The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
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The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
Free Ebook PDF The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
Emilio Sandoz is a remarkable man, a living saint and Jesuit priest who undergoes an experience so harrowing and profound that it makes him question the existence of God. This experience―the first contact between human beings and intelligent extraterrestrial life―begins with a small mistake and ends in a horrible catastrophe.
Sandoz is a part of the crew sent to explore a new planet. What they find is a civilization so alien and incomprehensible that they feel compelled to wonder what it means to be human.
The priest is the only surviving member of the crew and upon his return he is confronted by public inquisition and accusations of the most heinous crimes imaginable. His faith utterly destroyed, crippled and defenseless, his only hope is to tell his tale. Father John Candotti has been charged with discovering the truth, but the truth may be more than Earth is willing to accept.
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell- Amazon Sales Rank: #832073 in Books
- Brand: Russell, Mary Doria/ Colacci, David (NRT)
- Published on: 2015-03-10
- Formats: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.75" h x .50" w x 5.25" l,
- Running time: 15 Hours
- Binding: MP3 CD
Amazon.com Review This strange, ambitious science fiction novel has already won enough attention for its first-time author to make it a selection by both the Book of the Month and QPB clubs. Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit linguist, heads a team of scientists and explorers on an expedition to the planet Rakhat, where contact has been established with two apparently primitive races, the Runa and the Jana'ata. The narrative shifts back and forth between 2016, when contact is first made, and 2060, to a Vatican inquest interrogating the maimed and broken Sandoz. A paleoanthropologist, Russell makes the descriptions of the inhabitants of Rakhat both convincing and unsettling. Check out Amazon.com's Sparrow feature and read an excerpt from the book!
From Publishers Weekly An enigma wrapped inside a mystery sets up expectations that prove difficult to fulfill in Russell's first novel, which is about first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. The enigma is Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit linguist whose messianic virtues hide his occasional doubt about his calling. The mystery is the climactic turn of events that has left him the sole survivor of a secret Jesuit expedition to the planet Rakhat and, upon his return, made him a disgrace to his faith. Suspense escalates as the narrative ping-pongs between the years 2016, when Sandoz begins assembling the team that first detects signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and 2060, when a Vatican inquest is convened to coax an explanation from the physically mutilated and emotionally devastated priest. A vibrant cast of characters who come to life through their intense scientific and philosophical debates help distract attention from the space-opera elements necessary to get them off the Earth. Russell brings her training as a paleoanthropologist to bear on descriptions of the Runa and Jana'ata, the two races on Rakhat whose differences are misunderstood by the Earthlings, but the aliens never come across as more than variations of primitive earthly cultures. The final revelation of the tragic human mistake that ends in Sandoz's degradation isn't the event for which readers have been set up. Much like the worlds it juxtaposes, this novel seems composed of two stories that fail to come together. BOMC, QPB and One Spirit Book Club selections. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist When readers meet Father Emilio Sandoz, he's a wreck, inside and out. His hands are maimed, his body bruised; he suffers from scurvy, anemia, and spiritual devastation. The year is 2059. Although Jesuit missionaries thrive on suffering, something particularly dire has happened to this skilled linguist. Four decades earlier, he proposed an expedition to discover the sentient beings whose strange yet beautiful music had been detected by radio telescope. As the only survivor of this spiritual odyssey to Alpha Centauri (the star system four light years from Earth), Sandoz was found dazed and filled with terror by rescuers who inferred that he had resorted to prostitution to stay alive. Returned to the Jesuit Order, Sandoz is forced to face truths about the godless alien societies on the planet Rakhat that he and his colleagues grew to know, love, and perish at the claws of. Miscommunications, misplaced trust, and tiny mistakes led to their downfall. The dense prose in this complex tale may at first seem off-putting, but hang on for the ride; it's riveting! Russell's first novel is also a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Jennifer Henderson
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329 of 353 people found the following review helpful. Riveting, intellectual, spiritual, thought provoking.... By Nana Annie Reading this book was a enriching, rewarding experience for me. As with most books, it isn't for everyone. I was looking for a little lighter read, since I've been reviewing books on death and dying and the Holocaust. Silly me - but I am so glad I made the mistake of thinking this would be an escape from the ultra serious!This is definitely not a light read and in fact, it hits on many of the issues I've been exploring - the existence and function of God, the meaning of life, the use of suffering and healing, the delicacy and necessity of human relationships.The story switches between the year 2019 - the US has lost its primary position as a world leader to Japan, marketers search the streets looking for ghetto kids with intellectual skills to groom and sell as indentured servants - and the year 2060, when a Jesuit priest is under examination for sins he is assumed to have committed while on a mission to a New World - Rakhat a planet far away from here.We see Father Emilio Sandoz before the journey (2019) as he initiates this venture, traveling with characters so well written, I started to believe they were real. Dr. Anne and her husband, George; the recently freed indentured planner, Sofia; the young man who discovered the existence of the other world, Jimmy Quinn; D.W., their grumpy Jesuit leader. Two other characters are less developed, but make nice backdrop for this riveting story.The book was a little difficult to get into at the start, not because of the writing, but because of the promise of horrors to come. How could this priest, so filled with life in 2019, be so horribly disfigured (did I really want to read the gruesome details?) And how could he have ended up a prostitute, and then murdered a child?Note: These are not spoilers -- this is information freely given at the start of the story, a hook that pulls the reader in.To find out, the reader follows Sandoz' slow recovery, sees his bitterness and anger in his interaction with the community who is interrogating him in the year 2060, after he has been rescued and returned from Rakhat. Sandoz questions the intimate, passionate connection he'd had with God - and the reader is led to question some assumptions about God, quite similar to those raised by the Holocaust. (Isn't God supposed to deliver us from evil if we do all the right stuff?)A science fiction tale, a mystery, a spiritual quest, a sociological and anthropology exploration, this book would be an excellent choice for a group to read and discuss. It is also great for the inquisitive mind of the solo reader.As for me, I hated to put it down. I read it as often as I could, and almost wept when it was done (sort of Harry Potter for this grown-up!) After writing this review, I'm off to order the sequel, Children of God.
