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Ascension

by Steven Galloway

It is no doubt advisable to resist tightrope tropes while reviewing a novel that has at its heart a Transylvanian wire-walker. However, in Ascension, Steven Galloway performs a feat deserving of big top applause. In this, his second novel, he expertly walks a very fine line, spinning the makings of what might have been a gimmicky immigrant tale into a gripping story of one man’s lifelong balancing act.

The particulars of Galloway’s protagonist, Salvo Ursari, are compelling. As part of a Roma family growing up in early 20th-century Europe, he learns to endure persecution as a matter of course and survives his hardscrabble life through a sense of kinship that springs from blood ties and the wealth of Roma lore passed down to him.

When he is orphaned and split from his siblings by a lynch mob in Hungary, he is led to the streets of Budapest and eventually into a high wire act that both haunts and redeems him. He is eventually reunited with his brother and sister, who join him in his act, and the Ursari family is invited to perform in America with a renowned circus. Along the way Salvo struggles to understand the accidents and acts of anger and contrition that have shaped his life.

Galloway has created a complex, uncommon common man, an underdog and a hero. It is impossible not to root for Salvo Ursari. But what makes Ascension worth the read is Galloway’s storytelling powers; his is a self-possessed voice that seamlessly weds narrative and tone. Stories-within-stories and shifts in point-of-view blend seamlessly, providing entertainment and insight into the history and mindset of both Salvo the solo performer and his family. Like the wire-walker he has created here, this Galloway has the power to move and astonish, seemingly without sweat or effort.

 

Reviewer: Heather Birrell

Publisher: Knopf Canada

DETAILS

Price: $34.95

Page Count: 282 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 0-676-97461-9

Issue Date: 2003-2

Categories: Fiction: Novels