The Sparrow

In my golden years I’ve come, perhaps wrongly, to trust myself and the decisions I make. Still I sometimes agonize over decisions which like a great clapper sound the bell at the core of my ethical self.

Nearly as handwringing are choices I’m forced into through something new I’ve learned about myself, my friends, or the world around me. Something new that shakes the ground of my understanding so violently I have to stop what I’m doing and hold on.

This is what happens in The Sparrow, as at last we – as someday we surely will – communicate with… show more.

A science fiction adventure, a cautionary tale, a master’s class in worldbuilding and use of language and plot construction, an exploration of religious belief, an exploration of the depths and breadth of the human heart... there are so many levels on which I appreciate this book!

One is its wealth of wonderful characters. Of all the innumerable novels I’ve read, The Sparrow has the characters I’d most love to know.

It’s clear from the start that something goes terribly wrong with this Jesuit-sponsored mission to Alpha Centauri. There are traumas for readers to endure along with the characters. But notwithstanding… show more.

I do not like science fiction. I hate stories about aliens. The idea of sending people out into space to colonize planets makes me claustrophobic enough to panic. But I adored this book. I made two book groups read this one—they both whined massively . . . and then loved it, too. Far beyond the usual space adventure, this copes with important issues of society and faith, of relationships and commitments and loyalties, and how easy it can be to do “the right thing” without understanding or anticipating the consequences. A philosophical book dressed in adventure novel clothes. 

I loved this story for what it was (a terrific thriller) as much as for what it was not (a lecture in religion). As a writer I also learned from the author to never sacrifice story for theme or message: focus on what will keep the reader up at night and allow the theme to evolve naturally. So much of this book’s ultimate philosophy about being human and treating each other with kindness, could have felt forced given the tale’s origins in religion but it wasn’t at all. In the 21st Century, Earth receives messages in the form of music… show more.