The Sparrow: A Novel (The Sparrow Series)

The author did a great job developing the characters. Most of them, I fell in love with. I would call this a tragedy which I did not expect. The redeeming factor was the love that was shown by the Jesuit Priests toward Santos and brought healing.

This is a novel about the human spirit, about consequences of one's best intentions, and about what it means to have a relationship with the divine. It falls in the science fiction genre in that Russell needed a set piece to deal with first contact with an alien culture - and, as she points out in the end notes, there aren't any such cultures left on Earth anymore. The book doesn't delve deeply into the "hard" sciences (like David Brin's "Earth") but instead delves into the more "human" sciences of anthropology and culture. It also digs deep into the heart of the reader. This is a gorgeous novel. Don't miss it!

The tell-all story of a Jesuit priest who travels to another world and gets gang-raped by alien poets after watching all his friends die horrible deaths.

I picked up this book after reading about it in the context of asteroids being used in interstellar space travel, a concept which I find fascinating. But it's almost entirely about a slow build-up the plot mentioned above.

This was a very enjoyable read. The complex character development and the compelling story made this book hard to put down. Even when my schedule prevented me from reading for several days in a row, I still found myself thinking about the world and the people Mary Doria Russell created. I really enjoy her writing style, and her nonlinear approach to presenting the narrative in this novel made an excellent story even more enjoyable.

This type of plot structure, while interesting and jarring, has been done before many times, notably (and to much greater effect) by Ursula K. LeGuin. It involves converging plot lines, one future, and one past, both working towards a climax that occured at the end of the past timeline. It would be an interesting way to write the book, except we know what horrible things will transpire from a point early on, so only those perversely interested will want to find out why said horrors occured. I'm no wiser or happier for having finished it.

Operates mostly on shock value. Not really sure what the point here is. Light on scifi concept. moderately light on worldbuilding. Heavy on bashing of religion, in a wierd roundabout and sortof sickening way... I'm an atheist, but I would pick a very different way to criticize the catholic church. Jesuits have done some really worthwhile science and while I think the author has respect for that, maybe... I dont know. .. I just don't know. If you're going to put your characters through a disgusting and degrading living hell, do it for a good reason. I don't think her reasons are good enough...

The idea of music as the means of first contact is nice and poetic...

The co-evolution of the species on the planet, while cruel, is one of the more interesting ideas in the book. I liked the characters for a while. Then they became less and less believable as they were killed and tortured under less and less believable circumstances.

A nicely drawn history of the first human expedition to a world of "sentient beings" who are not human. Are they friend or foe? And does God exist near Alpha Centauri? Gotta read all the way to the end....

It was an incredibly well written book. I considered a good mix of intrigue, spirituality as well as science fiction. My second time reading after about ten years. Will also re-read Children of God. Loved the blend of characters....Jesuit priests along with lay people.

An intriguing plot, deep and real characters, and a very interesting exploration of an evolutionary twist unlike anything on earth. I've never read a sci-fi novel quite like this one...it was excellent.

There are questions, many without answers, and Mary Russell makes exploring them entertaining, compelling, heart breaking and uplifting. A novel I could not put down and wanted never to end. My only regret is that I did not learn about it sooner. This is one for the short list.

Science fiction is a medium that is tailor-made for investigation of some of humanity's most perplexing questions, most especially questions of his (and the universe's) origin, God, what constitutes moral behavior, man's ultimate purpose. But very few science fiction novels really attempt to tackle these questions, getting caught up instead in the nifty gadgets that can be imagined, and forgetting their human element. Not so here.

