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A review by richardleis
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
3.0
A very upsetting novel about Jesuit priests and friends who journey to an exoplanet in the Alpha Centauri system to make first contact with aliens there. Things do not end up well. The details of what happened to the humans on the alien planet are hinted at through the first 3/4th of the book and when the truth is revealed it is brutal.
The ideas explored here have more to do with social science, psychology, and religion than science and technology, though there are also interesting technical concepts included. I found myself impatient with the characters, partly because of the dialogue which at times seemed a little too precious and partly because the big choices they made, especially related to landing on the planet in the first place, did not make sense to me. It seems to me that some of the trouble they encountered could have been avoided if only they had sat in orbit around the planet for a number of years studying it and its flora, fauna, and sentient species.
This is a first novel and at times reads like it. Russell has a mastery of craft, tension building and suspense, but the novel was missing a little polish here and there. I was somewhat put off by the 100 pages or so of very slow character building. The book seemed too long as a result of a great deal of setup but also because of the way the tension was relentless: a reader just knows something awful is going to happen, but has to wait until the very end of the novel to arrive at that moment.
The power of this book is that this is thought-provoking whether or not you are religious. The religious characters must ask big questions in the book, and the potential answers are often horrifying, even if their God exists.
The ideas explored here have more to do with social science, psychology, and religion than science and technology, though there are also interesting technical concepts included. I found myself impatient with the characters, partly because of the dialogue which at times seemed a little too precious and partly because the big choices they made, especially related to landing on the planet in the first place, did not make sense to me. It seems to me that some of the trouble they encountered could have been avoided if only they had sat in orbit around the planet for a number of years studying it and its flora, fauna, and sentient species.
This is a first novel and at times reads like it. Russell has a mastery of craft, tension building and suspense, but the novel was missing a little polish here and there. I was somewhat put off by the 100 pages or so of very slow character building. The book seemed too long as a result of a great deal of setup but also because of the way the tension was relentless: a reader just knows something awful is going to happen, but has to wait until the very end of the novel to arrive at that moment.
The power of this book is that this is thought-provoking whether or not you are religious. The religious characters must ask big questions in the book, and the potential answers are often horrifying, even if their God exists.