do we make the most of what time we have, do we show the people we love that we do love them. The book jumps back and forth from Kip in the orbiting spaceship to many various people on earth. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book - very upbeat FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy story on current Earth Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes Explore: Inner Struggle Yes Plotlet: - search for identity/new understanding Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Descript. of chases or violence - 0 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 10 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 80 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10 % Main Character Identity: - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Main Adversary Identity: - none Setting Terrain Spaceship setting: - primative (present, near future) human spaceship Takes place in spaceship? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to deaths scientific jargon? (SF only) - a significant amount of technical jargon How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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