Reviews - The Sparrow | The StoryGraph

2.8k reviews for:

The Sparrow

Mary Doria Russell

4.16 AVERAGE

josift's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Because if I was led by God to love God, step by step, as it seemed, if I accept that the beauty and the rapture were real and true, then the rest of it was God’s will too, and that, gentlemen, is cause for bitterness. p489

A thorough examination of the nature of belief that was exceptionally interesting to read and beautifully written. I do not believe this book comes to any real conclusions about God—and is all the better for it—but it poses the questions repeatedly in different lights and circumstances in a way I rarely encounter. Is this God's will, it asks, at a meeting of friends; at a revolutionary discovery; at a tragic accident; at a dream realized; at the brutalization of a true believer. If this is not God's will, it asks, then what is it?

The framing struck me the most while reading. We are aware from the moment we begin that something awful is going to happen, and as such, we wait for it in every line, cringing at every joy and worry expressed by the characters. How can I truly feel their joy when I know, without doubt, that it will end in tragedy? The effect this conflict has on the reading experience cannot be underestimated and is the masterstroke of this narrative.

tyresius's review against another edition

5.0

Simply put, this is one of the best books I have ever read. The prose is absolutely beautiful, the characters are delightfully well rounded and developed, and the concept is executed with tact and utmost skill.

Many writers are able to pull off making you sad about the stuff that happen to their characters, but few writers can make you feel genuine joy for what is happening. Mary Doria Russell brings you to the absolute high that her main character, Emilio Sandoz, is feeling. You feel so genuinely happy for him, even as you know that utter tragedy is looming in the distance, although you don't know what it is. And when that tragedy comes, it is made all the more crushing not only by the fact that you've seen the joy, but also by the fact that you completely understand the motives, cultures, and reasoning of all parties involved, and no one is doing anything that can be deemed "bad" from a culturally relative standpoint. In fact, all of their actions are completely reasonable, and there's not really anyone at fault.

Doria Russell has developed an alien planet which has startling differences and eerie similarities to our own, and as the two cultures interact, lives are destroyed. Out of it all comes intense trauma, as well as the early glimmerings of healing.

This book left me extremely emotionally drained, but in a really, really good way.

aw21594377's review against another edition

5.0

This is one I want to re-read again. This hit on a real personal level for me, probably mostly due to life-circumstances, but some of the lessons and insight/wisdom is applicable regardless. I do think about this book a lot and it's been a year and a half since I've read it. I will say if tragedy/constant tragedy is a downer for you, this is probably not your book. There are a lot of heavy topics/events and I think has overwhelmed other people who have read it.