Victor Pelevin's Omon Ra is an absurdist adventure in the Soviet space program.
Dark and hilarious, Omon Ra tells the tale of a young Russian cosmonaut. Omon Krivomazov, named after a riot control unit of the Russian army, has spent his life yearning for the stars. Space was to be his escape from the rigid conformity of soviet society, but it seems he and his colleagues have been trained to pilot "unmanned" missions for Mother Russia. None of them come back.
Believable, but often times surreal, I could not put this book down.
Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin via Amazon
