Pelevin traces the absurd fate of the protagonist Omon, named by his policeman father (after OMON, Soviet and Russian special police forces, pronounced "Amon"), placing him in circumstances that are both fantastic and at the same time have recognizable everyday detail. Pelevin uses this story to illustrate the underlying absurdity of the Soviet establishment with its fixation on "heroic achievements", especially in those fields of human endeavor which could be favorably presented to the outside world—science, the military, and most significantly space exploration.