It is the summer of 1976 and Salvo Ursari, a man of retirement age, is walking on a taut wire strung between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. This riveting moment opens the story of Salvo Ursari, a Transylvanian boy who found his way to the competitive world of the American circus. Ascension combines heart-pounding descriptions of high-altitude acrobatics with mesmerizing detail of Romany and circus culture.
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Leaving New York, Galloway shifts to Savlo's youth in Transylvania, circa 1919. Salvo's father, Miksa, has taught his nine-year-old son the essential myths that form the Rom, or gypsy, identity, but the legends cannot prepare the boy for an abrupt tragedy, an accident at a gadje church, that leads to the murder of his father and mother and to Salvo's long separation from his brother and baby sister. Salvo climbs to the pinnacle of the mammoth church steeple, tears out his soul--flinging it towards God--and begins a wandering life. Galloway then traces the paths of the Usari siblings over the years until they are rejoined at work as a family of tightrope walkers, eventually achieving acclaim in the Fisher-Fielding circus in the United States. But even reunited the Usaris cannot escape tragedy and further death. In the end, Salvo must return to the wire alone to pacify his unquiet mind.
Galloway's execution of story and character is nearly flawless throughout, and his narrative, like Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, captures the essence of the 20th-century immigrant odyssey. But it is the blending of Romany folk tales and well-researched circus craft with this otherwise powerful narrative that defines Ascension and makes its unique contribution to literary art. --Patrick O'Kelley
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. The book is unread, clean and new. Some faint shelf wear. ; 0.99 x 8.82 x 5.75 Inches; A New York Times BestsellerIt is the summer of 1976 and Salvo Ursari, a man of retirement age, is walking on a taut wire strung between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. This riveting moment opens the story of Salvo Ursari, a Transylvanian boy who found his way to the competitive world of the American circus. Ascension combines heart-pounding descriptions of high-altitude acrobatics with mesmerizing detail of Romany and circus culture. Seller Inventory # 14462