Public Loneliness: Yuri Gagarin's Circumlunar Flight

Altered Space #2

by Gerald Brennan

October, 1967. Yuri Gagarin sits atop a Proton rocket, ready to launch. After several turbulent years in the public eye, he's been chosen in secrecy to captain the Soviet Union's latest space the first manned flight around the moon.The second story in the Altered Space series, Public Loneliness is a detailed and imaginative look at a country and a space program with a curious schizophrenia regarding publicity and secrecy. Based on extensive research, it's also a lively and literary story that references familiar classics (like Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea) and forgotten landmarks of Soviet socialist realism, while also touching on universal themes of adventure, alcoholism, heroism and shame. It's a compelling look behind the massive posters at the all-too-real man who led the human race into space.The titles in the Altered Space series are wholly separate narratives, but all deal with the mysteries of space and time, progress and circularity. Each one is an ensō of words in which orbits of spacecraft, moons, planets, and people allow us fresh perspectives on the cycles of our own lives.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 29, 2014

About the author

Gerald Brennan is a self-described corporate brat who hails from the eastern half of the continent but currently resides in Chicago. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and later earned a Master's from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He’s the author of Resistance, Zero Phase: Apollo 13 on the Moon, Project Genesis, Ninety-Seven to Three, and Public Loneliness: Yuri Gagarin's Circumlunar Flight. He's been profiled in Newcity, and his writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Good Men Project, and Innerview Magazine; he's also been a co-editor and frequent contributor at Back to Print and The Deadline. He’s into Camus, Dostoyevsky, Koestler, Hitchcock, Radiohead, and The National, but you can also catch him reading Jim Thompson and even sneaking in some Wahida Clark from time to time. He’s also a huge Martin Scorsese fan.

Reviews

[Steve Karas · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Public Loneliness, Brennan takes us where no man has gone before (or at least where no book has taken me before), writing a first-person narrative of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s fictional space flight around the moon. What impressed me the most about this book was, not only the research Brennan must have done in order to write so convincingly about space travel and the Soviet space program during the Cold War in particular, but how he was able to turn that research into a wholly entertaining and easy-to-read book. The book reads almost like a memoir, and Brennan has masterfully captured the voice that fits Gagarin’s trademark smile: animated, likable, the voice of a peasant turned national hero. Throughout the book, Brennan shifts between Gagarin’s mission around the moon and his tales about the Soviet program—memories and tragedies and near tragedies. One of the underlying themes is the secrecy of the Soviets, in the context of the rivalry with the US for supremacy in spaceflight. How the outcomes of missions were delayed until success was a certainty, and that failures were kept secret, which opens the door to the possibility that perhaps Gagarin’s flight around the moon wasn’t fictional at all. The title of the book is perfect. Gagarin was the first human to journey into outer space (truth). Brennan gets into the psyche of a man who had seen things few, if any other humans, ever had, and the dichotomy of such a solitary experience being celebrated and embraced by an entire people, not to mention others around the world. Brennan touches on the dangers of space travel, especially at that time, in the early 1960s, when it was all so new and uncertain. What would inspire such risk? Would anyone even ever know about a mission depending on whether or not it went as planned? And for what purpose? For the benefit of the State, individual glory, or, as Brennan writes, “to test one’s limits, to see how far one can get and still make it back home.”

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is one unique book. Firstly, it's historical fiction as it features Yuri Gagarin, the world's first person in space. Secondly, it's speculative science fiction, as it imagines Yuri on a second space flight, which, according to history, never happened. But that's where the speculative part comes in. I don't really want to give too much away here. Because, really, it's not so much about what happens or the speculation, as it is about how deftly Brennan controls the voice of Gagarin. Reading this, if you didn't know it was fiction, you'd think it was this man's memoir. And, from what I've read, Yuri was an intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive, and warm character. And that all comes through with complete authenticity on every page of this slim volume. A real pleasure to read. One that puts a whole picture together efficiently while packing an emotional punch. And the speculations and technical language of space flight were icing on top of it all. Definitely a recommended read.

[Hannah Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very creatively done and entertaining! Speaking from the voice of a real person, imaginatively recreating their thoughts and experiences, about events of great historical and political significance (even if fictional)--it's a tall order for a writer and I think only a very talented writer (and researcher) can do it as well as Gerald Brennan has done for this book. It's an enjoyable and impressive read.

[Evelyn Lienhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. The mix of first person historical fiction with memories of real events from that first person point of view was very unique and engaging. I recommend this to anyone looking for a satisfying and quick read.

[Ethan Everhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful look into a fascinating figure. It was surprisingly and refreshingly light on USSR-bashing, which is always a plus for books on this topic and time.