The Sparrow

By: Mary Doria Russell

Narrated by: David Colacci

A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: To make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end.

©2008 Mary Doria Russell (P)2008 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

“A startling, engrossing, and moral work of fiction.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Powerful...The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

An interesting take on higher powers.

I listened to The Sparrow and immediately moved on to The Children of God. Enjoyed listening to both and following the adventure into the discovery of other intelligent live in the solar system. Many well developed and memorable characters with dialog which propelled the story forward to discover a world beyond our own. It has many political and societal issues woven into the story, if you pay close enough attention to catch the author’s attempts to make statements about the church, capitalism, politics, belief in a higher power, slavery and population control. Some of the characters switch from good to bad and back several times during each book. These are novels that can make you listen for a while and then think about how this effects our present, our past and our future, for just as long. I found myself often stopping to contemplate these issues before continuing on with the story. If you have two credits and want several hours of intelligent novels, by all means get The Sparrow and The Children of God. (please note, you don’t need to get COG, but you really must start with The Sparrow. I don’t think you would understand near as much of COG without first listening to The Sparrow.)

I didn't want it to end...

MDR has a gift for setting big theological questions in the context of vibrant characters who came to life with deep humanity as she wove personal journeys into THE quest.
Her eye for detail & her ear for speech both alien & human made her book rich indeed
The narrator added color while not inserting himself...a truly humble blessing

Haunting

3yrs after listening to it, I still find the thought of this book unsettling, yet I can't help but keep coming back to it. This book has made me laugh and cry...

Who knew sci-fi and religion could come together so well without feeling forced?!

I'm glad someone told me about this book. It has become one of my favorite pieces.

Struggled a long time, but finished

Lots of questions many have asked over the years, and many more that are explored. In the end, I'm glad I stuck it out, but it was the last hour where everything happened.

Left me thinking

Where does The Sparrow rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the better written stories so far, very thought-provoking. A lot of unpredictable moments.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it started very slow I was actually thinking about dropping it. But then it picked up and kept looking for chores to do and places to go just so that I can listened to it more.

Any additional comments?

I would recommend it to a friend that has patience to sit through the first 1/3 to get to the gem it is.

A modern SF classic with moral complexity

What did you like best about this story?

I liked how this tale of first contact went incredibly wrong due to human nature, our inability to understand something truly alien to our perspective. Too often in SF, alien species end up being anthropomorphic projections of human expectation. The worldbuilding is complex and believable. The characters are real people whose suffering has meaning, and boy do they suffer. It is tragedy porn, to a certain extent, like Connie Willis' novels, but the best literature often falls in this category. The author is unafraid of moral complexity, something usually lacking in genre fiction where the villains are usually clearly evil and the heroes' virtue outshines all the darkness. This novel shows the folly of the arrogance of even the most benevolent of our species.

What does David Colacci bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He accentuates the tension of the protagonist exquisitely.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

AMC is thinking of making a TV show out of this.

"Most depressingly brilliant SF show ever."

"It's like John Carter of Mars, but with interspecial rape."

Intelligent Author

So many unlikely, yet somehow likely, topics all in one plot. I really love a good Sci-Fi story and Russell weaves a brilliant one! ~ Highly Recommend ~

Good read

I really enjoyed this book. It dealt with religion as an important part but not overwhelming part. I enjoyed how it was also very much about science and discovery. My only complaints are the characters were not amazing and are used more as vehicles for the conversations and the books ends sort of abruptly.

Deeply Layered Magic

prepare to see the Catholic Church as you have never imagined it and perhaps even find some compassion for it

Great Read

This was such a devastating and beautiful book. I can easily see it being picked up by netflix as a limited series!