Russell has crafted a fine work of character, of people both exceptional and very real, in this tale of first contact between a Jesuit sponsored mission and the denizens of the planet Rakhat. Emilio Sandoz is the only survivor of this mission, and most of the story is told from his viewpoint, both as a currently happening time-line and a later recollection under interrogation after he returns to Earth. It is easy to become engrossed in this man's life, as we see him as a great linguist, a priest with very understandable doubts but a solid need to help others, a man with normal desires for companionship, a person suffering under sever stress, a man mangled both physically and mentally. The other mission members are not slighted in the character development area, so that by the mid-point of the book, I felt that I was living with a very tight-knit family, whose individual foibles were all well-known and accepted, whose interpersonal banter was enjoyable and fitting.

It is this very depth of characterization that adds poignancy to the mission's fate and starkly highlights the main religious question. How can one believe in a God that allows such terrible things as the mission failure to happen? How can one not believe in a higher power that has orchestrated such an incredibly complex universe of objects, intelligences, and events? Falling within this halo are other questions, ones of personal responsibility against an omniscient deity, institutionalized religion versus an individual call to God, the morality of killing in a culture radically different from our own, when does pride in accomplishment become insufferable hubris? Russell does not provide answers, but her characters each have their own way of dealing with these questions, methods both practical and, for some, esoteric. In this area, this novel is very comparable to James Blish's A Case of Conscience, another fine novel working within this same area of ideas and religious import.

There are some elements that are not so good. Possibly most obvious is the idea that a privately funded mission to contact the first verified alien intelligence would not only be the first but the only mission, at least until the rest of the world found out about this mission. Second is the idea that star-travel is so close to being doable that a (relatively) small amount of money and some minor engineering would allow it to become a reality - if it was that close surely someone would have started such a project long before, even without the impetus of alien contact. Third, this is supposed to be the Alpha Centauri star system. From a planet orbiting Centauri A, Centauri C ( a small and quite dim red dwarf) is so distant it would not show a visible disk nor provide any great illumination (it would look like just a bright star), yet there are consistent references in the novel to working under the red light of the third sun. In a work of 'hard' science fiction, such problems would be pretty major. For this novel, with its primary focus on theme and character, these flaws are at most gnats, easily dismissed as not relevant to the overall story.

Emotionally and intellectually powerful, this story can upset your life, force a new perspective on your world-view, make you once more sit up and see the sparrow.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

I really liked this book, though I admit the structure of it at the beginning was a little off-putting trying to keep the characters straight and in context of how they relate to the story since we meet them as the story jumps around in time (told in past, present, and future) and place (Earth and Rakhat). But hang in there, once you learn the cast, it's fine. I've read people say they're not interested in the story because of it's 'religious' aspects - PLEASE don't let that put you off, there is no preaching or attempt at conversion here, this isn't a 'Christian' book for all the fact that most of the characters are Jesuits and all the talk of God.

The book asks questions, deep questions, but doesn't give you any answers - and that's how it should be, you were given a brain - work the truth out as you see it, that's the nature of belief. I really liked the characters, but prepare yourself, most of them die - but that's not really a spoiler since Fr Sandoz is described as the 'last survivor' in the book blurb. The pace is slow, but I didn't really feel it that way because I was busy turning pages trying to find out WHAT HAPPENED on that planet. It unfolds at its own pace, but it needs to, leaving you with so many things to think about, the subtleties would get lost if went faster. I really like it, now I'm off to download the sequel.

Read the book over a month ago and still thinking about it. The main character is one special Jesuit. His relationship with God is out of the ordinary. "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary people" fits this book.

This book and it's fabulous sequel, CHILDREN OF GOD, are, quite simply, the most enjoyable reads I've had in years. They're the kind of book that I put into people's hands and say, "Just trust me on this." I don't care if you think the concept sounds goofy or you're not a sci-fi reader. (I'm generally not.) I heard this author interviewed on NPR's Speakiing of Faith, and the philosophical basis of the books sounded so interesting that I couldn't resist buying them. THE SPARROW was so wonderful that as I found myself nearing the end, I slowed down my reading and then actually set the book aside for a couple of days because I JUST DIDN'T WANT THE STORY TO END. Thank goodness the sequel picks up right where THE SPARROW leaves off--and proceeds to turn everything I thought I'd figured out right on its head! These books are terrifically entertaining -- "easy" enough for the light reader, yet deep enough to keep the most demanding reader thinking long after the last page is turned.

