Technically this book is science fiction - but it is much more than that. An extraordinary book with well drawn characters and an examination of moral dilemmas. This book moved me enormously when I read it initially on its first publication.

This is a spare copy - and as this book appears on so many wishlists - I've decided to reserve it for a bookray. I'll be very interested to read others' views on this novel.

From Kirkus Reviews
"Brilliant first novel about the discovery of extraterrestrial life and the voyage of a party of Jesuit missionaries to Alpha Centauri. Russell lays down two narratives: One begins in 2059, in the aftermath of the mission; the other in 2019, when a young astronomer intercepts a transmission of haunting songs from Alpha Centauri. In the latter, a linguist and Jesuit priest named Emilio Sandoz swiftly organizes a group of Jesuits and civilian specialists to turn an asteroid into a spaceship. The ship will reach the singing planet, called Rakhat, in four years of passenger time, even though 17 years will pass on Earth. In the narrative beginning in 2059, therefore, the mission's only survivor, Sandoz himself, is only a decade older. But he is a broken man physically and spiritually... A startling portrait of an alien culture and of 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."

I'm delighted that there has been so much interest in this ray, and look forward to reading everyone's reactions to this novel.

BookRay Instructions:
1. When you receive the book, please make a journal entry so everyone knows it has safely arrived.
2. When you finish the book, please make another journal entry to share some of your thoughts - enjoyed the book, or hated it?
3. Continue the BookRay by checking this journal entry for the latest list, and sending a PM to the person after you on the list requesting their postal address.
4. Please try to send on the book as soon as you can, preferably within 4-6 weeks. I know that Real Life has a way of intruding on our reading time, so if you need more time, that's not a problem at all. Either send me a PM to let me know or write a journal entry that the book is safe with you. Thanks! :)

Participants and shipping order are....

catsalive - Australia
xoddam - Australia
gypsyrose02 - Australia *book is here...

trojanpotato - U.S.
Thursday5 - U.S
Erishkigal - U.S.
Flakes - U.S.
cinnycat - U.S.
stacyinthecity - U.S
tobysrus - U.S
MazieNH - U.S
muzette - Canada
whitehorsy - Belgium
eefa - Ireland
ScottishHoosier - Scotland

....and off into the wild!!!

*As this ray will remain open for new members, please note the shipping order may change to accommodate people's locations & shipping preferences.

Thanks for joining the ray.... and happy reading!!!

Finally getting this posted off to catsalive today. Hope you enjoy it!

Book received, thanks lmn60.

Not a book that I could read straight through, I definitely needed a few breaks from the characters and story along the way, but it is very nicely written and worth the effort. There is a lot of God stuff in here but as the main character, Emilio Sandoz, is a Jesuit priest it is to be expected. Many reviewers have referred to The Sparrow as a moral tale but I didn't find it to be so. Rather, I found it more a discussion of spirituality and humanism. The characters are well-drawn and sympathetic, the story is engrossing, and I would like to read the sequel, Children of God, where Emilio returns to Rakhat (brave soul).

A wonderful combination of science fiction and spirituality, vivid storytelling and characters to empathise with. Thanks, lmn60. I hope to give this to xoddam at tonight's meetup, if he's there.

xoddam wasn't at meetup so I handed this over to him yesterday when we met at the Archibald fountain in Hyde Park.

Collected on Thursday from catsalive, finally remembered to journal. I'm looking forward to this, because I haven't read any really good SF for a while. I'm hoping this will have something in common with Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead.

Thanks lmn60 and catsalive! Collected on Thursday, sorry for not journalling earlier. I am looking forward to this particularly, because I haven't read much good SF lately. From the plot I'd hope for something comparable to Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead, and the review likening the style to Le Guin and Clarke are encouraging :-)

Well didn't this just blow me away! I was initially irritated by the strung-out suspense of Emilio's mangled hands and his sealed lips. In the interview at the end of this edition the author mentions that she had a lot of characters to introduce 'in the first 100 pages' -- and indeed I felt like I had already read a strong character-based novel by the time the action really begins on page 96! But the slow introduction and the mood of suspense served its purpose, and, well, what a tale! I wept out loud at the appropriate moment (just once, for myself, but there was more opportunity :-). I am very impressed by this first novel.

Hey, don't skip ahead to the end! Keep reading!

Not that I have no niggles with it -- the one time 'microbes' which might have been brought to Rakhat by the travellers are mentioned, it's already much too late to avoid bringing them to the *planet*, but not too late to avoid mingling with the locals -- yet anyone who is interested, as Russell is, in the history of 'first contact' between Europeans and Native Americans in the 16th century, *must* know that by far the greatest consequence of that was the rapid devastation of the New World population (not a decimation but a reduction by perhaps 90%!) by plagues introduced from the Old. Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel tells this story rather well, though there are histories more closely focused on this American holocaust. I expected that Emilio's tragedy was of this nature, but the story has a much more interesting tale to tell. I simply cannot understand why more effort was not made to 'sterilise' the explorers, nor to study the planet more closely (eg. by robotic surveillance) before landing on it in person. Oh well, I suppose such novels as this serve as reminders to do things properly when the opportunity presents itself :-)

The 'questions for readers' at the end was also rather irritating referring to 'revisionist' history telling the darker side of the stories of people like Columbus. The worst atrocity of the colonisation of the Americas was simply the introduction of disease, which caused whole civilisations to collapse unsupported -- but this was poorly documented and its sheer scale has really only entered historians' consciousness in recent decades. Yet the many smaller atrocities -- such as the enslavement of the entire population of Hispaniola under Columbus -- are vital parts of the 'personal' histories of the Conquistadors. The only historical 'revisionism' that took place was the white-washing of these well-documented stories in the mythology taught to schoolchildren for many years.

The Society of Jesus played a vital role in the conquest of the Americas -- partly by bringing Western religion, music, science and literature with them, but largely by studying and documenting what was being destroyed before it was quite gone, and describing in detail some of the individual acts of destruction. It is fitting that Russell should have placed this mission in their hands, but somehow I would hope that if this story should ever approach reality, our first envoys will do the groundwork a little better and make the story into an uneventful one.

(compared favourably with Orson Scott Card btw -- his writing is stunning but so is this, and my worldview is much closer to Russell's than to his!)

Will be posted to gypsyrose02 within the hour; my apologies for hanging on to it so long unnecessarily.

Many many thanks for sharing this magnificent book, lmn60.

arrived today. have a few before it but will get to it asap. thanks for including me.

cant really get into this so will send it on asap.

Interrupting your scheduled journal to bring you a quote from this interview with the author:

"I had a standard metric shit-load to learn about writing fiction, and it didn't come easily."

ROFL! BTW if anyone has a copy of Children of God or of A Thread of Grace, I'll join a ring.

Now returning to your regular journal. AFAIK the book is still with gypsyrose02.

Sadly... this one seems to have stalled permanently!
Gladly.... another generous bookcrosser has offered to kickstart this ray again with another copy of the book. Thanks again, trojanpotato!!

Check out the status of the new ray HERE

making available for now. will find something special to do with it

sending this to aussietweety as an extra surprise.

Thank you so much gypsyrose02!!!

It was a fantastic suprise, since I was expecting one book (eagerly awaited) but got two!

Will begin reading it shortly...

And then send it on...