From the Bookshelf of The Roundtable…

The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)

Mary Doria Russell

Start date: May 1, 2019

Finish date: May 31, 2019

Discussion: 2019 Sci-Fi Mini Tournament

Discussion leader: Christopher

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2019 Sci-Fi Mini Tournament

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What Members Thought

May 11, 2015 El rated it liked it

Shelves: 20th-centurylit-late, biddles, science-fictiony

I can't even.

Okay, so this review will be much like the book itself - a little from the beginning, a little from the end, a little from the middle, and it'll unfold very slowly. So just get used to that now and don't cry about it later.

I was really on board with this book for quite a bit. I didn't mind the characters initially, I thought they were all interesting (though flawed in their stereotypes); the slowly unfolded introduction to each of them and their personalities felt solid and importan ...more

28 likes · Like · see review

Apr 22, 2009 Petra rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, theological-musings

A wonderful story of a great group of friends who embark on the adventure of travelling to another planet. Although sci-fi in terms of space travel and meeting other life forms, this is a very human, every day story. It's a wonderful story of friends, friendship and loyalty. It's also the story of one man's inner journey to Belief and Spirituality and the discussions of the pros and cons of Religion are interesting. The book is witty, well-thought out and enjoyable.
There is some foreshadowing w ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Nov 08, 2009 Genia Lukin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

I always defined Russell as a historical fiction author whose first book happens to be set in the future. I think, with the last novels (Thread of Grace, Dreamers of the Day) and her upcoming book, I've been proven right.

I also always believed that the best science-fiction out there is not written by authors committed to the genre of science fiction - at least on the English side. As proof I usually present The Time Traveler's Wife... and The Sparrow.

I've read this book the first time around whe I always defined Russell as a historical fiction author whose first book happens to be set in the future. I think, with the last novels (Thread of Grace, Dreamers of the Day) and her upcoming book, I've been proven right.

I also always believed that the best science-fiction out there is not written by authors committed to the genre of science fiction - at least on the English side. As proof I usually present The Time Traveler's Wife... and The Sparrow.

I've read this book the first time around when I was at the beginning of high school (or perhaps last year of middle school) and spotted it on the Sci-Fi shelves in the bookstore. I know it was not the end of high school because I've spotted it in the Hebrew, and only a few years after that I was already determinedly reading my books in the original. As a consequence, of course, I missed Russell's voice as a narrator which, I later discovered, was a pity, as it is unique and quite beautiful.

Even having read it in translation, I was already inclined to give it five stars on my glowing reviews to friends, as the author aptly touched upon and explored these fundamental questions of spirituality, religion, science and culture that I, as a developing scientist on the one hand, and a teenager raised in the Orthodox school system on the other, was coming to grips with. Too, she approached sci-fi in the way that East European authors did it (and I grew up on Russian and Soviet Bloc science fiction) setting up a pertinent philosophical question to explore, then creating a universe to suit it.

In a lot of ways, Russell reminded me of Lem and his Solaris, asking and seeking answers to those questions we, as a species, always wanted to find out about, and probably never will: Is there a God? Is he evil? Why do things happen the way they happen, and what is it we do to set down our own path?

I didn't really care that Russell gave away the ending by beginning with it. I didn't feel that twists of plot were in any way the point of the narrative, and it would be unfair to judge the author for revealing to us, the readers, key facts in the progression of events when she never cared to hide them in the first place. That said, Russell has the talent to have held my interest in the plot, regardless of what I knew. It didn't matter so much that I knew what would happen: the pertinent issue was my wanting to see how it had happened. The way it was written, the things the characters said, the reactions they had, the presentation, were much more important than the gist of the plot's narrative, as a good book should be.

Not to say the book is without flaws. As my husband, a convert from Christianity himself, pointed out, Russell's priests sound a bit too much like rabbis. She is less attentive, perhaps, to Christian doctrine as she is to the things that speak to her personally, and she makes the priestly convention she gathers on board for her story speak with the author's voice, but she manages to bring it off without grating on my extremely sensitive nerves in a way most authors fail spectacularly to do.

