The Sparrow

[perlmonger]

I'm currently reading The Sparrow. I'm not sure this post counts as a spoiler (and the book is 12 years old), but cut just in case.


This is a beautiful, flawed, painful excavation of the limits of faith, of humanity, of understanding; a confluence of A Case of Conscience, Out of the Silent Planet and Use of Weapons: I'm maybe ⅔ of the way through, and I'm just wondering if the whole edifice was constructed just to allow Mary Doria Russell to use the phrase "and they could hear the Dominicans howling in the forest"?

Comments

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely brief summary. And I've never seen Use of Weapons referenced in relation to The Sparrow before.

[perlmonger.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I'm surprised: it's an association that leaped out at me quite early in the book, and has only been reinforced as I've progressed further through it.

[easterbunny.livejournal.com]

God that book pissed me off. Beautifully written, good plot, no Templars, characters and scenes so evocative that I can still see and hear everything in my mind's eye (and ears), but I threw it across the room when I finished it. (I am interested in your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter when you finish it.)

[perlmonger.livejournal.com]

I'll let you know when I get there :)

My suspicion is that my final reaction is going to be similar to yours (and if so, I'll be very interested to find out if it's for the same reasons); we'll see.

[perlmonger.livejournal.com]

Finished last night, and yes: I can empathise with the hurling across the room bit. For myself, I can only say that faith, as characterised in the final pages, is not only beyond my comprehension but also beyond anything I think I'd ever want to comprehend. ramtops, a recovering Catholic, has expressed some interest in reading the book; I'll be interested in her reaction if she gets through the whole thing.

There may well be a further post from me on this subject, as and when my thought and feelings about it gel.