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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learning to fly...,
By Kurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (London, SW1) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Sparrow (Paperback)
Mary Doria Russell's novel, 'The Sparrow', is a truly interesting mix of theology and science fiction. Prior to this novel, Russell had only ever written scientific and technical manuals, which makes her prose style and story telling all the more remarkable, as a hidden talent becomes unveiled.The story follows close the journey of Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit with a facility for language, and an emptiness in his soul. Set in the near future when near-earth space travel has become if not commonplace at least not unusual, the SETI listening post near Father Emilio's parish post discovers a signal from the nearby star system. While nations debate and plan an exploratory trip, the Jesuit order (well known historically for missionary work) get their own trip underway, with a crew of Jesuits and laypersons each with differing expertise (one in musicology, as the transmission seem musical; and so forth). They arrive on a planet (Rakhat) with two dominant species (the Runa and the Jana'ata), and an intricate society dependent upon certain inter-species realities that the human visitors come to find unethical (yet not really basing this judgment on more than cursory research and observation). Russell presents this as an adventure and a tragedy; as members of the expedition die off one by one for various causes, Father Emilio is left alone and injured and ill-used by those he came to embrace as friends. A second expedition arrives from earth and rescues Father Emilio; the whole tale is told in the manner of flashback while the Jesuits investigate what went wrong. Thus, there are two narrative lines running simultaneously--the unfolding story on Rakhat, and the unfolding trauma and resolution of Father Emilio. Russell, raised a catholic yet a convert to Judaism, writes with sensitivity and realism about the Jesuit order, the church, and about the will of God in general. According to Russell, 'When you convert to Judaism in a post-Holocaust world, you know two things for sure: one is that being Jewish can get you killed; the other is that God won't rescue you. That was the theology I was dealing with at the time.' This is a glimpse into human nature as well as a good science fiction story; many of Russell's situations will be unnerving, and the conclusion very disturbing. Yet, I feel there is something dishonest about the 'everything-works-out-in-the-end-for-everyone' kind of science fiction which is our usual lot today; this book doesn't end on hopelessness, but there is a good dose of reality here, and this honest makes the story all the more credible.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Only the Human Aspects of SF Make It Interesting!,
By bblack@squadronlaw.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Sparrow (Paperback)
I am a true blue, dyed in the wood science fiction fan. But only if the fiction relates to the way science affects human beings. A tech/tech novel may be interesting to a very few but a book like this one takes s/f to it's true heights. Is it technically flawed? Perhaps. Slightly. Is is a true human drama? Oh yes! The effect of science, first contact and exploration on the religious mind and attitude is not explored enough in science fiction (or other fiction for that matter). What are the tests of faith? What will it mean to encounter societies that are both ecologically balanced and culturally advanced in ways we cannot imagine? There was one reviewer who criticised the book for the huge impact a small group had on a larger population must not have read his history. Think of the Conquistadores in Mexico. Think of the Portugese in Japan. Think of the British in Ireland! It doesn't take much for a more technologically advanced and ideologically cohesive to make major inroads into a small and widely scattered population. Things were very different when the explorers reached the real top of the food chain! As for the quibble of the Vatican making great strides in putting together a space exploration crew in 60 years: We went from the flight at Kitty Hawk to the Moon landing in about the same period of time. Such criticisms show that the reviewer did not understand the real heart of the book. I thought the book (and its sequel) so well done that I both look forward to and dread the coming movie adaptation. And cannot help but wonder how the "Church" will react to it. It should be interesting! And that's what's most important in a book. This is a book to expand your thoughts --science fiction fan, religious fiction fan or just plain fan of good fiction!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Hateful attitudes, silly plot.,
By
This review is from: The Sparrow (Paperback)
I was so eager to read The Sparrow, the pretext intrigued me and it seemed to be on so many `must-read' lists but now I've read it, I'm at a complete loss to understand why; it irritated me from the start and became increasingly annoying as it went on. The plot requires a massive suspension of disbelief, you have to believe that NASA would not be interested in manning a mission to a known-to-be inhabited planet, that the Jesuits have both the desire and wherewithal to do the job instead, and that every nation on earth (including Russia, China, India etc) are apparently happy to let the Catholics run the show. Allowing for this nonsense might be worth it if the story had been better. It did have the seed of something truly original, but didn't develop in any direction that held my attention, becoming ever more ludicrous. Also, the characters seemed half-formed and interchangeable, so I had to keep turning back to remind myself of who everyone was. Worst of all, the heavy, cloying scent of Catholicism wore on me more and more as the tale progressed, as did the author's attitude to vegetarians: you are not truly human unless you eat meat, and all vegetarians are passive and annoying - which I found personally insulting. Not worth the 1p it cost me. A dreadful waste of reading time.
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