Take a photo of a barcode or cover
femti11 's review for:
The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell
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.