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The Sparrowby Russell, Mary Doria
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Book DescriptionWestminister, Maryland, U.S.A.: Fawcett Books, 1997. Soft Cover - VG Book is clean - 405 pages.. ISBN: 0449912558. Soft Cover. Very Good. FICTION RELIGIOUS SCIENCE. Book summaryThis novel spins back and forth through time, telling the tale of a peaceful planet devastated by tragedy when a predatory new race evolves into being. Winner of the James Tiptree Jr. Award and the 1997 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel.Media Reviews"A startling portrait of an alien culture and the nature of God as well, since, in his utter humiliation and in the annihilation of his spirit, Sandoz is reborn in faith. Shades of Wells, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Arthur C. Clarke, with just a dash of Edgar Rice Burroughs--and yet strikingly original, even so...Brilliant." -- Kirkus "Through a series of finely executed flashbacks, the story traces the fate of this manned expedition to the stars..."The Sparrow" is a startling, engrossing and moral work of fiction." -- New York Times Book Review "This powerful story satisfies on so many levels it defies easy description. It is elegant, well-crafted fiction that inspires reflection and soul searching, challenges our easy acceptance of social conventions, and, ultimately, illuminates the indomitable human spirit." -- NAPRA ReView "[D]espite...flashes of book-of-the-month pretentiousness..., despite a plot gerrymandered almost to the point of allegory, despite an unconvincing and underimagined 21st century, "The Sparrow" builds considerable power, conveying an overwhelming agony and horror that outpaces most genre fiction, and that is fundamentally more disturbing. Russell...has managed to achieve stunning effects with a first novel that, in the end, does exactly what it sets out to do." -- Gary K. Wolfe, Locus Publisher NotesONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLYS TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR "A NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT . . . Russell shows herself to be a skillful storyteller who subtly and expertly builds suspense."--USA Today "AN EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE MISSED . . . If you have to send a group of people to a newly discovered planet to contact a totally unknown species, whom would you choose? How about four Jesuit priests, a young astronomer, a physician, her engineer husband, and a child prostitute-turned-computer-expert? Thats who Mary Doria Russell sends in her new novel, The Sparrow. This motley combination of agnostics, true believers, and misfits becomes the first to explore the Alpha Centuri world of Rakhat with both enlightening and disastrous results. . . . Vivid and engaging . . . An incredible novel."--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "POWERFUL . . . Father Emilio Sandoz [is] the only survivor of a Jesuit mission to the planet Rakhat, a soul . . . looking for God.' We first meet him in Italy . . . sullen and bitter. . . . But he was not always this way, as we learn through flashbacks that tell the story of the ill-fated trip. . . . The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence."--San Francisco Chronicle "SMOOTH STORYTELLING AND GORGEOUS CHARACTERIZATION . . . Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them."--Entertainment Weekly SELECTED BY THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB Emilio Sandoz, a brilliant Jesuit priest, seems like the perfect leader for the first expedition to an extraterrestrial culture. However, when Sandoz returns to Earth 20 years later as the mission's sole survivor, he is accused of unspeakable violence and depravity. Why? An extraordinary fiction debut, by paleoanthropologist Mary Doria Russell. Other Recommended Books
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