Just trust me on this... :-)

After reading an interview with Mary Doria Russell, I sought out The Sparrow. This is SF at a sophisticated level. The science and technical items are interwoven with what are mainly deeply believable and well-differentiated characters, particularly Sandoz. For the most part, the science and technology are in the service of the story and do not become the story instead (a fault of much of the early SF). The characters that are the most developed are unique, both universal and particular. This would include Sandoz, Sofia, Anne, the Father General; and to a lesser degree, Voelker, George, Jimmy.

The author appears highly knowledgable about Jesuit life, manners, and beliefs. She is persuasive in this regard, though I would not know how those in this order or those in Rome in general would evaluate her account. The theological questions and issues around which she weaves her story are rooted in a classic Christian view of God's nature and relation to creation. There are other perspectives that would speak perhaps more deeply and possibly result in more satisfaction, but then it would be a quite different story. I am referring to Christian expressions of Process Theology (developed by John Cobb, among others, and built out of Alfred North Whitehead's metaphysics). In this theology, God is not the all powerful God in the sense of controlling everything and the ultimate cause of all that happens, good, bad, and in between. For complex creatures such as ourselves, God aims to persuade us of the best possible decisions to be made, ones that will enrich not just ourselves but all who would be influence by our decisions. This becomes support for the Common Good.

The only real complaint for me is the questionable assumption that human beings could land even on an earth-like planet and be able to survive bacterial and viral level diseases that could be radically different and quite dangerous. I feel the same way about being able to eat local plants and animals.

I also had mixed feelings about how the story was told, often feeling angry and unsettled at knowing so far in advance that everyone I was coming to care about was dead except Sandoz. Yes, it is an intriguing style; and perhaps I would felt worse if it were told strictly linearly and discovered they were all wiped out on the eve of success.

Finally, I assume the title is a reference to passages in two of the NT gospels where Jesus notes that God keeps track of all the sparrows that fall to the earth and we humans are more important than they.

This beautifully crafted first-contact novel deals with the search for God and the psychology of the spiritual. Intense and compelling, its structure of alternating time-lines keeps the reader always coming back. I have never read a book as unpredictable as this one is; I never had the slightest clue as to what would ultimately happen, even though parts of the denouement are revealed from the beginning. Occasionally the author drops a tantalizing morsel into the reader's hands, even as early as page 9: " ... a sketch ... On something like paper, drawn in something like ink. A group of VaRakhati. Faces of great dignity and considerable charm. Extraordinary eyes, frilled with lashes to guard against the brilliant sunlight. Funny how you could tell that these were unusually handsome individuals, even when unfamiliar with their standards of beauty." It's not until p. 226 that we learn what it is about these eyes that is so extraordinary: "Each orbit contained a doubled iris, arranged horizontally in a figure-eight around two pupils of variable size, like the bizarre eyes of the cuttlefish."
There is no room here to discuss the ramifications of the moral dilemma or the implications for humans' first contact with alien species (whenever that comes), but this book is an essential study on both themes. Strongly recommended for the thoughtful reader, including readers of mainstream and literary fiction. Not recommended for fans of hard SF or space opera.
The reviewer is the author of several works of science fiction, including the first-contact novel The Termite Queen.

Not the best book I have read -- not even close. It tends to repeat itself way too much -- example: how many times do I need to be told that Jesuit priests are celibate? If you are looking for science in your fiction, look elsewhere 'cuz the science in this book is lacking. The "alien" culture is reasonably well-developed, but nothing you probably haven't encountered plenty of times in the past, so it's hardly original. The author's style of jumping back and forth 40+ years didn't work for me, but others seem to like that style; to each his/her own.