128 of 136 people found the following review helpful. Priests...in...spaaace! By R. Griffiths Who should read this novel?1. Sci-fi fans - it has won lots of awards, featured on umpteen 'best of' lists and is just excellent science fiction. If I only had five sci-fi books, this would be one of them. Having said that, it's not 'hard sci-fi' - in other words it doesn't let the science get in the way of the story. Willing suspension of disbelief is the way to go.2. anthropologists - Ok, so that's not many of us, but the point is that this book sensitively explores the concept of 'otherness'. There are two intelligent species on the planet. One is nice but dim, the other is bright but deadly. Who do the humans identify with? Intriguing question, huh? Well it was for me, anyway.3. Religious people. And also people interested in the possibility of God, the possibility of forgiveness. This book faithfully addresses the seeming absence of God in the pain of the world (or should that be universe?). But it's never 'preachy', just keepin' it real.4. Anyone who likes a good yarn. It's well written and the plot cracks along. The repeated cutting between the story of the mission and the aftermath of the mission keeps you guessing to the end. There's a kind of dawning realisation of the horror of what's being told, and I for one couldn't put it down.5. Look, the first human contact with alien life is sponsored not by NASA but by... THE VATICAN! Its a mad idea - you just have to read this book to see how it works out.
60 of 64 people found the following review helpful. Is God a Criminal? By Patrick Shepherd Science fiction is a medium that is tailor-made for investigation of some of humanity's most perplexing questions, most especially questions of his (and the universe's) origin, God, what constitutes moral behavior, man's ultimate purpose. But very few science fiction novels really attempt to tackle these questions, getting caught up instead in the nifty gadgets that can be imagined, and forgetting their human element. Not so here.Russell has crafted a fine work of character, of people both exceptional and very real, in this tale of first contact between a Jesuit sponsored mission and the denizens of the planet Rakhat. Emilio Sandoz is the only survivor of this mission, and most of the story is told from his viewpoint, both as a currently happening time-line and a later recollection under interrogation after he returns to Earth. It is easy to become engrossed in this man's life, as we see him as a great linguist, a priest with very understandable doubts but a solid need to help others, a man with normal desires for companionship, a person suffering under sever stress, a man mangled both physically and mentally. The other mission members are not slighted in the character development area, so that by the mid-point of the book, I felt that I was living with a very tight-knit family, whose individual foibles were all well-known and accepted, whose interpersonal banter was enjoyable and fitting.It is this very depth of characterization that adds poignancy to the mission's fate and starkly highlights the main religious question. How can one believe in a God that allows such terrible things as the mission failure to happen? How can one not believe in a higher power that has orchestrated such an incredibly complex universe of objects, intelligences, and events? Falling within this halo are other questions, ones of personal responsibility against an omniscient deity, institutionalized religion versus an individual call to God, the morality of killing in a culture radically different from our own, when does pride in accomplishment become insufferable hubris? Russell does not provide answers, but her characters each have their own way of dealing with these questions, methods both practical and, for some, esoteric. In this area, this novel is very comparable to James Blish's A Case of Conscience, another fine novel working within this same area of ideas and religious import.There are some elements that are not so good. Possibly most obvious is the idea that a privately funded mission to contact the first verified alien intelligence would not only be the first but the only mission, at least until the rest of the world found out about this mission. Second is the idea that star-travel is so close to being doable that a (relatively) small amount of money and some minor engineering would allow it to become a reality - if it was that close surely someone would have started such a project long before, even without the impetus of alien contact. Third, this is supposed to be the Alpha Centauri star system. From a planet orbiting Centauri A, Centauri C ( a small and quite dim red dwarf) is so distant it would not show a visible disk nor provide any great illumination (it would look like just a bright star), yet there are consistent references in the novel to working under the red light of the third sun. In a work of 'hard' science fiction, such problems would be pretty major. For this novel, with its primary focus on theme and character, these flaws are at most gnats, easily dismissed as not relevant to the overall story.Emotionally and intellectually powerful, this story can upset your life, force a new perspective on your world-view, make you once more sit up and see the sparrow.--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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