Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing: A Novel - Hardcover

Batchelor, John Calvin

3.67

15 ratings by Goodreads

9780805021417: Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing: A Novel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805021418 ISBN 13: 9780805021417

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co, 1993

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John Calvin Batchelor's Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing is a triumphant return to the epic grandeur of his earlier novels The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica and American Falls. Eight years in the making and based on long-rumored accounts of a Soviet manned mission to the moon launched prior to Apollo II, it takes on nothing less than the titanic contest of the Cold War, the never-to-be-repeated heroics of the sixties' space race, and the hopelessly tragic history of the Soviet Union.
Peter is an orphan, the only son of Apollon Nevsky, the greatest air ace of the Second World War. As he begins his story, it is 1968, the eve of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. It is also the homestretch of the moon race, and Peter is freshly arrived at Starry Town (Russia's Houston Manned Space Center), a cosmonaut candidate who dreams of claiming the glowing white orb of the moon for Mother Russia. Exuberant, patriotic, loyal, he is nonetheless haunted by his patrimony. His father is one of the vanished, a hero of heroes slaughtered for his heroism by Stalin's henchmen. And now he is being watched - by the Chekhist thugs who dominate every aspect of Russian life and by a mysterious and powerful woman whose role in his life is darker and more deadly than he can yet know.
At Starry Town, Peter falls under the influence of his three "uncles," known as the Martian Troika - his father's three bravest wingmen during the war. They are the heart, soul, and passion of the Russian space program. Peter's idols, they are ruthless men, though certainly no less ruthless than the forces pitched on all sides against them. Like Ishmael aboard mad Ahab's Pequod, Peter is both witness to and willing participant in the tragic and momentous events of the next year - culminating in his uncles' indomitable, doomed quest for the moon.
Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing is a story of Russia in our time. Peter tells us of betrayal, fratricide, the paradox of fate. But he also tells us, in eloquent prose on an opulent scale that spans from the white nights of Leningrad to the deep winter of Siberia, from the steppe to the seas of the moon, what happens when men of great vision stare down the tyrants in pursuit of a dream.

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From Kirkus Reviews:

Sweeping, amusing, at last quite moving mock epic about a Russian spacecraft that shoots for the moon 60 hours before Apollo II lifts off from Houston--and then slowly runs out of luck when entering lunar orbit. Batchelor's staggeringly authentic re-creation of what purports to be the Russian space program matches his well-received earlier successes with historical fiction (1983's The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica and 1985's Niagara Falls-Civil War epic American Falls); here, intaglio craftsmanship shows everywhere--though detail never hinders the pace. A raw innocent, cosmonaut Peter Nevsky, 22, arrives at Starry Town, the USSR's skimpy space center, and finds himself entangled in family politics that bring on a national disaster. A major plot turn should remain veiled here, but let it be said that Peter's surprising tie with the half-insane, evil Mme. Eudaemonia Romodanovsky (whose inapt first name means Good Demon and who is being romantically pursued by the equally evil General Iagoda of State Security) brings plenty of Dostoevskian clout to the page. Iagoda at Eudaemonia's behest has Peter and his beloved Katya kidnapped, beaten, and imprisoned, and Katya dies. Meanwhile, Peter's other large tie is with his three drunken ``uncles,'' the troika of former air aces now at the top of the cosmonaut ladder and earmarked for the moon shot. Peter's father was the finest Russian air ace of WW II and the ``uncles'' are his godfathers. Batchelor spells out marvelously the many competing directorates in Russian politics circa 1963 and shows how rival agencies in a madhouse of surreal allegiances could launch secret high-weaponry wars among themselves without upsetting the nation. The Swiftian final deathtrip to the moon by Peter's three worn-out, broken-down uncles is unforgettable. Superbly bolted-together fantasy you could bang with a wrench. -- Copyright �1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Highly praised for his innovative, expansive fiction ( American Falls ), Batchelor produces his most ambitious novel to date, recreating the dramas of the U.S.-Soviet space race, communist tyranny and complicated personal loyalties. Narrated by cosmonaut hopeful Peter Nevsky, set in the late '60s and based at Starry Town (home of the Cosmonaut Corps), the story hinges on the quest for the first moon landing. At the same time, it explores the realms of larger-than-life characters, including Nevsky's three mentors, who rule the Soviet space program, and the two women who change his future. The author renders culture and politics (including the '68 invasion of Czechoslovakia) to great effect; moreover, he utterly convinces the reader that a Russian manned mission to the moon was launched prior to the Apollo 11 . Testifying to Batchelor's vast range, the most moving development of all is Nevsky's religious awakening. And although neither the fine points of aeronautics nor the senseless brutality sanctioned by Soviet officials makes for light reading, this novel is very much a page-turner, combining the turbulence of betrayal and evil with the boyish, shoot-for-the-stars wonder that is Batchelor's forte. Here, the fatalism of 19th-century literary masters coexists honestly with futuristic imagination and hope.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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