Orbiting Jupiter follows Jack, who has gotten a new older foster brother by
the name of Joseph. Jack doesn’t know much about Joseph, except that he doesn’t
like talking or being touched. And that he has a four month old daughter named
Jupiter that he hasn’t seen at all. Jack knows that Joseph is smart, despite most of
his teachers not liking him because of the various forms of rumors involving him
almost killing a teacher after taking mystery pills from a friend in his old school.
Jack stays by Joseph’s side even when he is warned by others not to. The two grow
close and Joseph soon reveals his past to Jack’s family. However, Joseph’s abusive
father gains visitation rights and soon Joseph realizes that his father won’t sign the
form to let Jupiter be adopted. Joseph finds out the place that Jupiter is currently
staying and soon runs away to meet her just once. Consequently, Joseph’s father
will not let his son go to see a child that he has never met before and makes a fatal
decision.
Orbiting Jupiter was a short read. If I’m being honest, it was too short for me
to get attached to any of the characters to shed the tears that everyone says that
they cried while reading this. While it was sad, it didn’t really impact me that
much. I feel as if the book talks more about the cows and how they stomp rather
than advancing that much on the plot. Still, it was a fast read and I’m eternally
grateful for that. I did love the little details about how everyone hated the vice
principal, because he was very annoying. Some of the actions in this book made no
sense, such as why Joseph was cracking the ice lake in the first place and why he
just stayed there the entire time. Still, this was very impactful on how not every
story has a perfect ending and that some things are left unresolved.