All complaining aside, it's wasn't the worst book I have ever read. I even bought the sequel (which is far, far better -- almost wished I had started with the sequel instead of this one).

A challenging read. Set in the future, a disparate group are sent to a distant planet in search of the source of beautiful music picked up by a Jesuit community who are involved in celestial scanning and who go on to plan and fund the trip. The travellers first encounter a peaceful race and are able to communicate with them, but the planet is not all it seems and the source of the beautiful music turns out to be a nightmare for all. Although My husband is the SciFi reader in our family, I enjoyed the unlikely storyline very much. A real page turner!
Highly recommended.

The premise of the book is promising and intriguing, and certainly keens your interest through at least half the book. But somewhere near the middle, after the group reaches their destination, the dissapointment begins. There is little description of the flora and fauna of the alien planet, even though the reader has been chomping at the bit now for days to learn what it all looks like. Worse yet, shortly after the first contact with alien intelligent life, you are a little annoyed that the aliens' culture, living quarters, utensils, furniture, are all too familiar. They are reminiscent of native american culture, maybe pueblos or mayan. Shouldn't an alien culture be a bit more exotic, a bit more ...alien??? The writing is good, I admit, and there are marvelous passages in the book that left me thoughtful. The writing doesn't sprint at a clip but doesn't slog, either. You have the feeling that you need to read every sentence or you may miss something. Overall the character development is flat. You simply don't care about anyone except Emilio. Sofia is too perfect and too pretty and too cold. Jimmy is two-dimensional and D.W. is too much like Ross Perot. Anne approaches being a little more real, but George is barely a shadow of a man with no personality or motivation except to be Anne's faithful husband. Unfortunately because I didn't care about most of the characters I wasn't too saddened by their untimely death. And I agree with one reviewer who was disgusted by everyone's goody-two-shoed-ness.

I enjoyed reading this book, but theologically speaking, it was no Life of Pi. The religious tone was a bit heavy-handed at times. However, I like the theme that Russell claims for the book: do your best and you may still get screwed. Oh, and don't expect God to micromanage your life. He's just an observer, not a participant. The Jesuit's (esp Emilio's) fatal flaw was that they believed God had a hand in what was happening. Thus, they felt they could do no wrong, and no wrong could be done to them. Oops.

I recommend this book as good for plot, good for premise, good writing, but bad for hard-core sci fi fans or readers looking for characters to feel deeply about.

The theology, the humor, and basic cosmology of this science fiction are astounding. The Hebrew scriptures talk about Ruach,or the breath of God moving across the water. Hinduism calls it Prana. This book is about finding, losing, questioning. At one point, author expresses God as a transmutation of God consciousness into every aspect of creation. Not really anything to pin point really, or on whom to assign blame or gratitude. The blinding climax of understanding comes through this plot: the characters in this book are thrown into a world where their normal constructs of how to explain everything don't really work.
God is in the why, you see. They misunderstand and are painfully clueless, as they blunder toward destruction, and all the time doing so, with the best of intentions, scholarship and effort. They deal with the consequences of limited spiritual, intellectual and moral capacity, striving as best they can, on their path toward God and/or a life lived to its fullest and most virtuous extent. What they find is that there is only one construct: that God lives through and in us AS US. And that the only truth we need to keep is to let our hearts' work keep us genuine, compassionate and focused on what each and everyone of us is at our very core. Not as the author says, looking to fall in love with God who is supposed to make sense of "everything," but learning to be God through our own existence. We are at best a conduit: open mind, open heart, open soul.

This book ripped my guts out and painfully stuffed them back in. I read it about 8 years ago, and I want to read it again, but not yet. Not yet.

Get through the techno-jargon, let yourself care about the characters, and face what it would be like to question EVERYTHING about your faith, your morals, and the meaning of fate versus coincidence.

My favorite SF novel.

