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What are readers saying about The Sparrow (Ballantine Reader's Circle)?
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-25 04:14:44.
(Language: English)
  
Science Fiction has always had its lazy side, choosing to invent fantastic inventions to solve problems without explaining the physics. Star Trek solved the energy crisis with Dylytheum crystals and interstellar travel is possible with a "warp" drive. To me, creating an alternate universe without laws or logic is lazy fiction, and most science fiction is guilty of this, and that is why it gets so little respect.The Sparrow is different and above the rest and makes an effort to explain the science along with the plot. It provides the most plausible solution to interstellar space travel I have ever read. Also very plausible that the first explorers will be missionaries. An excellent read and one of the most mature books in a genre that is still in its adolesent phase.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-10 10:31:20.
(Language: English)
Amazing book. If you read this one, also read "Children of God" and the plot of this one is very much changed. This science fiction book is much more serious than the usual ilk that I read, yet I still enjoyed it. Basic premise: Earth has had its first contact with aliens. It's in the form of a music radio transmittion, and the first group to get together to set up a voyage there are the Jesuits. The only survivor of the first mission, when a second crew goes to rescue, immediately goes on trial for murder and prostitution. The story is told mostly through flashback. Note: I'm not all about the Catholic religion, but I feel like I can read a sometimes biased book without getting too hung up about that. (not always--the CE Lewis books just piss me off). Religious themes does not equal religious belief for me.
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Anna posted a review at 2011-04-18 11:32:40.
(Language: English)
It is a strange but fully fascinating story, told in a way that it reveals little at a time, so you want to read more and find out what really happened!it is a story of moral choices, born from our deepest (but eventually unfullfilled )hopes, hence the consequences are disastrous....it is a story about God and those who desperately crave to believe in him.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-30 10:28:43.
(Language: English)
I was sold on The Sparrow when I read the understatedly chilling excerpt from the first page quoted on the back cover. “The Jesuit scientists went to learn, not to proselytize. They went so that they might come to know and love God's other children. They went for the reason Jesuits have always gone to the furthest frontiers of human exploration. They went ad majorem Dei gloriam: for the greater glory of God. They meant no harm.†Just from that you could tell this was a book about the road to hell being paved with good intentions; what you couldn’t tell was how superbly and richly and terrifyingly it would be done … words fail a book like this. When I heard she was writing a sequel, I was apprehensive. I thought, “Oh, No! You can’t write a sequel to a book like that!†I felt she had gone everywhere anyone could go; that anything else would read like a copy or a letdown. Still, I had to read Children of God, from sheer curiosity. And it turned out she hadn’t gone nearly everywhere first time; her imagination soared into quite new dimensions, and as the mysteries left over from the first book were clarified and developed, the science and the politics and the human drama and interactions all deepened. As the story of Sandoz and those around him unfolded, almost as a byproduct many central human issues were dramatized far more than in the first volume: liberation, righteous hatred, estrangement from friends, found and lost love, reconciliation with enemies … I still thought The Sparrow unsurpassable; but it now had an unsurpassable companion. After some years I sent MDR a fan e-mail: “You must get many of these, but … Thank you for The Sparrow, Children of God and a Thread of Grace. Everyone I pass them on to becomes a devotee. Wonderful stuff. You have and convey an extraordinary joyous humanity, in the midst of the most terrible things. When I say something like that and people ask "what do you mean", I say: "I can't describe it more, but I can point it out and you'll know what I mean; read the books." And they do, and they do. Thanks again.†Bertie Russell used to say that knowledge by description depended ultimately on knowledge by acquaintance. I’m very aware that I haven’t conveyed at all well what I mean. But do read the books, and you’ll know, by acquaintance. You may need a strong constitution to handle them, but if you do I’m confident that overall they’ll both delight and enrich you.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-05-11 09:37:36.
(Language: English)
I did not think I would like this book and I was pleasantly surprised that I had a very difficult time putting this book down. The book is very thought provoking, delving into religion, ethics, and human relationships. It is set in the future and the plot centers around interplanetary travel and the consequences of such. The characters are extremely well developed the human drama unfolds dramatically. This book is extremely well written. It is definitely not a mindless read. I highly recommend it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-04 01:13:57.
(Language: English)
The novel started slowly for me and I wasn't immediately drawn in to the story but somewhere in the first 100 pages I started developing a mental image of the characters.By the time I made it to the half-way point I couldn't put it down, I finished the last 200 pages in a day (a day that I ought to have been using to study). Emilio and the other Jesuits (Brother Behr, Candotti, and Guiliani), Jimmy Quinn and Sophia, Anne and George, and the peculiar inhabitants on Rakhat are vivid in my mind. I laughed and cried with them, cried for them and was haunted by the beauty and tragedy of this story. And I meditated on the comforting thought that if there was a god, not even a sparrow could fall to the earth without him knowing of it. If not for the Madrona Book Club, I never would've read this novel but I am glad that I did and would recommend that you do the same. However, I will add that there is a violent rape scene towards the end of the novel that I wish I would've known to brace myself for.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-12 04:46:38.
