The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Sep. 10th, 2007 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rsadelleI've read The Sparrow several times before. The book cover says it's "one of Entertainment Weekly's ten best books of the year." I can assure you that's not why I picked it out. I, presumably, saw it on the shelf, read the back, and was intrigued.
It's been a long time since I read the book. I remember it being tragic but somehow uplifting; reinforcing my belief in God. I remember reading it on an airplane, and thinking that was appropriate. I remembered only two specifics, and I remembered them wrong. I remembered D.W. more or less telling Emilio he's gay. I didn't remember that he was telling Anne about telling Emilio ("I just told him, hell, we ain't all abstainin' from the same thing."), or that Emilio didn't get that he was talking about himself, or that he was in love with Emilio. I remembered Emilio asking the question, because it's one I've wondered about, "Have you ever wondered about the story of Cain, Ed? He made his sacrifice in good faith. Why did God refuse it?" but I remembered him asking it of John, not Ed.
I remember disliking the sequel and thinking that she tried to do for politics in it what she did for religion in the first one, and that it ruined the impact of the first one. But I was never willing to release the book into the world; I didn't want anyone else reading it. For years, I've given people copies of The Sparrow with the admonition not to read Children of God.
When I was sorting through my shelves, I moved both books from the keep shelves to the reread and then decide if I'm keeping shelf. I had planned to read The Sparrow, but then I was afraid of it, and unsure if I could handle it now. I love Maureen F. McHugh's China Mountain Zhang, but I'm always wary of reading it because I think it's going to be too much; I have the same fear of The Sparrow. But I had planned it, and this week is Rosh Hashanah, and I plan to reread Lyda Morehouse's AngeLINK series next, so I dived into it, and read at every opportunity until I finished it not fifteen minutes ago.
I feel heartbroken, not uplifted, but the book is going back on the shelf.
In the morning, I'll decide if I'm brave enough to face down Children of God. Perhaps it will look different now that I'm older. Perhaps I'll still feel angry and betrayed.
It's been a long time since I read the book. I remember it being tragic but somehow uplifting; reinforcing my belief in God. I remember reading it on an airplane, and thinking that was appropriate. I remembered only two specifics, and I remembered them wrong. I remembered D.W. more or less telling Emilio he's gay. I didn't remember that he was telling Anne about telling Emilio ("I just told him, hell, we ain't all abstainin' from the same thing."), or that Emilio didn't get that he was talking about himself, or that he was in love with Emilio. I remembered Emilio asking the question, because it's one I've wondered about, "Have you ever wondered about the story of Cain, Ed? He made his sacrifice in good faith. Why did God refuse it?" but I remembered him asking it of John, not Ed.
I remember disliking the sequel and thinking that she tried to do for politics in it what she did for religion in the first one, and that it ruined the impact of the first one. But I was never willing to release the book into the world; I didn't want anyone else reading it. For years, I've given people copies of The Sparrow with the admonition not to read Children of God.
When I was sorting through my shelves, I moved both books from the keep shelves to the reread and then decide if I'm keeping shelf. I had planned to read The Sparrow, but then I was afraid of it, and unsure if I could handle it now. I love Maureen F. McHugh's China Mountain Zhang, but I'm always wary of reading it because I think it's going to be too much; I have the same fear of The Sparrow. But I had planned it, and this week is Rosh Hashanah, and I plan to reread Lyda Morehouse's AngeLINK series next, so I dived into it, and read at every opportunity until I finished it not fifteen minutes ago.
I feel heartbroken, not uplifted, but the book is going back on the shelf.
In the morning, I'll decide if I'm brave enough to face down Children of God. Perhaps it will look different now that I'm older. Perhaps I'll still feel angry and betrayed.