While having a mini-Christmas get-together with some of my best friends, I start to meander towards their bookcase after a few glasses/bottles of wine.  I basically attacked it like Ariel would a cutlery drawer or Chunk would a freezer full of flavored ice creams.  My friend came over and started talking to me about books she liked and then her excitement grew and grew until she found her favorite book on the shelves: The Sparrow.  I was basically like, “Oh it’s your favorite?  Can I borrow it?” And so I did, not knowing a single person who had read it or even heard of it (and it came out in 1997).  I also knew nothing about the plot, I just took it.  And non-spoiler-spoiler alert: I don’t think I even read the word “sparrow” until the last like 5 pages.  After finishing, I think I would categorize it as a blend of literary fiction and sci-fi.

But, dear friends, I will gift you with a brief summary:  The year is 2019 and proof of extraterrestrial life is discovered when a listening post in Arecibo, Puerto Rico discovers singing from a far off planet (which soon becomes Rakhat).  The Society of Jesus rallies a team to go make first contact.  The story flashes forward to ~2060 as only one man returned alive from the trip, a Jesuit priest who had 10 fingers when he left and definitely not 10 when he returned.  The inquisition takes places in Rome and they want to know what happened.  The experience on Rakhat makes one question the existence of God and what it means to be human.  His faith has been destroyed and his body has been crippled and defiled.  And then we get to hear what happened.

The book is so powerful and thought-provoking that I still do not know how to put into words how I feel or what I think about it.  I can tell you that I absolutely loved it and instead of trying to explain it to people, I am just going to slap a copy of the book in their hands and make them use their own eyeballs and brain to take it all in.

One of the things I find impressive is that this is the literary debut of Mary Doria Russell.  You would never know that based on the elegance and strength of writing (is that even a term? I made it up if not.)  The way she crafts a story and creates a whole new world with things like new language, economic system, gender roles, theology, etc will blow your mind!  As a former student of anthropology ( think I had ~50 credit hours in college in various anthropology courses), I am fascinated by what she is able to accomplish in 400+ pages!

While some parts of this book can come across as heavy or difficult to understand at first, it is worth it to take the time to read slowly or re-read those parts because you definitely want to be able to immerse yourself as deeply as possible for the full effect!

My husband is a HUGE trekkie, and in knowing that, I have already been pushing the book on him and I think he will read it next.  What does Star Trek have to do with this book?  Well, any Star Trek fan knows the Prime Directive:  a guiding principle of the United Federation of Planets prohibiting the protagonists from interfering with the internal development of alien civilizations.  So, after READING this book, I can see the connection!

In my mind, this book is like a brilliant combination of Arrival, Interstellar, Avatar, and religion.  Maybe?  I don’t know why I find the need to compare it to anything at all, but I want to get as many people to read this as possible and I feel like a blend of all of those powerful movies is a good start!  PICK UP THIS BOOK!  DO IT NOW!  Easily a 5 out of stars for me as it’s a life-changing book that I will talk about for years and years.