Amazon comIn Steven Galloway's Ascension the story of Salvo Usari, a Romany tightrope walker, begins where it ends: almost 1,400 feet about the streets of New York City in a fictional 1976 performance on a wire suspended between the World Trade Center towers From this first moment, Galloway establishes a careful balance between a thrilling adventure ожъщр story enriched by circus lore and ca haracter-driven tale reflecting Salvo's complex life and remarkable immigrant history 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 AmazingAdventures 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 itsunique contribution to literary art --Patrick O'KelleyBook DescriptionIt 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 Yorks World Trade Center, almost fourteen hundred feet above the city Far below him in the gaping crowd stands his wife, Anna, to whom he has made a solemn promise: This wire walk will end his career In this daring moment, Steven Galloway opens his riveting novel about Salvo Ursari, whose life begins in 1919 amid a Transylvanian boyhood inhabited by gypsy folklore and inspired by the bravery of his persecuted people Salvos story moves irresistibly from a tragic fire that envelops his family, to street life in Budapest, where he learns the skills of a wire walker, to the carnivals of Europe and the competitive world of the American circus Most fulfilled when living with paradox, Salvo feels safest while performing startling feats of balance on a wire high above the dangerous world; and most endangered if performing above a net With compassion, warmth, and blazing originality, Ascension combines jaw-dropping storytelling, and fantastical symbolism with mesmerizing detail of Romany and circus culture, and an unforgettable walk with the amazing Salvo Ursari.  Издание 19722003 г 280 стр ISBN 0786712082.