The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell, Mary Doria Russell
List Price:
Our Price: $7.43
You Save: $7.57 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Mary Doria RussellEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-09-08
ISBN: 0449912558
Number of pages: 408
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of The Sparrow
Book Review: "Even if you do the best you can, you will still get screwed."
Summary: 4 Stars
I am forced to rate this higher than I would otherwise, because I just finished Lewis' excellent work on reading and reviewing, An Experiment in Criticism. Lewis speaks of how important it is for us not to use literature, but allow ourselves to be infused with the spirit of the author, and to get into the world of the author.
So, while this author does not fit at all with my worldview, I must admit, she wrote so well that I was carried into her worlds, and her reality, if only for the moment of reading it. She writes suspensefully, and someone is eager to find out what will happen next. Even with all the foreshadowing, I was not expecting the end. These characters are so real, they could easily be friends. This is the best of science fiction, exploring the differences in alien cultures, and therefore, the differences between human cultures and people. Mary Russell accurately depicts the struggles of those who enter other cultures, and the reverse culture shock they experience on the return home. The issues of theodicy are explored as only narrative can. For we have all heard dry sermons that our mere sounds signifying nothing. But stories stick with you, enliven, and illuminate our conscious and subconscious, for years on end.
And this then, the very thing that makes this book powerful, is also what I abhor about it. I think it wonderfully written, but I wish I had not read it. For it is a story of hopelessness, despair, and tragedy, yet lacking the awareness of hope that most tragedies contain. I think this is because, in most tragedies, the character deals with the tragedy in real time. We see the full import of the character's response to the suffering, and therefore we can experience some catharsis. Here, the suffering is all retrospective, and the full emotional import of the suffering is not dealt with- only the suffering that one experiences after great suffering. This Mary Russell deals with admirably. But in not dealing with the response to the original suffering, as it occurs, we lose much of the authentic response of one trained in Christian theology, as a priest would be.
In an interview at the end of the book, Mary Russell states the words in the title of this review as a summary of the main point of her book. And that's just not a belief that I can buy into. In the first place, it is based on what we do. This quote says that life's all about expectations based on our actions- not grace, regardless of our actions. The quote also betrays a worldview lacking in hope. Certainly, the characters of the book have great hope, but their beliefs are found wanting by the end. Mary Russell wants us to understand, she states in the same interview within the book, that God does not "micro-manage". The context of her statement indicates that she is saying that God does not manage at all. For there was no question in the minds of any of the admirably crafted characters of a God who micro-manages. It is just that some believed that God *does* manage, and others struggled with that idea, and still others denied it. Indeed, all of the primary characters were struck by the providence in their lives. Ultimately, The Sparrow never provides a convincing answer to how that providence could have occurred, if, as Mary Russell would like us to conclude, there is no God managing everything.
I know there is cause for hope. I know, in the midst of suffering, God can meet me there. I have not been in the midst of suffering as intense as that experienced by the main character, Emilio, of course, but this suffering, too, is an artifact created by Mary Russell to bring us into her world view- again accentuating her phenomenal talents as an author. Thus, when I have put the book down, for a few minutes I am encased in her belief system, most completely and convincingly.
For a few moments. Then I participate in a public reading of The Story of the Other Wise Man, a book with such the opposite world view as The Sparrow, and balance is restored in my life. Henry van Dyke has a world view that there *is* intense suffering in this world, and that our dreams are often not met. Van Dyke's main character realizes the loss of his dreams, and states that "It was inevitable. And does not the inevitable come from God?"
Here is such an incredibly different take on the question of theodicy than that of The Sparrow. It is yet in the dashing of our hopes that we find our hope- in the midst of the most intense suffering imaginable, we find hope. This is the central message of Christianity that the author, who left the Christian faith (according to the interview printed in the book), does not seem able to express in this book- that in the greatest moment of suffering in human history, came the greatest hope- and it was only in that great suffering that we could ever find that great hope. And the sad thing is, it is hard for me to imagine a priest trained for decades in his faith would not also realize this. I think it is hard for Mary Russell to imagine as well- which is why she did not share his theological response to his suffering at the time, but only after the fact. (Indeed, Russell admits in her interview that her research into Jesuit priests was conducted solely among those who had *left* the priesthood- leading to a skewed result indeed. Those that have left the priesthood would more commonly be those who had negative experiences with it, or had not taken in the theology as deeply.) Russell wanted this to be something like the Holocaust experience, she states in the book, but in space, and to one individual. She writes as if she was unaware of the many who found hope even in that horror of horrors.
Thus I have all praise for this book. It takes a great writer to raise questions and discussion. Her opining on the sparrow in the words of Jesus is excellent- the Father is aware of the falling of every sparrow, but the sparrow still falls. We need more books that deal with the tough questions. And the best of writing, the most exquisite of authors, can pull you into their world, even when you don't agree with it. This Mary Russell does. She is a great writer; I just wouldn't describe her as a great philosopher or theologian.
I wish I hadn't read this book. I don't want to have these images and thoughts stuck in my head, any more than Emilio's confessors wanted the images. I can't recommend it for anyone like me.
And as quickly as possible I am going to grab the sequel to discover what happens next.
Fiction & Poetry Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Fiction & Poetry Books
The New Oxford Book of Christian VerseOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2003-10-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.00
Price in other shops:
A Book of Psalms: Selected & Adapted from the Hebrewby Stephen Mitchell
Harpercollins; Published: 1993-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.99
OUT OF THE SILENT PLANETby C.S. Lewis
Scribner; Published: 1987-04-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Stories for the Christian Yearby Chrysostom Society
Collier Books; Published: 1994-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.90
Price in other shops:
Old Thunderby Joseph Pearce
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-07-15; Hardcover; Book
Face of God, Theby Bill Myers
Zondervan Publishing Company; Published: 2002-08-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $2.40
Price in other shops:
Footprints: Scripture with Reflections Inspired by the Best-Loved Poemby Margaret Fishback Powers
Zondervan; Published: 2006-08-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.95
Price in other shops:
The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdomby Paulo Coelho
HarperOne; Published: 1995-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.87
Price in other shops:
God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Churchby George Weigel
Harper; Published: 2005-11-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.09
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.10
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Martian Chronicles (The Grand Master Editions)by Ray Bradbury
Spectra; Published: 1984-06-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.01
Price in other shops:
The Little Seagull Handbookby Richard Bullock, Francine Weinberg
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2011-01-13; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $17.00
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Designby Richard Dawkins
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1996-09-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.74
Price in other shops:
Dreamers of the Day: A Novelby Mary Doria Russell
Ballantine Books; Published: 2008-12-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.23
Price in other shops:
Unwindby Neal Shusterman
Books; Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Published: 2009-06-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.61
Price in other shops:
City of Truth (Harvest Book)by James Morrow
Mariner Books; Published: 1993-05-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.81
Price in other shops:
Animals: A Novelby Don LePan
Soft Skull Press; Published: 2010-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.55
Price in other shops:
Children of God (Ballantine Reader's Circle)by Mary Doria Russell
Ballantine Books; Published: 1999-02-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.73
Price in other shops:
A Thread of Graceby Mary Doria Russell
Ballantine Books; Published: 2005-12-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.34
Price in other shops:
Doc: A Novelby Mary Doria Russell
Random House; Published: 2011-05-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.98
Price in other shops: