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The Sparrow -- Mary Doria Russell ****+
The Sparrow is Mary Doria Russell's first novel, a story that almost defies categorization. It is, of course, science fiction, because it deals with space travel and first contact with sentient beings on another planet. It's also anthropology, because it approaches that topic -- first contact -- with deep understanding of the complexities in such situations. But mostly this is the story of a man's life, and it's compelling and satisfying on that basis alone. The rest of it is all frosting on a very good, very rich cake. The main character here is Emilio Sandoz, a native of Puerto Rico, and a Jesuit priest. So here I have to tip my hat to Russell. She pulled off something I thought impossible in my case, because a childhood of Catholic education vaccinated me against this particular illness: she made me fall in love with a priest. This is such an interesting, complex character, and you go through so much with him -- that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.
There are a half dozen other characters I also fell in love with. The kind of characters you want to be real so you could live across the street from them and go over to borrow sugar and shoot the breeze. This group of characters heads off on a mission organized, secretly, by the Jesuits. It's the year 2019 and they are going to the planet that will eventually be known as Rakhat.
You may remember that in various places I've discussed the difference between story and plot. Story is what happened in chronological order; plot is the artful rearrangement of that order to create suspense and interest. Russell chose to start telling this story at the end: in the year 2059, when Emilio returns from Rakhat. Because of the nature of space travel and time and relativity and all those things I don't pretend to understand, he is only a few years older but everyone else is significantly aged. More important: Emilio is the sole survivor, barely clinging to his sanity and his life, and reluctant to tell the story to his superiors in the Society of Jesus. The novel moves back and forth in time, between the near-broken and maimed Emilio, the years before the mission, and the four years of the mission on Rakhat.
If there is any problem with The Sparrow at all, it's a mechanical one: Russell pulls off the high wire act of moving back and forth in time while juggling several dozen characters, and she does so gracefully. And still there are a very few points where she wobbles, ever so slightly. Some of the four years on Rakhat feel a little rushed. We've come a long way with the characters and I was disappointed to have some storylines resolved out of scene. Some -- but not all of that -- is addressed in the sequel, Children of God.
This is not an easy novel. It's demanding in a variety of ways. It will make you laugh out loud and it will break your heart, and most of all, it will make you think.
April 17, 2005 07:04 AM
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Comments
I loved The Sparrow, for all the reasons you mentioned, and for that one heartbreaking scene on Rakhat when Sofia realizes what she's done (I don't want to spoil it for anyone; do you know which one I mean?). It's on my short list of recommended novels. Along with Into the Wilderness (Mary Doria Russell's in good company). Must read Thread of Grace!
Posted by: Anamaria at April 17, 2005 06:21 PM
I'm so glad you liked this novel. You review was very eloquent and expressed a lot of what I felt about this novel. It is one of my favourite novels but now after so many years since I first read it, I'm almost too scared to read it again. I want to love it as much as I did then and am afraid that it won't move me as much the second time. Have you read Children of God ... I didn't like it as much ... it had the feel of a TV show that is on its last legs and whose characters no one really cares much about anymore (much like Northern Exposure after Fleishman left). Maybe it was because I felt that Emilio faded into the background a bit. Maybe I just need to read it again... after I've read The Sparrow again.
Posted by: Jacqui at April 18, 2005 03:37 AM
I loved, loved "The Sparrow." I read it years ago when Entertainment Weekly named it Best Fiction Book of the year. I didn't like "Children of God" as much but I did enjoy "Thread of Grace." If only Russell would write faster we could enjoy her unique view of the world more often. That would be wonderful.
Posted by: jenreads at April 18, 2005 12:22 PM