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The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)

Mary Doria Russell

Start date: June 1, 2014

Finish date: June 30, 2014

Discussion: Book Discussions

Discussion leader: Ben Rowe

Why we're reading this: Group Classic Novel Discussion for June 2014
Winner 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award
Winner 1998 BSFA Award
[close] Group Classic Novel Discussion for June 2014
Winner 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award
Winner 1998 BSFA Award

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Mar 28, 2018 Jeannette rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, eclectic-readers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It's been nearly a week since I finished this book, and I'm still not quite sure what to say about it. What I was looking forward to in this book was an exploration of what would happen if the Church sent priests into space to meet a new species. I thought it would be interesting to see how faith would be explored, and ideas like that. Indeed, there was a lot of that, and it was just as interesting as I'd hoped.

What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the characters so completely. These are It's been nearly a week since I finished this book, and I'm still not quite sure what to say about it. What I was looking forward to in this book was an exploration of what would happen if the Church sent priests into space to meet a new species. I thought it would be interesting to see how faith would be explored, and ideas like that. Indeed, there was a lot of that, and it was just as interesting as I'd hoped.

What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the characters so completely. These are characters I wanted to know, to be friends with, to be. There are many facets of who Anne is that I wouldn't want to emulate or agree with, but there is also so much about her that I wish I were. And she is only one example. These are characters who are fascinating to read about and charming to spend time with, and the Russell makes us love them so completely.

At the same time, she is repeatedly reminding us that these people aren't going to make it to the end of the book. This makes it extremely tense and anxiety-inducing to read, and I found myself repeatedly putting the book down before bed because I was worried about hitting an emotional point right before falling asleep. It turned out that I needn't have worried. By the time the hard-hitting moments come, I'd fried from anxiety and they were over so quickly that I wasn't as impacted as I'd expected. In some ways it was a relief, but I don't think I could put myself through all that stress again for so little emotional impact. Seeing as I would have already known the end anyway, I'm not sure how that impacts rereadability.

Many blurbs and reviews I've read about this book discuss the faith aspect of this book, and the characters (presumably Emilio specifically) facing pain and terrible things while trying to maintain their faith in God. These are not the only struggles the characters have with faith; in fact, there are multiple passages debating the importance of chastity and celibacy in faith (more than I really needed, to be honest, though I acknowledge that they're hard concepts to comprehend). The idea of facing terrible tragedies while still believing is the one that Emilio grapples with throughout the story, however. While the book leaves this struggle optimistically open-ended, I got a lot out of it pondering how I balance those ideas myself. This, along with the other ideas on faith and relationships, have me considering the sequel.
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Nov 08, 2019 Ash rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, naah, dnf, audiobook, first-contact, 0-arthur-cclarke, 0-tiptree, challenge-sf

DNF@93 pages
Boring and not interesting at all. Sci-fi which hardly has any science or book of some other genre like chick lit/romance/lit fiction masquerading as sci-fi by throwing couple of scientific terms pisses me off to no end. This was yet another book masquerading as sci-fi but read like a litfic. I read about 10 chapters and all these chapters were about building characters and relationships with idle chitchat and banter. Nothing whatsoever about aliens or first contact or science or tec ...more

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Oct 07, 2024 Z.A. Mackic rated it it was amazing

Incredible book.
One that really made me think. It shows so much of human nature how easily we jump to conclusions and how actions we consider innocent can lead to deadly consequences.
Highly recommended.

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