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The Sparrow
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TS: Happy to read The Sparrow!
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Joanna,Glad that you like The Sparrow. I finally read it a couple of years ago and it has become one of my favorite books. Here's my review:
http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2013/01...
Marion
Great book. Worthy of being a S&L read.
El libro es muy interesante. LOL trying to improve my Spanish good thing no one else is reading this at my library it should be on its way now whooop.
Glad that most "sci-fi-ish" book was chosen from the list. Despite that it stands on religious grounds at least with its one leg, fist two chapters are pretty neutral in that sense and characters are intriguing. Lets see what comes next. Also i hope setting will start becoming more technologically advanced in furhter chapters.
I'm sure its other things that can be gained from reading . It's hard for things not to be somewhat religious even if it's against religion. As someone not religious I still enjoy story with good morals. Like The Red Tent
Got a hold on it at the library. With so many good posts I'm looking forward to jumping in.
Oh, it's not exactly a 'moral' book - horrific things happen in it (really, really horrific). But it's certainly concerned with questions of morality - especially long-standing theological questions about how an omnipotent God can allow evil in the world and how believers can keep faith while suffering.I really enjoyed the way the book is deeply informed by slightly different fields of science than most SF books - lots of linguistics and anthropology.
Glad I am able to read this at the same time as everyone else. It'll likely take me all month though. I'm listening in audiobook and I only get to listen to about 30 minutes a day!
As someone who lives in Puerto Rico and had visited the radio telescope multiple times, I'm very interested to read this book. let's see if it's accurate. :)
This is a happy thread. It makes me happy.
So far the only thing I found unbelievable is that Jimmy could find a parking spot in San Juan at 7:40PM. I guess it is fiction for a reason.
And anyone interested in astronomy, science, and even science-fiction, should come and visit the radio telescope here in Puerto Rico. It is fantastic.
At least the author did her research. The food mentioned is actually Puerto Rican food. Or at least based on it.
I think it's obvious that the author had little experience with Spanish. In Spanish words have sexes. For example, hands are female, while arms are mail. Yet, the author refers to the arms as female. And breasts, a clear female body part, as mail. This is understandable. People who learn Spanish as a second language, and don't have a romance language as a first language, tend to have difficulty with this. However, a good editor would've caught these mistakes and fix them. So either, the author had no editor, or the editor did not know spanish. Which I find odd since part of the novel is set in Puerto Rico.
Happy? I cried. I am so sad now.
Yadiel wrote: "As someone who lives in Puerto Rico and had visited the radio telescope multiple times, I'm very interested to read this book. let's see if it's accurate. :)"I was excited to see that Puerto Rico was mentioned in the book but now even more so after reading your post. I've always wondered if there were other book club members on the island. Saludos de San Juan :)
Saludos de Guaynabo
Even though I had problems with the book, especially in Chapter 11, I have to amid. I liked it. not going to spoil the ending, but if you're struggling with it, finish it. You will not regret it.
This is an amazing book!The sequel is not.
^ That's funny, I had the opposite reaction. The first book set some things in motion that are only resolved in the second book. It's as if the author always planned two books. The second book provided some understanding to actions that seemed inexplicable in the first.I will agree, though, that there are a few elements in the second book that are just silly.
(view spoiler)
I don't know, is anyone else having the urge to not continue with the sequel? I felt satisfied with the story told on the first book. I don't want to know what happens next.
I only got halfway through the second book. Seems like I was not the only one that could not finish it.
This is a book I started and abandoned. There are some books that I abandon because they are badly written, unpleasant or boring - none of those were the case it is more that:-a) people talking about the book expressed it as literary fiction crossed with SF - I found that actually it used writing styles I associate with contemporary thrillers - I dont like this style and when I read contemporary thrillers it is despite the writing rather than because of it
b) It jumps about with time and characters quite a bit and I find that makes books for me less engaging and difficult to follow and a major turn off
c) I just found for these reasons and beyond that I wasnt enjoying it all that much so stopped reading it to focus on stuff I enjoy more.
Was a little akward as I had nominated it for another book club (without having read it as is common practice with that group) and it was their selection for the month.
Still I think this is a book from the little I have read that many S&L readers will love and encourage people to give it a try - just dont expect beautiful, literate prose and you will get a book that is much better written than many genre books and that many other readers have fallen in love with.
Ben wrote: "b) It jumps about with time and characters quite a bit and I find that makes books for me less engaging and difficult to follow and a major turn off..."I'd say its just poorly written bunch of "40 years ago" chapters. I couldn't wait till they finally finish their boring and uninvolving preparation, flight, landing and searching for aliens part of the book. Present chapters where Sandoz already have returned are ok, and i still hope chapters that tell about interaction with aliens would be ok too. I hope because i've already done half of the book and there was still no contact. The novel builds and approaches to its main part too slowly.
I don't want to shut down this conversation, but I want to mention that I really enjoyed the beginning. The slow burn is all part of the point of the book, which is in part, did God set this up? Are the coincidences too coincidental? I found the author's point of view refreshing in its difference to traditional SF stories, while remaining within the genre.I can understand a slow opening being a problem, though. I nearly dropped Footfall because the first hundred pages were dog slow and read like a press release about space rather than a story. I'm glad I stuck through on that one, though.
The 40 years ago chapters weren't a problem for me. I would rather have seen the experience on the planet to be told from Sandoz's testimony or reports sent back by the crew. A lot of the story revolves around the Jesuits on earth trying to figure out what happened during the mission. I enjoyed the "what happened to him" vibe I was getting, but felt that the third person accounts disrupted that some.
I personally like the 40 years ago chapters. It was great character building, I specially like the slowburn. It made me care a lot for the characters.
I perceived them ok until they found the radio signal. After that all their character building was failed for me. Chapters 11-21 (excluding 2060 chapters) of flight preparation are pretty bad in my opinion.
I loved the first third of the book. I couldn't put it down. I thought the way little morsels of informations were given to the reader was very well done. After the discovery of the singers it went downhill for me. The pace was just so slow and the theological questions raised weren't really that innovative. Plus: The characters started to grinde on my nerves.
I'm at about the midway point now, just pre-contact. This book definitely has a slower build than I usually prefer, but not so slow that I want to stop reading. I might have to jump ship if it gets too bogged down in theology, but I'm staying cautiously optimistic for now.
For me, this will be a reread. I had never read a scifi book like this before this one and it was an intense experience. I am really excited to see what my fellow wielders of swords and lasers make of it.