Mary Doria Russell: Sparrow, The (AudiobookFormat, 1996, Nova Audio Books)
audio cassette
English language
Published Oct. 1, 1996 by Nova Audio Books.
The Sparrow is a novel about a remarkable man, a living saint, a life-long celibate and Jesuit priest, who undergoes an experience so harrowing and profound that it makes him question the existence of God. This experience--the first contact between human beings and intelligent extraterrestrial life--begins with a small mistake and ends in a horrible catastrophe.
This book is a well done piece of story telling, but the story it tells is one that's emotionally difficult to read.
When The Sparrow is good, it's really good, but when it's bad, it's really bad. The setup is utterly absurd and almost made me abandon the book, and the jovial banter (poor suffering Cubs fans, now on another planet!) was tedious. But my desire to know what Bad Thing happened on that planet kept me going, and by the end, Russell had me again. The last two chapters were quite something. Maybe it should have been a novella.
This is perhaps the most disturbing book I've ever enjoyed. Russell painstakingly doles out the events of the Rakhat mission in an excruciatingly anticipatory, yet frequently surprising, way. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion, just knowing that the engine is about to explode, only to witness the caboose explode instead. Followed by the engine. Knowing from the beginning that Emilio is the only survivor of the mission just adds critical mass.
The first two thirds of this story made me think of [b:A Canticle for Leibowitz|164154|A Canticle for Leibowitz|Walter M. Miller Jr.|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1329408540s/164154.jpg|250975], with its sense of purpose in authority and tradition despite the lack of candor and clarity about that purpose. However, as I neared the end I found myself thinking more about [b:A Prayer for Owen Meany|4473|A Prayer for Owen Meany|John Irving|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1260470010s/4473.jpg|1734019] and the opaque assurance of a presumed reason for present tragedy. I'm always a …
This is perhaps the most disturbing book I've ever enjoyed. Russell painstakingly doles out the events of the Rakhat mission in an excruciatingly anticipatory, yet frequently surprising, way. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion, just knowing that the engine is about to explode, only to witness the caboose explode instead. Followed by the engine. Knowing from the beginning that Emilio is the only survivor of the mission just adds critical mass.
The first two thirds of this story made me think of [b:A Canticle for Leibowitz|164154|A Canticle for Leibowitz|Walter M. Miller Jr.|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1329408540s/164154.jpg|250975], with its sense of purpose in authority and tradition despite the lack of candor and clarity about that purpose. However, as I neared the end I found myself thinking more about [b:A Prayer for Owen Meany|4473|A Prayer for Owen Meany|John Irving|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1260470010s/4473.jpg|1734019] and the opaque assurance of a presumed reason for present tragedy. I'm always a bit confounded by stories of people who have faith that there's something to have faith in, even though they don't know what that is. (I would be remiss not to also draw a link to Shepherd Book's dying exhortation to Mal in Serenity, "I don't care what you believe. Just believe in it.")
From a character perspective, I was most surprised by Voelker. Emilio was stretched as far as he could go, but ultimately he proves to be (at least somewhat) elastic. Voelker simply breaks.
This book is beautiful, thought-provoking, and tragic. It's a story of an exploratory mission gone wrong. Just like the early explorers of the Americas, these explorers think they are completely prepared, but make a lot of erroneous assumptions about the culture they encounter.
From the beginning of the book you are told that everyone dies except the main character, and that he has been tortured both physically and mentally. Some of what happens to the characters is pretty gruesome; if you can't handle that, stay away from this book. The violence and torture are necessary for the questions that the book poses about why God allows suffering.
The story ends on a depressing note. The sequel, Children Of God, is not as good but takes the story in a more hopeful direction. If you are going to read this book, I would plan on reading that one as well.
TXU PS3568.U76678 S63 1996
I lack the capacity to adequately describe this book. Russell worldbuilds with the trained eye of a sociologist, but the light touch of truly a gifted novelist. However, what really makes her work is a dedication to exploration of issues of moral complexity, grittiness, desperation and redemption.
The Sparrow is without equal.
