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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved this book, and I was very frustrated with this book. I think most people will really enjoy it. Overall, it is a great read. Well written, well paced and well thought out. The reveals (there are always reveals) were beautifully laid out in their joys and their horrors.
I, personally, struggled with the themes of Christianity in the book. I have no problem with Christianity ... but I know very little about the details of the religion, other than overarching themes and stories one gets from one's friends who went to church.
There is more than that level of understanding in this book. I had to stop reading and look things up, and I won't say what because that will spoil things, but there were subtleties that I *knew* I was missing because I didn't have the education of the religion to understand them. It was frustrating to get to a point of impact and have to stop and go research something.
Maybe other people won't have this problem? It was still well worth reading. Just be prepared for a little research to make the depth of the story that much broader.
I, personally, struggled with the themes of Christianity in the book. I have no problem with Christianity ... but I know very little about the details of the religion, other than overarching themes and stories one gets from one's friends who went to church.
There is more than that level of understanding in this book. I had to stop reading and look things up, and I won't say what because that will spoil things, but there were subtleties that I *knew* I was missing because I didn't have the education of the religion to understand them. It was frustrating to get to a point of impact and have to stop and go research something.
Maybe other people won't have this problem? It was still well worth reading. Just be prepared for a little research to make the depth of the story that much broader.
What an absolutely satisfying read! Well constructed, well written, engaging, keeps you a bit on the edge and yet offers warm, funny and thoughtful moments, and more. I guess I had to come across this book only so late as it was first published in 1996 but hey good books never wear or wore off!
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Rape, Cannibalism
victim blaming
I liked this book, that’s why I gave it 3 stars. I liked the characters too but as many point out they are all a bit too cutesy-perfect together. I think it had a great idea and with a bit of research it could’ve been great but as-is it’s got a lot of big holes.
Science: Manny and several other reviewers wrote about this so I’ll only add one thing: a medical doctor, engineer, astronomer, and AI logic expert would NEVER voluntarily run experiments on each other. That’s what lab mice, mass spectrometers, chemistry equipment, laboratories, and well science is for. Otherwise it’s just guesswork, might as well play Russian roulette.
Organizational behavior: Ever watch astronauts do things live? It’s deadly boring usually because they make an extremely detailed process out of the simplest things. Why, because it is important to get it right. So they closely follow procedure and practice a thousand times. Pilots do something similar with a flight check plan. Following the steps prevents mistakes, saves lives, and is good documented science. NO risk is taken without advance calculation and complete evaluation. So that being said, if half the characters are science experts and one is even a professional pilot (without spoilers) here are a few examples of things that would NEVER happen on a mission: Oil light comes on and goes unchecked; bald, flat, or even soft tires are allowed to exist, be observed, and allowed to sit for any length of time; loose bolt, leak, or crack is discovered and never addressed, etc. . . I just can’t see a large organization like the Catholic church “winging it” on basic safely, procedure, and tracking.
Religion: I’m not Catholic so I could be wrong but it seems unlikely that that question of why “God lets bad things happen” would really be a doctrinal issue. I can see that it seems to weigh heavy in the authors mind or a least it does for about all the characters in this book. It’s certainly not an issue for a lot of other religions, Christian and otherwise. I just have a hard time believing Catholics especially church leaders would struggle to answer this myopic view of mortality and deity, but what do I know.
\furry: I’m not even going to touch that one.
Science: Manny and several other reviewers wrote about this so I’ll only add one thing: a medical doctor, engineer, astronomer, and AI logic expert would NEVER voluntarily run experiments on each other. That’s what lab mice, mass spectrometers, chemistry equipment, laboratories, and well science is for. Otherwise it’s just guesswork, might as well play Russian roulette.
Organizational behavior: Ever watch astronauts do things live? It’s deadly boring usually because they make an extremely detailed process out of the simplest things. Why, because it is important to get it right. So they closely follow procedure and practice a thousand times. Pilots do something similar with a flight check plan. Following the steps prevents mistakes, saves lives, and is good documented science. NO risk is taken without advance calculation and complete evaluation. So that being said, if half the characters are science experts and one is even a professional pilot (without spoilers) here are a few examples of things that would NEVER happen on a mission: Oil light comes on and goes unchecked; bald, flat, or even soft tires are allowed to exist, be observed, and allowed to sit for any length of time; loose bolt, leak, or crack is discovered and never addressed, etc. . . I just can’t see a large organization like the Catholic church “winging it” on basic safely, procedure, and tracking.
Religion: I’m not Catholic so I could be wrong but it seems unlikely that that question of why “God lets bad things happen” would really be a doctrinal issue. I can see that it seems to weigh heavy in the authors mind or a least it does for about all the characters in this book. It’s certainly not an issue for a lot of other religions, Christian and otherwise. I just have a hard time believing Catholics especially church leaders would struggle to answer this myopic view of mortality and deity, but what do I know.
\furry: I’m not even going to touch that one.
My first delve into science fiction and I really enjoyed the sparrow series.
Wow. I literally could not put this down until I finished it. Parts of it were excruciatingly painful to read (do not read this if you have difficulty reading about abuse). Some of it was so creative, I can't even imagine how the author conceived of such things - but I often feel like that with sci-fi. Although this is sci-fi, most of the book occurs on earth and is during a familiar time-period. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I put off reading this for a year, because some reviews mentioned it was a slow and/or difficult read. I would respectfully like to disagree, this was a page turner for me, and I really wish I would've had more time to just lie on the couch and read. It's not exactly plot driven (it is, in essence a kind of confession), but the characterization is fantastic.
The biggest weakness to me is that the plot hinges on theodicy, and how on earth could a priest and theologian not have pondered that before? I suppose philosophically thinking about something, and actually experiencing it can be two radically different things, but it still seems just a tad bit strange to me, and perhaps a little simplistic. There is also a fair amount of discussion of celibacy, but nowhere is it mentioned that it is far from a two thousand year old tradition, it was adopted in medieval times to simplify the inheritance of priests (if they have no offspring all wealth stays with the church). There was also a place at the end of the book where he basically says "Who could've known what was next?" and my immediate response to that is: Every woman ever born.
That said, this agnostic atheist found it an engrossing read nonetheless.
The biggest weakness to me is that the plot hinges on theodicy, and how on earth could a priest and theologian not have pondered that before? I suppose philosophically thinking about something, and actually experiencing it can be two radically different things, but it still seems just a tad bit strange to me, and perhaps a little simplistic. There is also a fair amount of discussion of celibacy, but nowhere is it mentioned that it is far from a two thousand year old tradition, it was adopted in medieval times to simplify the inheritance of priests (if they have no offspring all wealth stays with the church). There was also a place at the end of the book where he basically says "Who could've known what was next?" and my immediate response to that is: Every woman ever born.
That said, this agnostic atheist found it an engrossing read nonetheless.
Why are so many people moved by this book while I am not? I could not connect with the characters. To me they seemed cut out of cardboard and impossible to empathize with. Also there are too many times certain plot points just didn't make sense to me. Other people who's opinion I value like this book but I just do not.