The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996).
One of the weirdest books I’ve
ever read.
It’s part fantasy, part religion
and all together some sort of strange adventure/mystery novel with possibly most complicated characters with most twisted relasioship I’ve ever read.
Could be a masterpiece but I’m
not quite sure…
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layers. –All the
major players in this book have either traumas or deep self-doubts and wear masks
to hide their true nature. Creepy but great for the storyline.
Father Emilio Sandoz. A really hard working Jesuit who is also
intelligent, funny, passionate, street-tough and extremely good looking (sexy,
too).
A genius in
linguistic, he learns to speak/understand French, Spanish, English, Puerto
Rican, Portuguese, Polish, Arabic, and many more. And this communication skill
is the reason why he becomes the part of the team travelling to foreign planet.
The only
survival from the human being’s first extraterrestrial exploration. So naturally, he is the one who carries this book to the shocking end.
Sofia Mendes. A child prostitute turned a computer expert.
She is as precise as computer and as cool too. Mirror
opposite of Father Emilio.
She moves
jobs to jobs depending on the contract and learning everything required to do
the jobs in between. A genius.
She is also as
beautiful as it gets. A perfect example of beauty with brain.
Jimmy Quinn. An astronomer who first finds (de-codes) the
songs from Alpha Centauri. Also, a
specialist in navigation and communications.
A good
friend of Emilio and George and Ann.
George and Ann Edwards. A computer expert and a physician couple.
They are both old (64) and wise and adventurous. Just great people to be
around.
The rest are
either another astronauts or priests from the churches or all sorts of weird creatures from Alpha Centauri.
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lace. – Rome.
More precisely, a huge church of Rome where Father Emilio takes a refuge after
coming back from the space all damaged and crushed.
And
Puerto Rico where Jimmy and Sofia work at Arecibo telescope, Emilio at the
street and George and Ann in free street clinic.
And
then, galaxy far far away at Alpha Centauri, the world of Rakhat and all other
creatures.
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lot. – Like a
lot of interesting books with complicated storyline, this book also adapts the
same two part formula that recycles by hundreds of writers out there: the
first, developing story, part and the second, drastic and exciting climax,
part. However here is the problem with this book. This book does divide into
two parts like all others, but the two sides are so wide apart, even after
finishing the book, I still can’t figure out exact storyline and what happen. Or more
likely, why.
The first
half is really well written stories with quite a few fascinating characters
interacting with each other developing relationship and inevitably revealing
their past and personalities. Now, this part is really good. The other half,
I’m not sure.
Out of everything, the second half becomes, get this, an outer
space exploration SF adventure!! In alien planet full of weird (kind of)human like
creature with bizarre customs and crazy attitudes!! Not to mention insane sexual
activities with insane creatures!! You have to read it to believe it. It’s so
strange.
Ok. Here is
the actual story.
After a long
night of party with dance, songs and broken heart, Jimmy retreats into his
cubicle and in there surrounded by bitter solitude, he stumbles upon a
beautiful song from outer space.
The church,
CHURCH! not government, assembles the crew of eight and send them to Alpha Centauri to explore the new world. And of
course, everything goes wrong and Father Emilio is the only survivor coming
back barely alive. How and Why?
The story
jumps around between before the mission (2019~39) and after (2059~).
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erdict. –There is
not much to say about this book just because I still can’t figure out what kind
of book this is. This is one of those books that you really have to read it to
understand it. Do not believe what other people say about it especially the
book reviews on its back. They’ve got it all so wrong or just print out cliché
after cliché so that they don’t scare away any potential readers, I think.
This book is
like “A Planet of Apes” with really great, deep and extremely disturbed characters
and even crazier apes. Well, at least second half of it.
