The Sparrow
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Recommended By
celeste, Amy Miller Burgess, and Shelley Rees.
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Book Details
Written by Mary Doria Russell.
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($14.95)
Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR"A NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT . . . Russell shows herself to be a skillful storyteller who subtly and expertly builds suspense."
--USA Today
"AN EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE MISSED . . . If you have to send a group of people to a newly discovered planet to contact a totally unknown species, whom would you choose? How about four Jesuit priests, a young astronomer, a physician, her engineer husband, and a child prostitute-turned-computer-expert? That's who Mary Doria Russell sends in her new novel, The Sparrow. This motley combination of agnostics, true believers, and misfits becomes the first to explore the Alpha Centuri world of Rakhat with both enlightening and disastrous results. . . . Vivid and engaging . . . An incredible novel."
--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"POWERFUL . . . Father Emilio Sandoz [is] the only survivor of a Jesuit mission to the planet Rakhat, 'a soul . . . looking for God.' We first meet him in Italy . . . sullen and bitter. . . . But he was not always this way, as we learn through flashbacks that tell the story of the ill-fated trip. . . . The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"SMOOTH STORYTELLING AND GORGEOUS CHARACTERIZATION . . . Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them."
--Entertainment Weekly
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User Reviews (2) Login or create an account to write a review.
Shelley Rees thinks this book is Excellent.
Oh, holy crap this book is awesome. Not a sci-fi fan? Doesn't matter. Yes, The Sparrow includes space travel and aliens, but it also deals with so much more, with such potency, that you'll believe every blessed word of it. Russell paints an aching portrait of the human capacity for faith, both in religion and in each other, while dealing truthfully with the vulnerability of that faith and the pain of flawed human understanding. The story unfolds through flashbacks, so it may take some time to get into it, but believe me--it's worth it.
Amy Miller Burgess thinks this book is Excellent.
Let me first say, I do not like Sci Fi. That out of the way, this book is freaking brilliant. I have pushed it on every open minded, intelligent friend I have, and all have loved it. It is spiritual, yet you needn't be spritually inclined to appreciate it. The science is fascinating, where this book travels will stretch the borders of your imagination. The scope of this book boggles the mind, just trust me, READ IT. And when you are done, read the sequel, CHILDREN OF GOD. Refreshingly, it does not suffer from the sequel curse, yet builds upon the original and takes us further into the brilliant, human, gorgeous mind of Mary Doria Russel.