I especially like the alternating time sequence of the chapters - half go from beginning to middle, the other half from the end to the middle. Plus, I'm a sucker for allegorical stories.

The Sparrow, written by Mary Doria Russell is the story of Jesuit-led mission to Alpha Centauri, the return of its one surviving member, and all of the consequences.

The book works on many levels.

As a science fiction book: Although there are some problems with the physics, the book develops very well the biology and culture of the planet. I would say that this is one of the best thought out alien culture and beings that I have seen.

As a novel: The story has tension and mystery. It is interesting to read and to try to understand exactly what happened to the survivor, why he survived, and where the story is going. I do not that you need to be a science fiction fan to appreciate the plot and the writing.

As a reflection: The story asks some fundamental questions about belief and justice. The use of intellectual Jesuits, trained both in science and faith, is a good instruments to ask these questions. Then putting them on a planet where values and structures are so different just adds fuel to the fire.

I can't think about any downsides to this book. A very good read.

The ending makes it all worthwhile. The novel presents you with an unbelievable situation at first involving a priest and a failed mission to a nearby inhabited planet. At first we are tempted to pass judgment on this priest. Gradually we are exposed to the reality that makes the situation believable and in the end we hear the truth. This is one book where I have to say that the ending is something of an emotional experience. This is not a book that can be passively read.

What an amazing book! Though superficially it could be classified as science fiction, this book defies genre. Gorgeous prose, masterfully realized characters, mesmerizing plot, the deepest of themes. I have given copies of this book to many friends, who usually give or recommend it to their friends. One of these is a renowned theologian who told me after reading it that it was the best work of fiction he had read in years - he, too, recommended it to several colleagues and students. I was moved, provoked, and humbled by it.

This is an intriguing mix of genres: spirituality and science fiction. A working subtitle could be "Jesuits in Space". It raises many questions about foundations of faith and how sometimes good intentions run afoul. It was funny and ironic. While the author makes mention of Star Trek, it misses an important element of the series. I would highly recommend it for anyone that likes action, adventure, and spirituality.

Hilarious and heartbreaking, both. And to top it all off, there are fascinating discussions of weighty moral and philosophical questions. It's got everything: love, comedy, furry extraterrestrials, adventure, great characters.

Read this book!

Also by her:
Dreamers of the Day: A Novel very different topic, but beautifully written.

The Prime Directive and the subtleties of misunderstanding in the face of a great adventure make you question not only what it means to be human, but also what it means to be divine. Can sentient beings chart the soul? Is this all there is?

Although horrifying towards the end of the book, the author in a beautiful writing style, talks about Catholic theology of sin, redemption, and foregivenss. Although set in the future on an alien planet, it is not exclusively science fiction or a book about Catholicism. Worthwhile reading and highly recommended.

This is a great read for science fiction fans! Imagine the first humans to arrive on an alien planet and their interactions with the alien species. A good writer, keeps up the suspense, believable story!

This is a very different kind of science fiction novel. There is a very strong emphasis on faith, religion, and philosophy in the description of a trip to another world in search of other intelligent life. The main character is a Jesuit priest who is at times a caustic brooding man, while at other times he is the most loving and giving of any of the protagonists.

In many ways this tale is an implausible one. None of these travelers are what would be considered normal astronaut material. Many are prelates (although several of the early explorers of North America also had a religious background (Marquette, LaSalle?)). Others are well along in years and few have had any training in flying let alone space travel. Yet they are all extremely intelligent and intellectual which is a great aid to them once they encounter the alien culture.

This is also an ecological tale, showing how the smallest, seemingly insignificant and benign imprint can mushroom to have great and tragic consequences.

One warning: this story is probably not suitable for those younger than mid high school - there is a graphic description of sexual assault in the later chapters.

Aside from that caution, I would recommend this story to anyone looking for a well written and thought provoking science fiction story.

