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.