Omon Ra, Cover may vary

Viewing a 3D movie without wearing the special glasses required yields a blurry, migraine inducing image. Razor-sharp focus of plot and theme in Victor Pelevin's genre-busting Omon Ra may not be entirely achievable, and it's a fair bet that the author's Buddhist background led him to deliberately include paradox (a literary koan) in the weaving of this kaleidoscopic tale. A bit of background does, though, sharpen the images that blast through this novel enough to allow the emergence of a rock-you-back-on-your-heels trip to a mental outer space that many readers (including myself) have not yet explored. Pelevin, Russian-born in 1962, earned a degree in electro-mechanical engineering, then went on to study creative writing. A student of Buddhism, the right-living (reportedly he neither drinks nor smokes) Pelevin was witness in his 20's to the rise of glasnost and perestroika and the ascendance of hope in the emergence of a Russian national culture that would be based on openness and justice. By his early 30's, Pelevin was witnessing the disintegration of Russia into a culture that combined the worst elements of capitalism run amok and gangsterism as a form of government. Two pillars of Pelevin's life, science and Buddhism, are at their hearts a search for purity and truth. Juxtaposing them with the soul-destroying conformity of the receding USSR empire and the insurgent raw materialism of the new Russia didn't result in creative tension, one might guess, but rather a rupture of spiritual/psychological tectonic plates whose 9.0 Richter scale creative shock waves Pelevin (to the reader's benefit) captured in Oman Ra, his first novel. Oman Ra is science fiction only in the sense that Brave New World is. Sci-fi fans addicted to space opera, technophilia, or alien encounters: stay away. Just as easily categorized as political satire, existential literature, surrealism, or historical fiction, Pelevin packs all these genres into a 154 page vehicle, where they sit cheek by jowl, sometimes uncomfortably. Cram your way into this rover, though, and you're in for a wild ride that rivals Hollywood's best chase scenes. Pelevin's imagery is nothing short of brilliant. From Oman's (the protagonist) father lying drunk on a couch under a reproduction of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, to the use of an unsteerable, virtually blinded bicycle powered moon rover as a metaphor for existence, Pelevin draws sharp intakes of breath and scores mental TKO's from the first pages to the last. From the absurdity of preparing for walking into a lunar vacuum by stuffing lubricated tampons into ones ears and nostrils, to the haunting image of humans as stars that twinkle in empty space, seen by each other, but separated by unbridgeable interstellar distances, Pelevin never lets the reader quite recover equilibrium. The first page is intriguing. The last paragraph of Oman Ra may be the most precise literary expression of existentialism ever written. Though immersed in the absurdity of life, Pelevin's role as editor of a magazine that deals with issues of science and religion indicates that he may still be looking for answers, still plumbing for meaning. Gertrude Stein once said "There ain't no answer. There ain't going to be any answer. There has never been an answer. THAT's the answer." I suspect that if Pelevin agreed with Stein, his tectonic plates would settle down, and the creative shockwaves would diminish. We, the readers, though, would suffer for it.

Pelevin's translated prose are a thing of silken beauty. The tale itself is something of an absurd bad dream, but not a nightmare at all. Omon Ra is a meditation on the meaning of heroism. What it's worth, what it means, and how it feels. The only issue I took with the book is there is an extended interrogation sequence that I personally felt dragged on much too long. Though I could be missing valuable symbolic motifs or foreshadowing in the wordy segment. I wouldn't even mention it if the section wasn't a few pages long. Anyway, this is a very good book, one might even call it great if they had the inclination. Sadly, I must stick to "very good" due to the aforementioned section. I find no fault in a book being confusing. It can be done on purpose. But I do feel unsatisfied when a book loses me for a few pages.

It would be simplistic to view the book only in the context of the Soviet society. Problems depicted are much deeper. And are applicable to all modern societies, and especially to societies with imperial tendencies. In a way this book continues the line of "Good solder Sveik", "Catch 22", MASH, Slaughterhouse-Five, etc. It's about absurdities of imperial life and imperial military bureaucracies (space program in the USSR was run by military). From the other point of view it's surprising in how many ways the USA managed to emulate worst features of Soviet society since 1991. Take for example the level of degeneration and evilness of the USSR nomenklatura vs. degeneration of the US political elite. With an unforgettable, "misunderestimated" George W Bush as an example almost taken from the pages of Pelevin's books. On the ideological front there are also fascinating similarities. Just replace utopian (and deeply fake; there was less sincere communists in the USSR Politburo, then in any small Paris Monmarte cafe in 60th) belief in "communism" with no less utopian (and also fake; just look at the level of hypocrisy of a typical FOX commentator) "free market" fundamentalism a la Ann Rand (and guess from which country Ann Rand emigrated :-). Funny, but the last thing the US citizens need is a free market, but it would be nice for them to have a fair market, especially a fair labor market; the problem is that they will not get that, as money are needed for imperial expansion and large corporations protection... Exactly like in the USSR. Take out the language and superficial cultural differences and you have the same picture of an empire acquiring its own dynamic and crushing common people in the process. Common people brainwashed with the imperial ideals (we are the 1st, we are the greatest) using Pravda-style Newspeak practiced by the mainstream press. Reading the book, I got an impression that to a certain extent the USSR managed to inflict a revenge to its foe from the grave: the US world dominance and imperial tendencies contain within itself the same seeds of destruction that doomed the USSR. I hope I am wrong, but we will see. It would be nice if this book was studied in colleges along with the previous novels covering the same theme ("Good solder Sveik", "Catch 22", Slaughterhouse-Five, MASH TV series, etc ) as a stark warning of what can happen with the society when the elite eliminates all countervailing social forces (as implied by the term "inverted totalitarism") and "empirial aspirations" reach the point of no return. I have a feeling that the existence of the USSR was a blessing for an average American, because it helped to keep the US elite global appetites in check (no question about bad luck of Soviet people). It's not coincidental that four postwar decades (1950-1990) are now considered by many as the "gold age" for the American people.

The book itself is a perfect quality print . Delivered in perfect shape 5 stars service

As advertised

This is a genius book! excellent translation, very funny and thought provoking

Weird story but strangely addictive

Soviet era-satire. Occasionally amusing.