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Product Description
Product Description
Victor Pelevin's unforgettable first novel, Omon Ra, is the story of a young man who always dreamt of becoming the ultimate Russian hero, a cosmonaut in the mould of Yuri Gagarin. Enrolling as a cadet at the Zaraisk flying school, it is not long before he is chosen to be the sole pilot of a mission - to the dark side of the moon. 'An inventive comedy as black as outer space itself. Makes The Right Stuff look like a NASA handout.' Tibor Fischer
About the Author
Born in 1962 in Moscow, Victor Pelevin has swiftly been recognised as the leading Russian novelist of the new generation. Before studying at Moscow's Gorky Institute of Literature, he worked in a number of jobs, including as an engineer on a project to protect MiG fighter planes from insect interference in tropical conditions. One of the few novelists today who writes seriously about what is happening in contemporary Russia, he has, according to the New York Times, 'the kind of mordant, astringent turn of mind that in the pre-glasnost era landed writers in psychiatric hospitals or exile'.$$$His work has been translated into fifteen languages and his novels Omon Ra, The Life of Insects, The Clay Machine-Gun and Babylon, and two collections of short stories, The Blue Lantern (winner of the Russian 'Little Booker' Prize) and A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia, have been published in English to great acclaim.$$$Victor Pelevin was selected by the New Yorker as one of the best European writers under the age of thirty-five.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Astronomically good...,
By oldbillie (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Omon Ra (Paperback)
Victor Pelevin is a stunning writer. His satires of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia are so witty, so surreal, and so exact. This is his best perhaps: a funny and tragic take on the Russian space programme, following a group of Soviet youths preparing for a moon landing. His fascination with drugs and psychosis and the plain wierd might bring to mind Will Self, but unlike that mediocre writer, Pelevin has a genuine sense of compassion. Perhaps his greatest talent is that, no matter how far-fetched and extreme he gets, he never loses touch with the humanity of his characters. He makes us care about them. He can also be a heartbreaking writer, and never more so than in this book. Read it!
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thoughtful, touching, satirical,
By
This review is from: Omon Ra (Paperback)
This was a novel I encountered in my search for fiction and sci-fi from russia and eastern europe, to vary my usual diet of british and american offerings in the same genre. I'm glad that I did.Omon Ra is entertainment from start to finish, following the main character Omon from early childhood right through to his adventure into the unknown. It's hard to say much about this without revealing huge pieces of the plot (and I just hate reviews which do that), but there's a lot more packed in these pages than just the basic story premise. It's one of those books that can be read on more than one level. It explores friendship, patriotism, the influence of authority and the burning desire to explore the unknown (and the known). It's bleak and depressing at times, and at others it's emotional and very touching. This was the first of Pelevin's novels that I've read, and it's a certainty to say that it will not be the last.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny reading.,
By
This review is from: Omon Ra (Paperback)
I am fan of all his books, he is extremely popular writer in Russia. KGB, landing to the Moon, Soviet Union and Unated States astronauts - great humor and very funny reading!
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