Setting the story in the International Space Station gives the story a liberty to transcend micro problems like power cuts, regional boundaries, annoying mother-in-laws etc., and exist in an abstraction. This abstraction is beautiful. it allows the author to dwell on things like the beauty of the Earth from space, what it means to be human and a fragility of a tin can which is the ISS.
But these are not abstract philosophical ramblings, which would have made the book boring. These are very specific but profound thoughts, articulated very crisply - which makes you feel like these are the right things to ponder upon if you have the privilege to ride the ISS.
But not all of it is abstract pondering. The story involves 8 characters. There is no narrative. Things do not happen, there is no character arch. But each of the character brings their own story, their own problems and biases to the shared space of the ISS, and these mould the story. And think that humanises / makes real what the author wants to talk about.
The abstraction in the premise of the book also enables one to look at the human civilization as a whole, and put in context the problems we face together - collective ones like climate change or personal ones like loss of your mother. This might have been the theme that pushed the book to be the winner of the Booker Prize 2024. And in a world which seems to be moving more away than towards each other, this is a relevant theme
