Reviews

Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin

shooter_bee's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Feel like I should read all over again to get even more out of this book. Compelling, creepy, fascinating.

shartmastr's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

What

noz021's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

bookscatsandjazz's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

milo_the_moth's review

5.0

Spoiler alert: the next paragraph spoils the ending of this book!

For the large majority of the book, Pelevin implies that Russia is built on the blood of its "heroes," who sacrifice their lives and dignity to maintain Russia's image. However, in the final pages, he turns this theme on its head by revealing that

Spoiler

Omon's journey never brought him to the moon,

suggesting that the regime is not built upon carnage for the sake of Russia, but rather carnage for the sake of carnage.

maur_damar's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

mxmlln's review

1.0

Story: 5.5 / 10
Characters: 4
Setting: 2.5
Prose: 3

sleepandbooks's review

4.0

This book was really good. Absolutely absurd, but it never breaks character- the protagonist is fully invested in his reality and takes himself seriously, even if he does get a little existential in his reflections. It was short enough that id be willing to read it again, relatively soon. The length is important because the story could have dragged on and the ha-ha of it all could have gotten old quickly if there was another hundred pages to get through.

owhite's review

4.0

4.5
I wish it was longer but there’s a lot of good stuff there I think.

dani7silver's review

5.0

A gripping piece of Russian sci-fi recommended to my by my mother (who is always recommending me which Russian authors to read next). Without giving away too much, this little novel explores a Soviet conception of the ends justifying the means. Really liked it, and I hopefully will read some more work by Pelevin.