KEY POINTS:
Stalingrad, 1946: a Russian orphan boy is repeatedly and savagely assaulted by bullies. The experience toughens him up, and he learns the virtues of stoic acceptance and active resistance.
Korea, 1952-53: the same Russian boy is now a rookie pilot, a volunteer in the North Korean Air Force. His sharp eye and fearlessness combine to initiate his ascent to the status of air ace. But his success is not without its attendant paradox: as a Soviet volunteer, he does not officially exist. The further he rises, the more he endangers his identity.
Franz Josef Land, 1955-64: as the Cold War freezes relations between the two superpowers, our hero, Yevgenii Yeremin, is exiled to the barren tracts of the Soviet Arctic. His flying is a desultory waste of time, until he shoots down an American U2 spy plane. From then on, Yeremin's trajectory is supersonic, into orbit of the Earth and beyond, as he becomes a post-Gagarin cosmonaut.
Sounds like classic Boy's Own material? On the surface, our hero overcomes huge odds, battling man and the environment like a displaced gunslinger wandering far from the Wild West. Like Major Tom, he floats high in space in a crippled tin-can.
But Ascent is far from such simplistic twaddle. It is a highly crafted existential fable, an investigation into what creates our identity. Is it others and our relationship with them? Apparently not. Yeremin is an isolate, brutalised and abandoned by society, despite his status. Even his wife and family have no names - they are just "the widow" and "the boy and the girl".
It is Yeremin's deeds that characterise him. It is, ultimately, his final choice that defines him, yet ironically and appropriately, no one will know he has made it. Its imprint will literally last for ever, but it will leave no legacy on Earth.
Mercurio is a doctor. His intimate understanding of how the body works under pressure is impressive. Like the hero, this book soars when Yeremin leaves Earth. Like his footprint, it will stay with you for a very long time.
* Jonathan Cape, $34.99
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