Russell's engrossing tale involves a first contact mission spearheaded by intrepid Jesuits. The story is a fabulous mixture of science and faith, anthropology and humanity, spirituality and compassion. It actually helped me with some spiritual questions and some self-examination I was brooding over at the time. I loved it and can't wait to read the sequel.

It was *so close* to being one of the best books I've ever read. However.... I just can't bring myself to give this book 5 stars because of glaring problems with pacing and plot. The middle 200 or so pages drag horribly, are repetitive, and the plot stretches suspension of disbelief past the breaking point. Also, the characters are so precious, twee and stereotyped they set my teeth on edge - much like the group of characters in Regina's Song.

Stunning, inventive, mind boggling twists and turns of a labyrinthine plot, transform a gifted abused child of a drug dealer into Jesuit Priest/ Starship explorer and a crew of equally talented, gifted and humorous and troubled humans. A polymath Jewish girl prostituted for her body, and sold into slavery for her mind, as she develops AI , protecting her ravaged soul. A cauldron of extraterrestial aliens, adventures, anthropology, poetry, redemption, deep compassion and a Quest for man's ability to know God in the deepest agonies of the Soul. Unable to stop reading even to eat!!!!

God may be in the details. Certainly details are important when earth first makes contact with another planet, and the Vatican, of all places sends a research team there. Four 0f the researchers are Jesuit priests sent to learn about the planet, not to preach and convert, though knowing the history of the church that would be unlikely. The other voyagers are a very tall astronomer, an ex-child prostitute now a brilliant linguist, a middle aged doctor and her engineer husband. They get along well- too well for people locked in each others lives for so long - and learn somethings about God along the way.
While this is a brilliant novel, written by a gifted writer, large parts of the book are exposition. There’s even discussions of the ET’s language. The aliens have words for both the seen and the unseen nouns. We call it abstract and concrete nouns, but in the alien’s’ language the word forms change instead of the words themselves.
The book which was written in the 1990’s about a future that begins in 2018 is bound to get somethings wrong when we read it today. In a discussion of famous Texan presidents the second Bush is not mentioned. Who knew in 1996 what was coming? Russell is still a novelist to pay attention to. She deepens human understanding of our lives, and her topics are widely different. The last time I read one of her novels it was a biography of Doc Holiday, a brilliant dentist and musician who might have enjoyed this expedition to a distant star system.
Warning, the torture and rape scenes will leave some readers wishing they had stayed in the Old West. This is NOT a book for the faint hearted.

This is one of the most fascinatingly different and compelling novels I've ever read (and I have read SOOO many novels). The main character becomes so real and complex that when I'm old and losing my memory I'll likely think he was somebody I actually knew, not a fictional creation. The novel begins in different locations, focusing on the threads of events that eventually unite a diverse and surprising crew on a great exploration mission. It then goes between various phases of the mission -- I'm trying not to give anything away here -- and its aftermath, tantalizing the reader until all is finally revealed. Nothing is contrived or hackneyed; it all flows seamlessly yet imperfectly, like real life. If you read one novel this year, try this one.

I think Mz Russell's trilogy is amazing especially the first novel. I just moved, lost most of my books. I have had to repurchase copies of these to reread. A amazing story of a man and his love for God and the anguish he goes through.

My cousin recommended this book to me a long time ago and I finally got around to reading it. The same day I finished it, I checked my local library for the sequel and now I'm 1/4 into the sequel. Both are excellent.

I don't usually like a book that switches from one time frame to another, but this one was done so well. The transition was smooth, it didn't make me upset to leave the characters in one time zone or the other when switching back and forth.

The characters were excellent, believable and as complex as we all are, regardless of position or belief.

I could not stop thinking about the characters in this book for days after I finished reading the story. I am unfamiliar with some of the common tropes in this genre because I don't read a lot of sci-fi, but I found almost every plot twist unique and creative. It's still resonating with me, and even though I knew that something horrific was going to happen, I was still gutted by the tragic turn of events.