Omon Ra

I first became aware of Pelevin when this novel was excerpted in the cosmopolitan literary magazine Grand Street, and I was instantly hooked by his signature tone. He combines withering post-Soviet cynicism with humor worthy of Cervantes or Twain and a "magical realist" mysticism that --- almost uniquely --- is never gratuitous (as with the Serbian writer Milorad Pavic) or smug. Where Kakfa drapes the sinister in intellectual pomp and circumstance, Pelevin unpredictably shocks you again and again, even as his characters clown and bicker for your pleasure in the shadow of the paranoid Soviet state -- imagine Gabriel Garcia Marquez as a smirking nihilist. But despite the nihilism, an inexplicable redemption seems possible in Pelevin's work; his characters often escape doom at the end and wander off stunned into a new world without any idea of where they're going to go. I'll stop short of saying that it's a deep expression of the situation in contemporary Russia -- but I will say that I find it immensely appealing.So many American artists loudly congratulate themselves on "irony" that consists mostly of kitschy 70s clothing and tattoos; so many Europeans take pride in convoluted, academic "sophistication" that leads nowhere. Victor Pelevin is an antidote to the posing, a first-rank world author whose style arises from substance; a nonaligned political writer who is literary first, and who offers no reassurances where none really exist; and, above all, an individual whose agenda seems to be his own talent.

get your hands on anything this guy wrote. hope the translation does justice - i read it in russian. pay, beg, threaten, do whatever it takes for an english translation of "Generation P", his latest. modern marketing, apocalypse, virtual reality and babylonian mysticism, with a heavy dose of hallucinogenics mixed in. if you thought "omon" was good...

What a pleasure it is to discover Victor Pelevin. His imagination and creativity seem to have no bounds, and he writes very, very well. Oman Ra is the story of a boy who grows up always wanting to fly and, as the saying goes, should have been more careful what he wished for: he and a friend are accepted as cosmonauts in what turns out to be the outlandish, buffoonish, hilarious, nightmarish world of the Soviet space program. The training program is shocking (to both Omon and the reader), and Omon's trip to the moon, and its aftermath, are unforgettable. Everything about this short, amazing book is the equal of the best stories in the author's A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia. Pelevin is a young writer whose forthcoming books are to be eagerly anticipated.

Victor Pelevin is the most interesting writer in modern Russia. New russian generation, like Generation X in the USA, is strongly different from the previous one. Victor Pelevin is the favorite writer of this generation, which live in shattered world. Their world is very strange for a foreigner. It is a combination of high-tech cyber culture, old communist remains, indian shaman culture, Chineese phylosophy and American pragmatism. Translator did great job, because the language of Pelevin is quite different from usual one. Sometimes, however, translator was not able to reproduce original spirit, because, I guess, he tried to be politically correct(PC). His translation lacks that combination of cynicism and high spirituality, which is so important in Pelevin's book.