I often use this book as a way to get my friends, who read character-driven literature, classics and psychological fare - more into science fiction, and it often works surprisingly well. That is only partly due to the fact, I feel, that Russell's science fiction is tempered with realism, and mostly due to the fact that she is a truly excellent author who can compete with the bes at their level and without allowances, and holds her own, flaws or no. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Mar 22, 2015 Meghan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, favorites, sci-fi, religious, audiobook, audio-book

It is going to take some time before I can put my feelings into intelligent words. I had just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which I thought an enjoyable romp, and was rather at a loss as to what to read next. I picked this one simply because I owned it on audio and thought "what the heck?" What I didn't expect was to be drawn into another completely drawn world, emotionally invested in more characters, and barely able to sleep because I needed to know what happened?!

This is an emotiona ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

May 16, 2019 Christopher rated it really liked it

Shelves: 20th-century, science-fiction, american, fiction

This is a very good book that could almost have been perfect. It's completely baffling to me that it's the author's first novel, because it feels so well researched, perfectly structured, impeccable worldbuilding, etc.

It gets into some of my favorite stuff. The philosophical question of if God is good, how can he let such evil happen, or if there is no God, where then can we find meaning in such suffering? Biblical allusions galore. What the future of space travel might look like and the specula ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 26, 2020 Camelia Rose rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-life-science, science-fiction

In 2019, the extraterrestrial life is confirmed. In 2022, the Vatican launches a Jesuit interstellar mission, on board eight crew members, including four Jesuit priests and four civilians. In 2059, Stella Maris returns to the earth with but one crew member, Emilio Sandoz, physically and psychologically broken. We are told at the beginning the deadly outcome of the Rakhat mission. Life of the crew members, the origin of the mission, the expidition of an alien planet and first contact with alien r ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 06, 2012 Dawn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, series-abandoned, audiobook, literary-fiction

So much about this book was annoying. The superficial relationships between all the characters that were occasionally punctuated by 'deep' talks. The constant mixing of parent/child emotions with lovers emotions. The lovers triangle that was resolved so oddly. The dramatic ending that was no big surprise and honestly was only as dramatic as it was because he was a guy.
That said, I did like it. I loved the concept of the story and the license this gave the author to explore religion and civiliza ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 08, 2010 Irene rated it liked it

Initially, it drew me in, but it soon became clear that the "meaning of life"questions raised by the author was driving the narrative rather than evolving from it. The characters devolved into caricatures, the dialogue became stilted and the plot forced to serve the intended philosophical vision. It became a morality tale rather than a modern novel. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 12, 2011 Alasse rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, effing-disturbing

Well, I think that everyone who recommended this book without warning me beforehand now has the moral duty to come give me a big, comforting hug. Then apologize, or send flowers or something. Sheesh.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2013 Rosana rated it it was ok

Shelves: scifiction, audio-books, 2013, bookish-s13-challenge

I know I am among the minority here, but I did not like this book much. I loved the premises of it, but I think it was poorly written: for a sci-fi book, its science can make anyone with a very basic understanding of math and science cry out in desperation.

Then, for a philosophical book on God and religion, it did not offer much more than the ethics of celibacy. Oh, so the alien children came to Emilio as if to Jesus in the bible… Well, I was constantly told about Emilio’s transcendence and con ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 07, 2013 Lauren rated it it was amazing

Do not let the religious themes in this book scare you away. This is a great science fiction book. It is well written, intelligent, and you come to care about the characters in the book. It was also surprisingly thought-provoking.

I don't want to get into the plot too much, but the basic idea is that earth discovers signs of alien life in the universe, and a small group of people set off to make contact. Half of those people are Jesuits. The book plot advances progressively through two time perio ...more

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