(Language: English)
The story begins by telling about a horribly injured and ill Jesuit priest who has returned as the only survivor of a mission (more scientific than religious) to contact and study an alien race. The story doesn't unfold in a linear progression, but jumps from after to before to during the mission. Gradually, the other members of the team are introduced and Father Emilio Sandoz (the sole survivor) eventually is able to tell the story of what they experienced as he begins to heal both physically and emotionally. It is a very powerful story, and touches on many topics; love, friendship, faith, religion, sentience, environmental issues, suffering, joy, life, death, and our place in the universe. I will be thinking about this one for a while.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-21 12:51:10.
(Language: English)
When I tell people that this is the story of a group of Jesuits on a mission (literally) to an undiscovered planet, I can feel them rolling their eyes! Lately though, I'm finding this kind of speculative fiction allows for a kind of mind-stretching approach to reality. Thinks of Atwood's Oryx and Crake, or Ronald Wright's A Scientific Romance. Sometimes the truth of a work increases with its distance from factuality. I loved the characters in this book, especially Anne (a doctor in her 60's who becomes den mother ad voice of wisdom to the mission) and Emilio (a young, attractive, and passionatley devout priest). But what I loved most was the nakedly honest spirituality of this story. Emilio, who had fallen rapturously, ecstatically in love with God, has to come to terms with the repercussions of that love; with the unintended consequences of his faith. With his own culpability. This book is fresh in its insights and compelling in its honesty. At the same time, it is imaginative-- even playful -- and eminently readable.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-01 12:05:45.
(Language: English)
I am a novice to the genre but thoroughly enjoyed the complexity of the characters, the moral questions raised and even the SF bits. I could not put the book down, the plot was engrossing and although I am not a fan of sequels and can't possibly imagine why Emilio would want to go back, I think I will read it. It was a harrowing and beautiful story. This is one of my favourite passages in the book: "You know what? I really resent the idea that the only reason someone might be good or moral is because they're religious. I do what I do,' Anne said, biting of each word, 'without hope of reward or fear of punishment. I do not require heaven or hell to bribe or scare me into acting decently, thank you very much."
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-10 12:50:24.
(Language: English)
I expected to like this book. I wanted to like this book. I tried to like this book. But frankly I was a bit disappointed. As an exercise in characterization, it's pretty darn impressive. As a science fiction novel of discovery and first contact it's only so-so. The characters are beautifully drawn, each with a distinct and organic personality. But I never really built much empathy for any of them. And their theological considerations didn't particularly resonate with me. I didn't particularly like the author's twin storylines plotting, partly because it felt disjointed and partly because it revealed key elements of how the book was going to end from the very beginning. The alien planet, flora and fauna, and society served to support the plot, but were less compelling than those offered in my favorite books of this ilk. I also found some of the key plot developments unbelievable. And the final unraveling of the reasonably blissful situation in Kashan felt rushed. All in all, a promising first novel, but not really up to my perhaps unrealistic expectations going in.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-10-29 08:21:52.
(Language: English)
I found this book to be tremendously disappointing as well as somewhat discomfiting. It was no surprise when something awful finally happened because I knew all along that it would. Every chapter kept me awaiting the shoe drop, but not in a good way. And when it finally did drop, it was awful and seemingly meaningless as far as any lesson that might have been learned from it. And the one comment I did make about my thoughts on the book were shot down vigorously by an overly aggressive book group member simply because it related to religious aspect of the book. So, all in all, not a great reading experience.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-18 12:43:57.
(Language: English)
While Mary Doria Russel tells a tale set in the future, it is a story grounded in the past. A disparate group of explorers, led by Jesuit priests, make first off planet contact with a new species. While these missionaries do not spend their time prostelyzing, they still run into cross cultural differences that shake their beliefs and shock the folks back home. The tragic fall out out from a failure to comprehend starts on the planet Rakhat and continues for the lone mission survivor back on Earth. Very enjoyable read, the last 20% seemed rushed as the author drew the story to a close. The characters are well drawn, especially the core group sent off planet. Read upon (highly respected) friend's recommendation. Great suggestion!
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-16 11:58:16.
