The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell (Bingo Review 8/25)

“Matthew ten, verse twenty-nine. ‘Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.’"
“But the sparrow still falls.”

When a radio transmission confirms the existence of sentient extraterrestrial life practically next door (at least at a galactic scale), a secret expedition is organized and funded by the Jesuits to send a group to travel to the planet and make contact. Among the crew of eight are Emilio Sandoz (a Jesuit priest and linguist), Anne and George Edwards (a retired couple with anthropological and engineering expertise respectively), Sofia Mendes (an AI software specialist), and Jimmy (an astrophysics technician).

The narrative is told in two interweaving streams. One recounts the story of how the above characters meet, grow to care for one another, and ultimately get involved in the expedition to Rakhat (I will say this last point stretched my suspension of disbelief just a bit… even if the Jesuits were capable of  mounting a secret interstellar expedition, I would think the candidate selection process would have been more robust for literal first contact). The other storyline is a post-mortem debriefing of Emilio, the mission’s sole survivor who has been traumatized physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and who is believed by his Jesuit brothers to be both a murderer and prostitute. Gradually, as both plotlines progress and intertwine, we learn the truth of the expedition and how, despite promising beginnings, it all turned out so very wrong.

At the core of the novel is a complex exploration of faith—both religious and otherwise—and how this shapes our decisions and our attempts to make sense of the world. The dynamic between Emilio and Anne, in particular, is excellent, as each challenges the other to grapple with big questions regarding faith, meaning, love, and fate. Each is coming from a very different perspective—Emilio as a priest trying to find and hold on to divine connection and Anne as a committed atheist—yet their mutual love and respect for one another allows them to debate these topics and press one another in a nuanced manner.

As an aside, I really appreciated the mature depiction of love and sexual attraction that is depicted among our core cohort. It makes sense, given that Jimmy is our youngest member at 26 and Anne and George are in their 60s, but it still was refreshing to see. I loved Anne’s perspective on vows and relationships when she confides in a distraught Jimmy that she has “been married at least four times, to four different men […] they’ve all been named George Edwards but, believe me, the man who is waiting for me down the hall is a whole different animal from the boy I married.” I also enjoyed how, despite their age, the Edwards get to be sexual beings with their own erotic fantasies.

Another core theme in the novel is the challenges of communication and mutual understanding, not only between humans and the inhabitants of Rakhat, but among fellow humans. Just as the expedition fails to understand the key dynamics on Rakhat and so are unable to anticipate the consequences of their actions, so too is the Jesuit brotherhood on Earth blinded by their own assumptions and biases and therefore unable to understand the truth and depths of Emilio’s trauma, at least initially.

Speaking of the inhabitants of Rakhat, I loved the thought that was put into their psychology, physiology, social structure, culture, etc. >!For example, the herding instincts and absence of property concepts among the Runa, the strict breeding programs enforced by the Jana’ata on both themselves and the Runa to avoid disastrous fluctuations in predator-prey population dynamics, the physiological consequences of easy access to food brought about by the importation of farming techniques. Russell’s anthropology and biology background was clearly on display here.!<

Finally, the ending… Despite knowing almost from page one that disaster was coming, it makes it no less visceral when it finally occurs. The ending of this book is gut-wrenching and provides no easy answers, for Emilio or the reader.

Bingo Squares: Duologies; Explorers/Rangers (NM); First Contact >!(Personally, I believe a case could be made for HM in regards to contact with the Runa, even if the eventual massacre results from the humans’ ignorance of how the Runa-Jana’ata society functioned)!<; I think a case could also be made for: Feast Your Eyes on This, >!as the central tragedy in the book is precipitated by the humans introducing the concept of farming to the Runa!<; this book also had me craving some Puerto Rican cuisine (bacalaítos fritos, asopao, tostones, sofrito and beans).