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A review by sterling8
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
3.0
So this is a real split review. Five stars for keeping me reading, for getting me involved with the characters, for generating tension even after giving away the ending. When I first read this book more than 10 years ago, I would have given it 5 stars unreservedly. However, my reading perspective has changed in the last 10 years.
One star for the Special Snowflake that is Emilio Sandoz.
This book is a strange hybrid. It has all the trappings of science fiction: space travel, aliens. But the book really isn't about the "what if" question that science fiction asks. It's about "what are?". What are people? What is God?
Russell is a great writer. Even after starting at the end instead of the beginning, she manages to generate tension. She makes you care about characters even though you know they end up dead. And even though they are sometimes annoying. Ann came across to me much more Mary Sue this time. And I never got the deal with Jimmy. He seemed entirely meh, and I couldn't see why Sofia would marry him, even if he was the last man on earth. And I couldn't see why he would make a better leader than either of the women.
Russell uses her anthropology background to think through an alien first contact scenario. I think that this would have actually worked better for me if the first contact was with humans instead of aliens. Aliens are... well... alien. You can't make any of the assumptions that seemed to have been made about culture when you're starting with an entirely alien brain and mindset. Of course, the mission found this out to their cost.
Where this book really shines is where the characters interact. But it came across as a bit gossipy to me this time. There's a conversation where D.W. finally admits that he's gay to Ann. Clearly this is meant to be a big deal, and we are meant to learn from Ann's mature reaction that his gayness is something to be accepted. Great, but I don't think you need to go to another planet to have that conversation. Same with Emilio and Sofia's non-romance. The idea of deciding on whether to be true to one's vows comes up all the time right here on Earth. I think a lot of the interaction between the characters could have taken place in Puerto Rico and we would have had the same themes. Some of the anthropological analysis comes across as almost racist to me now, although I thought it was intriguing at the time. The idea that Sofia had taken against Emilio because he looked Spanish and her background was Sephardic, for instance. Sofia's family had been living in Turkey for hundreds of years and she's still holding the Spanish Inquisition against him? I don't know.
The Jesuits came across as more prurient than therapeutic to me this time. And the therapy, such as it was, seemed more dramatic than ethical. I had a hard time believing that people coming across Emilio in the desperate state he was in would believe that he was voluntarily locking himself in a room, allowing himself to be sodomized so painfully that he was covered in blood, and had all but the bare tendons picked off his hands. Somehow this was his fault? He enjoyed it? Unbelievable.
And when it comes right down to it, the story of Emilio was this: Emilio is a Special and Sensitive Saint, and when he Suffers, it is Significant. Yes, what Emilio went through was utterly horrible. But the tight focus on him belies the 'God sees every sparrow" argument. Sofia was raped repeatedly as a child. But her suffering was not explored. Filipe Reyes lost his hands, but that wasn't important. It was all about Emilio. And really, what it came down to, more than physical suffering, was that he had thought that he was special to God, and thus didn't understand why God didn't spare him. Well, Emilio, that one's answered in the New Testament. You may have read it. In seminary.
For all the philosophical delving, it seems to me that the book's conclusion is the old clockwork universe theory. God made the universe, but now it's all hands-off for him. He may see the sparrow fall, but he won't stop it, because that's not what he does. Many may differ with this interpretation of God. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the Catholic Church does. What it comes down to, is all the other death and loss in the book is meant as fuel for Emilio's suffering. Sofia's turning away from him was all about Emilio, not what that loss might have meant to her. The death of the child was painful for Emilio, and wasn't shown to affect anyone else. I don't think that's seeing the sparrow for itself at all. Or maybe Emilio was the only sparrow in this book.
One star for the Special Snowflake that is Emilio Sandoz.
This book is a strange hybrid. It has all the trappings of science fiction: space travel, aliens. But the book really isn't about the "what if" question that science fiction asks. It's about "what are?". What are people? What is God?
Russell is a great writer. Even after starting at the end instead of the beginning, she manages to generate tension. She makes you care about characters even though you know they end up dead. And even though they are sometimes annoying. Ann came across to me much more Mary Sue this time. And I never got the deal with Jimmy. He seemed entirely meh, and I couldn't see why Sofia would marry him, even if he was the last man on earth. And I couldn't see why he would make a better leader than either of the women.
Russell uses her anthropology background to think through an alien first contact scenario. I think that this would have actually worked better for me if the first contact was with humans instead of aliens. Aliens are... well... alien. You can't make any of the assumptions that seemed to have been made about culture when you're starting with an entirely alien brain and mindset. Of course, the mission found this out to their cost.
Where this book really shines is where the characters interact. But it came across as a bit gossipy to me this time. There's a conversation where D.W. finally admits that he's gay to Ann. Clearly this is meant to be a big deal, and we are meant to learn from Ann's mature reaction that his gayness is something to be accepted. Great, but I don't think you need to go to another planet to have that conversation. Same with Emilio and Sofia's non-romance. The idea of deciding on whether to be true to one's vows comes up all the time right here on Earth. I think a lot of the interaction between the characters could have taken place in Puerto Rico and we would have had the same themes. Some of the anthropological analysis comes across as almost racist to me now, although I thought it was intriguing at the time. The idea that Sofia had taken against Emilio because he looked Spanish and her background was Sephardic, for instance. Sofia's family had been living in Turkey for hundreds of years and she's still holding the Spanish Inquisition against him? I don't know.
The Jesuits came across as more prurient than therapeutic to me this time. And the therapy, such as it was, seemed more dramatic than ethical. I had a hard time believing that people coming across Emilio in the desperate state he was in would believe that he was voluntarily locking himself in a room, allowing himself to be sodomized so painfully that he was covered in blood, and had all but the bare tendons picked off his hands. Somehow this was his fault? He enjoyed it? Unbelievable.
And when it comes right down to it, the story of Emilio was this: Emilio is a Special and Sensitive Saint, and when he Suffers, it is Significant. Yes, what Emilio went through was utterly horrible. But the tight focus on him belies the 'God sees every sparrow" argument. Sofia was raped repeatedly as a child. But her suffering was not explored. Filipe Reyes lost his hands, but that wasn't important. It was all about Emilio. And really, what it came down to, more than physical suffering, was that he had thought that he was special to God, and thus didn't understand why God didn't spare him. Well, Emilio, that one's answered in the New Testament. You may have read it. In seminary.
For all the philosophical delving, it seems to me that the book's conclusion is the old clockwork universe theory. God made the universe, but now it's all hands-off for him. He may see the sparrow fall, but he won't stop it, because that's not what he does. Many may differ with this interpretation of God. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the Catholic Church does. What it comes down to, is all the other death and loss in the book is meant as fuel for Emilio's suffering. Sofia's turning away from him was all about Emilio, not what that loss might have meant to her. The death of the child was painful for Emilio, and wasn't shown to affect anyone else. I don't think that's seeing the sparrow for itself at all. Or maybe Emilio was the only sparrow in this book.