AscensionSteven Galloway, ISBN: 9781843547525, R140.00
Reviews
Editorial Review - Kirkus Reviews Copyright (c) VNU Business Media, Inc.
The life story of a high-wire artist, in a US debut from Canadian second-novelist Galloway.Salvo Ursari is a Rom (gypsy). As a nine-year-old in the Hungary of 1919, he watches a gadje (non-Roma) mob burn down the family home; his parents die in the fire, but Salvo escapes to Budapest. These early scenes, interwoven with Romany folk tales, show a resilient culture fighting ethnic oppressors. Everything changes when the teenaged Salvo sees his first wire act and meets the mysterious impresario Tomas Skosa. The latter realizes Salvo is a natural, though he proves a cruel taskmaster. Immobility is the key, says Skosa: "make the wire yours." Thus begins the romance between artist and wire; in a large cast of one-dimensional characters, they are the only two that matter. On the ground Salvo is a dour neurotic; in the air he is the epitome of grace. Not that the ground is all bad: Salvo will have a joyful reunion with siblings he had given up for dead, and they will become part of the act. Eventually, they run afoul of the Gestapo but are saved by a job offer from America's top circus impresario, and enjoy a sensational debut in New York. The huge clan that runs the circus, however, is riddled with feuds; when one of the clan, Anna, falls for and marries Salvo, she is promptly disinherited. But Galloway's attempts to flesh out the Ursaris' acrobatics into a circus novel complete with Big Tent politics are too superficial to work. As for Anna, only years later does she realize the wire complements Salvo in a way she cannot; by now (it's 1959) their twin daughters are part of an eight-member troupe. When the girls die in a too-risky maneuver, Anna's anger with Salvo borders on hate. Later, Salvo himself will meet his end on a wire between the World Trade Center's twin towers.Galloway's high-altitude romance, for all its intensity, is not enough to sustain a full-length novel.
The life story of a high-wire artist, in a US debut from Canadian second-novelist Galloway.Salvo Ursari is a Rom (gypsy). As a nine-year-old in the Hungary of 1919, he watches a gadje (non-Roma) mob burn down the family home; his parents die in the fire, but Salvo escapes to Budapest. These early scenes, interwoven with Romany folk tales, show a resilient culture fighting ethnic oppressors. Everything changes when the teenaged Salvo sees his first wire act and meets the mysterious impresario Tomas Skosa. The latter realizes Salvo is a natural, though he proves a cruel taskmaster. Immobility is the key, says Skosa: "make the wire yours." Thus begins the romance between artist and wire; in a large cast of one-dimensional characters, they are the only two that matter. On the ground Salvo is a dour neurotic; in the air he is the epitome of grace. Not that the ground is all bad: Salvo will have a joyful reunion with siblings he had given up for dead, and they will become part of the act. Eventually, they run afoul of the Gestapo but are saved by a job offer from America's top circus impresario, and enjoy a sensational debut in New York. The huge clan that runs the circus, however, is riddled with feuds; when one of the clan, Anna, falls for and marries Salvo, she is promptly disinherited. But Galloway's attempts to flesh out the Ursaris' acrobatics into a circus novel complete with Big Tent politics are too superficial to work. As for Anna, only years later does she realize the wire complements Salvo in a way she cannot; by now (it's 1959) their twin daughters are part of an eight-member troupe. When the girls die in a too-risky maneuver, Anna's anger with Salvo borders on hate. Later, Salvo himself will meet his end on a wire between the World Trade Center's twin towers.Galloway's high-altitude romance, for all its intensity, is not enough to sustain a full-length novel.
Thrilling!
User Review
- Amazon.com -
By A Customer I love this book. I recently heard Mr. Galloway on the CBC talking about his writing and reading from this book. I usually don't buy hardcover books, but I was in the bookstore browsing ...
User Review
- Amazon.com - By A Customer I love this book. I recently heard Mr. Galloway on the CBC talking about his writing and reading from this book. I usually don't buy hardcover books, but I was in the bookstore browsing ...
Soaring
User Review - - Amazon.com -
I simply couldn't put this book down. Salvo Ursari is a rom wire walker who performs in the circus. The novel opens with him walking between the towers of the world trade center, and this one scene is ...
User Review
- - Amazon.com - I simply couldn't put this book down. Salvo Ursari is a rom wire walker who performs in the circus. The novel opens with him walking between the towers of the world trade center, and this one scene is ...
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