A review by see_sadie_read
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

5.0

Read the description above. There is no doubt that it was written by Mary Doria Russell. The way it is subtlety well informed without reading like a textbook, almost funny without compromising its gravitas, and wholly engaging. The book is just the same way. Russell manages to make interstellar travel on papal authority seem feasible. The book is set in two temporal plains, which one might expect to be hard to follow. But the narrator, linguist Emilio Sandoz, is the sort of intelligent man of faith we all wish we could share a glass of wine with. He easily relates his experiences in an understandable way, while his companions Giuliani, Behr and Candotti relay the events of the of those left on Earth. Despite a complex time frame it is very readable. The themes are not simple, however. This is a novel that leaves you thinking. The coexistence of religion and science is an important theme as are questions of the maintenance of faith in the face of human fallibility. I highly recommend it and its sequel Children of God.