(Language: English)
Jesuits … In … Spaaaaaaaaaaace!!! That’s the basic plot of the science fiction novel The Sparrow (1996) by Mary Doria Russell. The novel proposes a future in which the exploration of new worlds, much like the age of discovery in the 1500’s & 1600’s, is led by a vanguard of missionaries. While this is a work of science fiction set in the future, it reads like a historical novel, perhaps because its story reads of historical experience such as that portrayed in The Mission. The prologue of the novel sets the tone perfectly: The Jesuit scientists went to learn, not to proselytize. They went so that they might come to know and love God’s other children. They went for the reason Jesuits have always gone to the farthest frontiers of human exploration. They went ad majorem Dei gloriam: for the greater glory of God They meant no harm. - p. 3 The chapters alternate between those set after the mission and those during the preparation for and the time spent on Rakhat. In one set of chapters the experience of the only survivor of the mission, Father Emilio Sandoz, his hands maimed, his psyche destroyed, and his faith lost must face intense scrutiny from the media and his fellow Jesuits. These alternate with Sandoz and his friends and colleagues discovering signals from a distant planet of singers, and his efforts to form a team to travel to Rakhat to meet and live among these people. The joy of collegiality of the earlier chapters contrasts starkly with the hollow shell of a man that Sandoz is presented as upon his return to Earth. Yet as the book proceeds, the stories come together. As things go to hell in a handbasket on Rakhat, Sandoz is able to come to terms with the horrors he faced. This novel works well due to its competently executed and complex characters. There’s Sandoz, from a background of poverty in Puerto Rico who grows up to become a priest and a talented linguist. Sofia, a determined, reserved woman of Sephardic heritage who serves as computer specialist and general contractor. Jimmy Quinn, the large, affable but shy astronomer who discovered the singers. Finally, Anne and George Edwards, a doctor and an engineer who though atheists are devoted friends of Emilio’s and share with him sardonic wit. Even the beings of Rakhat are given unique perspective and backgrounds, and presented realistically as sentient beings who happen to be predators and prey.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-01-24 12:20:26.
(Language: English)
Fans of science fiction might think I've gone too far to place this book alongside Brave New World, 1984, and Farenheit 451, but this is a rare book. Rare, because it's science fiction that isn't artificially padded by an author's tedious detailing of every miniscule, irrelevant aspect of their "vivdly imagined" world (fantasy authors are often just as guilty). But most importantly rare, because even when the dates in this book's near future have come and gone, it's the moral dilemmas that will still have people talking. It's not a new idea to envision a scenario in which we are the "aliens" who make contact with another sentient species. It's not new to read a story about aliens that makes us "re-examine what it means to be human." What makes this book so entertaining is the tension created as the story eventually reveals why something that began with so much preparation and promise went so terribly, terribly wrong. It's about contact with aliens, but human emotional dramas drive the story. It's about religion, but it doesn't preach. It's NOT about corporate greed or the desire to exploit resources of another planet for our own survival/profit, like so many other stories of its type. I suppose ultimately it's about whether the human soul survives in the wake of unimaginable deprivation and suffering. Anyone who thinks they know the answer could use this book to support either side of the debate. Simply fantastic.
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Julia posted a review at 2007-07-24 08:50:46.
(Language: English)
The year is 2019. We discover intelligent life sending out musical broadcasts through radiowaves on a nearby planet. The Jesuits’ secret mission is to send a couple priests and civilians to Rakhat to meet the singers. They believe it is a mission ordained by God to meet His other creatures. Something goes horribly wrong. They do make it to the planet and even live there for several years. They start dying one by one, all but Emilio who is rescued by the United Nations. (None of this is spoiler. It’s all in the first few pages.) When they find him, he has killed an innocent Runa and become a prostitute to aliens. The remainder of the book is exploring what happened and how he got there. On another level, it explores one priest’s spiritual journey from the highest mystical ecstasy to the lowest sense of disillusionment. Ideas are explored, but the reader is not patronized with pat answers. This took some time getting into and understanding what was happening. I had to read the first 5 chapters twice before I realized what was going on. Some of her ideas about the future were interesting and I believe well thought out. It was a little hard for me to get over the fact that the aliens shared so many things with us, like the fact that they had ordered societies, towns, and streets. They had first and last names. Sure, there was plenty different, but enough similarities to bother me. This may be more related to my own ability to suspend disbelief for a story, since she couldn’t tell the story without those elements. I’m the same way with movies
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-13 01:49:24.
(Language: English)
I had mixed feelings about this book. The bottom line is that it failed to meet is potential. The premise was interesting and the characters were beautifully drawn. But the outcome could have been much more interesting. I felt like it was a retread of "The Prince of Tides." It was less about the possibilities of first contact and more about how a man of faith handles it when his life goes badly wrong. And I didn't feel like I got a satisfying answer for either question. Certainly it's well written, but I had hoped for more.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-08 01:46:34.
(Language: English)
Great writing, fascinating story, loved all the characters - but the end was difficult to digest, giving the overall storyline a negative connotation. People going to explore another continent, looking for themselves, but suffering horrible treatment from the natives was not enough of a story for me. I feel that this book ended too abruptly, and considering what happened to Emilio on Rakhat does not have me reaching for the sequel. Too bad, the style & the characters were great!
