The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell Kinda Sucks

Submitted by FauxCharlatan t3_yrko21 in books

I am curious what my fellow readers think of The Sparrow, as I did not like it.

Read on for personal opinion (NO SPOILERS):

I am sure that I am in the minority here when I say that I thought it was terrible. Well, perhaps terrible is a bit harsh, but grossly overhyped.

It read like a book that would end up being great source material for a HBO or Amazon show. "Cerebral" enough that many consider it deep, but narratively formulaic so that it is familiar, unchallenging, and digestible to a wide audience.

The plot was not interesting (do not even get me start with plausible...such as the perfect functioning of an asteroid as a ship, the US government not intervening at the first sign of proven contact with an alien species, or the insanity of blithely gorging on completely alien food, with unknown genetic, and bacterial attributes, etc. etc.), and the characters were all fairly one dimensional. The "witty" banter was insufferable, and the amount of times I rolled my eyes when characters "laughed-out-loud" were incalculable.

What is unfortunate is that I was really excited to start this book. It was recommended to me by two different friends on two separate occasions, and since I enjoy science fiction, it seemed like a natural fit.

Perhaps the core issue here is one of framing. I went in expecting a lot of from this text, considering its many accolades and the praise its maintained 26 year after publication. The novel positions itself as a teleological investigation, exploring the empyrean and grappling with subjects like theology and ontology. However, I never felt like any vision was fully realized. Was this a science fiction novel about first contact, and the immeasurable changes to society and ultimately humanity ushered in by such an event? Was it a commentary on colonialism, using a science fiction context to highlight the difficulties of human communication and understanding in our own world? Or is this a novel on the nature of faith and love, detailing a man's struggle with his relationship with God? None of these themes ever really took center stage.

Sure SJ's narrative arch really picks up near the end (the last theme from the previous paragraph), soaring high early in the novel only to land concussively low, but the crux of his journey comes far to late to salvage any rhetorical impact. If the central question of the novel was a man's struggle with faith, then I feel like MDR could have cut out at least half the material (and a lot of the characters..RIP J Quinn) and it would have been a far more interesting story.

Finally, to balance out some of this vitriol, I will end on a positive note. I thought its narrative architecture was interesting. Telling a single story from two separate points on a single timeline, and moving them at different rates towards the same destination was cool, playing on the 'time is relative' theme with space travel.

Thoughts?

6

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

mrburnttoast79 t1_ivu6wse wrote

Ugh. Yeah I read that probably 15 years ago and it was sooo boring and took me way to long to get through.

1

77malfoy t1_ivu8whp wrote

I had to DNF it and look up what the big reveal that was constantly referenced was. I hated the dialogue and no character was likeable. Such a slog.

2

ISayISayISay t1_ivubspr wrote

Well, I have to disagree. The sci-fi aspect was just a conceit to carry the ideas which are, as you pointed out, an examination of faith. I'd normally find such subject matter outside of my interest, but this book (or these book - there is a sequel) kept my attention focussed. The implausibility of various aspects of the story are not important to it - they are, as I say, just a background on which to lay her thoughts. Other characters though do matter insomuch as our relationship with others is an important part of who we are, and faith and character are intertwined.

I'd suggest you read the sequel to complete the picture.

8

Lopeyface t1_ivuivof wrote

Thanks for this thoughtful critique. I found it decent but not great. I agree with you that it was very light on the "science" element of science fiction, and only superficially probed the more compelling questions that you mention.

I disagree about the characters, though. I found the protagonist's relationship with the older couple to be nuanced and interesting. This was an area where the author was very effective.

Ultimately, it really only landed (har har) as a character study of the protagonist and his relationships with his friends and God. I don't particularly go in for the God stuff, so it wasn't what I had hoped for, and the narrative structure is so bundled up in that element that it didn't add much for me.

But, still good enough to recommend.

4

MotileSpermWhale t1_ivujesi wrote

Agreed. I picked it up because the premise was pretty cool, but the writing let it down.

1

SuperOliverTwist t1_ivulsmu wrote

I just finished it and wish I didn't. I would absolutely recommend that no one read it. It honestly was terrible wit the whole >!sex-slave Jesuit priest gets repeatedly gang-raped by aliens in front of crowds!< stuff like nooo wtf why what's the point of this cursed book

0

FauxCharlatan OP t1_ivusium wrote

Replying to SuperOliverTwist (#494,768)

Yea not going to lie that part was shocking to me as well. Tonally, it felt completely unprecedented. There weren't any moments earlier in the text that would suggest that such heavy subjects would be explored in the novel.

>!I understand that you could interpret it as political commentary--as an allegory for the sexual abuse of the Catholic Church that was being uncovered around the time the book was published. But, yea, sheesh...!<

2

FauxCharlatan OP t1_ivuux63 wrote

Replying to ISayISayISay (#494,256)

While I appreciate the recommendation (and the response!), there is no way in heck I will be reading the sequel lol.

Now you see, I would agree with you about the 'hard' science portion of the book taking a backseat to the unfolding internal character drama of the novel, but I feel that MDR spends far too much time in the novel talking pseudoscience and jargon to overlook it.

She haphazardly handles complex scientific concepts while spending way too much of the novel describing to readers how intelligent her characters are and taking so much time to demonstrate it with high falutin dialogue. I mean, she devotes 2 freaking pages discussing 'declensions' and yet expects us to accept her half-baked ideas concerning space flight. It just does not feel consistent.

Again, I think it comes back to expectations. If the book had been classified as 'fantasy/fiction' and not 'science fiction', I may have been more generous in my critique.

0

FauxCharlatan OP t1_ivuvjpy wrote

Replying to Lopeyface (#494,608)

I'll admit that I am sure part of the reason I thought it was such a let down was because one of my good friends claimed "it as one of his favorite books". And this guy is a voracious reader.

So I went in with really high expectations.

2

Wind_up_crybaby t1_iw7jerk wrote

I am jumping in to once again recommend Mary Doria Russell’s book about Doc Holliday called “Doc”

It is absolutely exquisite.

1