From the Bookshelf of Overdue Podcast…

The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)

Mary Doria Russell

Start date: March 24, 2015

Finish date: March 24, 2015

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What Members Thought

Nov 13, 2019 Kate Sherrod rated it it was amazing

This is a brilliant, lovely and disturbing book. Trigger warnings should abound, and I have particular trouble with everything to do with Emilio's mutilated hands since my own are so often close to useless, to say nothing of the scenes of violence and, yes, rape. But this is also a beautiful depiction of a few different types of found family, and also contains a brilliantly imagined pair of alien races intertwined in an equally brilliantly imagined culture. The theological elements are omniprese ...more

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Aug 04, 2015 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-reads, off-the-shelf-2016

I listen to the Books on the Nightstand podcast and Ann Kingman, one of the hosts, rated The Sparrow as her favorite book. I'm always a little cautious about reading a book that others rave about, and especially one that's outside my usual genre. I'm so glad I took a chance on this one, as I loved it! Some of the scenes are a little graphic and the ending certainly made me uncomfortable so this book may not be for everyone. However, the Earth characters were all wonderful and I really liked how ...more

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Mar 19, 2023 Mandy (Zen) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi, not-perfect-but-i-got-thoughts

Thank you for everyone who recommended this to me because this is literally the most traumatizing book I have EVER read

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Aug 25, 2015 Julie rated it liked it

Duly impressed that someone could invent such a world, but duly disappointed by several irritating aspects of this novel that overshadow its potential. The characters are cutesy in a way that straddled the line between amusing and grating (what's with the constant eyebrow lifting?). There were a few enchanted moments in which I thought "this is unlike anything I've ever read!" and other moments in which the idea of having to pick this book back up was so insupportable that I opted to read two ot ...more

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Jun 16, 2015 The Lady Anna rated it did not like it

Shelves: did-not-finish, audio-read, overdue-podcast-episode

I listened to the first two hours of the audiobook, and I LOVED it for the first 20 minutes. I was invested in what happened to this guy and wanted to know more about the futuristic Earth world and the mysterious alien world.

Unfortunately the first 20 minutes was the best for me. After that, the characters got really annoying and it was the typical contemporary "let's joke about bodily fluids and curse." I wanted to try and finish it anyway, but nope. At some point I just said, "Ok, that's enou ...more

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