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A review by peterredshoes
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
3.0
Fans of "A Canticle for Leibowitz" will definitely enjoy this book, although the stories, as best as I can recall, are pretty different. One part that's the same is that hard-core Catholics are placed in futuristic settings--"Canticle" has monks in a post-apocalyptic setting, this has Jesuit priests travelling to Alpha Centauri.
The story's pace and themes are very cerebral--lots of time inside the protagonists' heads. People who need action will probably find this too dry for their taste. One thing I liked about how the story unfolds is that it really does keep building momentum to virtually the last page--you spend time toward the end both feeling like the story should have climaxed by now, and then thinking it has already when something else is revealed.
The religious aspect to the story and the theme is pleasantly universal--although the characters are priests, the essential struggle is really just the question of how man interacts with and tries to comprehend God. Like the story as a whole, the development of this theme requires some patience to let it unfold, and it continues to gain momentum right to the final paragraphs.
The story's pace and themes are very cerebral--lots of time inside the protagonists' heads. People who need action will probably find this too dry for their taste. One thing I liked about how the story unfolds is that it really does keep building momentum to virtually the last page--you spend time toward the end both feeling like the story should have climaxed by now, and then thinking it has already when something else is revealed.
The religious aspect to the story and the theme is pleasantly universal--although the characters are priests, the essential struggle is really just the question of how man interacts with and tries to comprehend God. Like the story as a whole, the development of this theme requires some patience to let it unfold, and it continues to gain momentum right to the final paragraphs.