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-17 10:35:30.
(Language: English)
ordered this book at least a year ago after reading Russell's "A Thread of Grace". Even though I had some problems with "A Thread of Grace", there was enough good storytelling that I figured I give her another try. It's sort of amazing to me that no one who has reviewed this book or commented upon it has noted the Recovering Catholic component to it. Perhaps because I began with "Thread", that aspect leapt out at me from the beginning. So many people seem to have loved this book that I hesitate to offer any criticism at all, but I gotta say that just about all of it felt to me like a vehicle to examine issues critical to maintaining one's Catholic faith, including the "surprise" ending (no surprise to me, however. Saw it coming about 50 pages in.) Definitely seemed more about testing faith than first contact. Guess I'm more a zen koan than Christian allegory kind of gal.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-20 03:02:29.
(Language: English)
A very surprising success. I approached this book with considerable reluctance; after all, this was a science fiction novel, and I don't "do" science fiction. What you could call a real sci-fi snob I guess. This book was considerably longer than I expected; at no point did I feel compelled to read at the speed of lightning, but I was quite happy to go through a chapter a night. I enjoyed the book initially where the characters and scene were set, and was then sufficiently hooked that by the time the book introduced the life on another planet, I was happy to read through. A very good example of how sci-fi can be used to discuss morals and spirituality. One thing I didn't understand was why Sandoz was doubted from the outset, when he obviously went through a horrendous ordeal - and why did they think anyone would choose prostitution - and therefore be to blame for a loss of moral values and desertion of beliefs? Anyway, I enjoyed.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-08 12:04:46.
(Language: English)
One of my boyfriend's favorite books, I read this when he gave it to me as a birthday gift. I found Russell reminiscent of Ursula K. LeGuin in this sci-fi story of a crushed soul trying to find meaning in his religious beliefs within the framework of his life's experiences. One of those rare books that was disturbing and thought-provoking all at once, so much so that I have difficulty forming an opinion as to whether I liked it or not.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-07-03 04:39:33.
(Language: English)
Book club, 5/08. One of the best books I ever read, definitely one of my all time favorites. I guess, technically, it's science fiction, because it deals with a space expedition, life on another planet, etc... but it doesn't feel like science fiction. It's just a wonderfully written story with characters that you care deeply about, completely fascinating, thrilling, and riveting. I could not have been more emotionally involved, and I just couldn't put it down. Immediately had to read the sequel, "Children of God" (also fantastic).
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Katie posted a review at 2010-06-03 01:45:15.
(Language: English)
"Ruminating over the same problem as he walked back to his lightless room on the eastern side of the Rome Ring, John Candotti had his own theory about how things had gone wrong. The mission, he thought, probably failed because of a series of logical, reasonable, carefully considered decisions, each of which seemed like a good idea at the time. Like most colossal disasters."
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-25 11:17:43.
(Language: English)
This is a truly fascinating book, whether you're particularly religious (catholic or otherwise) or not (I'm not). The story focuses as much on the way the characters deal with hardship and joy, as it deals with the new experiences with beings on another planet. My only disappointment was the level of detail the author goes into when describing the technical components of space travel, language structure, engineering, etc (I didn't need so much to make the story believable). By the time I got to the ending, I knew before it was told to me, what the horrific event was going to be, so it didn't hit me as painfully as it was intended to. GOOD read, very hard to put down.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-04-21 08:43:25.
(Language: English)
What is it with messages from space that make it so hard to resolve a narrative? One of my favorite movies is Contact, but even I can admit that there's a pretty big disconnect between the level of suspense generated by the possibilities of a journey to space and the level of excitement generated by the outcome. The Sparrow has many similarities to Contact, in that a mysterious message from space is received, a trip to the message's source is planned, and the outcomes are shrouded in mystery. Both narratives generate a tremendous amount of suspense in their first two-thirds: in Contact, from the receipt of the message to the deciphering of its content and the construction of the machine, and in The Sparrow, from the knowledge that only one member of the mission survived, and the burning questions of what the hell went wrong, and why the survivor's injuries were so specific and strange. Alas, the answers do not justify the buildup. I hold out tenuous hope for the sequel.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-06-26 05:11:29.
(Language: English)
This book is a rare blend of engaging science fiction - replete with aliens and conflict - profound theological and philosophical insight, and beautifuly written human relationships.Russell explores the whole gamut of human motions, hopes, fears and frailties, our capacity for self-deception and boundless hope that finds new life in the harshest of circumstances.The ending - which shall remain secret - is perhaps the only thing that could entirely demolish the heroic machismo of the protagonist, a latino Jesuit convinced he is on a mission from God. Ultimately, of course, with the horrors that are visited upon him, the spiritual and psychological deaths they bring - he probably was.
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