abhaille's Full Review: Mary Doria Russell - The Sparrow
There are several stories that share the impact of the first communication from an otherworldly source. Most notably, Carl Sagan's Contact tells of this contact coming through SETI--the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
In The Sparrow, this message comes to human attention in the form of music. This haunting other-worldly music that draws the focus of our planet to a scant four light years away toward the planet Rakhat.
The main cast gathers together and forms an unlikely family of distinct individuals who are chosen to travel from one world to another.
Emilio Sandoz comes from very humble beginnings. He is lifted from a brutal upbringing in the slums of Puerto Rico and finds his faith in the Society of Jesus--the Jesuits. He is provided for and educated and then used extensively when he shows an uncanny knack for linguistics. He is moved from one remote location to another to bring Catholicism to primitive peoples. He is astonished when he is assigned to Cleveland to have his "brain picked" by an Artificial Intelligence expert.
In Cleveland, he begins to find family. He is essentially adopted by Anne and George Edwards. The Edwards, in their sixties and childless, are funny and clever and filled with an overabundance of compassion that they share with the emotionally starved Sandoz.
Sandoz meets Sofia Mendes, an aloof and brilliant AI programmer. She is charged with analyzing Emilio's methods of learning new languages and writing a program to emulate his methods. Sofia is damaged goods as well. She is "owned" by contractual agreement that uses her services. She has no time or patience for human warmth; she only wants to pay off her contract and obtain her freedom as quickly as she can.
Emilio goes back to his home in Puerto Rico to serve his community of origin as a priest. He convinces the Edwards to go with him to serve the poor. Anne is a compassionate physician and George a skilled engineer. Here they encounter the young radio astronomer Jimmy Quinn who holds a tenuous position at the Arecibo dish. He's under the gun to keep his job when Mendes is assigned to see if she can automate his function with Artificial Intelligence.
The Edwards gather the young people into their warm circle and provide an extended family of choice.
Then Jimmy hears the music. The world is stunned by the confirmation that there is intelligence only a short distance away on the galactic scale.
Events transpire in a relatively uncomplicated manner that set up the characters to be selected as the mission crew to visit Rakhat. They are joined by D.W. Yarbrough, a Jesuit from Waco, Texas and Marc Robichaux, another Jesuit of French Canadian extraction.
The book is written as a parallel text. There are two time lines that weave back and forth. One tells the story as it happens and the other is a flashback, told by Emilio after tragic events befall the expeditionary crew.
Told primarily from Emilio's point of view, the novel serves to display his test of faith in God. Each event that unfolds challenges his faith on many levels. The reader knows from early in the book that something horrible has happened to Sandoz. The story tells us how and why. There are times when the events are horrific, but throughout the reader understands the tender regard that the travelers have for each other.
When I first heard of this book, a friend very simply said it was science fiction about Jesuits in space. I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard. I wondered how the author could reconcile a space adventure with religious faith, but Ms. Russell does a beautiful job.
Often painful, this novel is riveting. The characters are painted with careful detail that gives the reader the feeling of learning about real people. The story is at first glance almost unbelievable, but the author gives it substance and invests it with a reality that doesn't seem so far-fetched.
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 t...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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