Rating: 
Summary: The 1-star reviews have more wit than this book
Review: The initial plot and hook to the book is appealing and intriguing; it seems most, even the bad reviews, agree on this.
However, this is destroyed by other flaws. First, the pacing of the book is terrible. Pages upon pages have no apparent purpose as they do not advance the plot, deepen the characters, add to the theme, or describe setting in any meaningful way. Halfway into the book, I found myself scanning sections (skipping the dialogue, more on that in a moment) and would read again where the writing became relevant again, only to be abruptly, and after a while, predictably, cut off with a cliff hanger. This is a good device, but occassionally. I see this as a fault of the editors, rather than the writer, but it remains a fault of the book.
Second, the dialogue is juvenile, one dimensional, whiny, and often pointless beyond saying, "This is a group of fun, irreverent, and witty individuals." Time after time, "[Name] says, '[inappropriate comment].' and everyone [whooped and laughed/booed and moaned/etc." I don't mind inappropriate comments, cussing, sexual humor, just be more creative, the laughs are too cheap and repetitive.
Third, the themes were heavy handed and pedantic, not well developed or subtly drawn out by believable characters, events, and situations. She has a clever turn of phrase here and there, but these seemed to be highlighted, obvious insertions of herself, MDR, into the text, where she did not belong.
Finally, and my largest complaint, a few characters approach 3 dimensionality - Emilio, perhaps; and the rest stand firmly in 2D. Sure, you need 2D characters in a story, but with the amount of ink contributed to Anne, for example, you would think she could have acheived more complexity than a bipolar who seems to relish making people feel at home and accepted by being opinionated and offensive.
Rating: 
Summary: Leaves you wanting more, and you should have gotten more
Review: The premise of the book is promising and intriguing, and certainly keens your interest through at least half the book. But somewhere near the middle, after the group reaches their destination, the dissapointment begins. There is little description of the flora and fauna of the alien planet, even though the reader has been chomping at the bit now for days to learn what it all looks like. Worse yet, shortly after the first contact with alien intelligent life, you are a little annoyed that the aliens' culture, living quarters, utensils, furniture, are all too familiar. They are reminiscent of native american culture, maybe pueblos or mayan. Shouldn't an alien culture be a bit more exotic, a bit more ...alien??? The writing is good, I admit, and there are marvelous passages in the book that left me thoughtful. The writing doesn't sprint at a clip but doesn't slog, either. You have the feeling that you need to read every sentence or you may miss something. Overall the character development is flat. You simply don't care about anyone except Emilio. Sofia is too perfect and too pretty and too cold. Jimmy is two-dimensional and D.W. is too much like Ross Perot. Anne approaches being a little more real, but George is barely a shadow of a man with no personality or motivation except to be Anne's faithful husband. Unfortunately because I didn't care about most of the characters I wasn't too saddened by their untimely death. And I agree with one reviewer who was disgusted by everyone's goody-two-shoed-ness.
I enjoyed reading this book, but theologically speaking, it was no Life of Pi. The religious tone was a bit heavy-handed at times. However, I like the theme that Russell claims for the book: do your best and you may still get screwed. Oh, and don't expect God to micromanage your life. He's just an observer, not a participant. The Jesuit's (esp Emilio's) fatal flaw was that they believed God had a hand in what was happening. Thus, they felt they could do no wrong, and no wrong could be done to them. Oops.
I recommend this book as good for plot, good for premise, good writing, but bad for hard-core sci fi fans or readers looking for characters to feel deeply about.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: The Sparrow is an interesting and thought provoking book that sparks many questions and provides no easy answers. In addition, the characters are, for the most part, carefully and deeply written, and so intriguing that, while I read, I felt that they were alive and making decisions. Each person provided a part of the argument I have made to God at some point when I have questioned injustice, or God's guidance, or any number of spiritual, cosmic questions addressed by this book. The style of alternating the mission scenes with the scenes of attempting to deal with the fall out on Earth was effective in keeping the reader alert and attuned to the narrative and to the events as they unfolded and also, in a strange way, allowed the reader to experience some of Emilio's disjointed memories of his traumatic journey. All in all, a very powerful spiritual journey that lingers in the mind long after the book is closed.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down.
Review: This book grabs you and throws you into the world of M.D.R's imagination. My wife read it after I was done with it and had to put it down because she became so attached to the characters and anticipated something terrible was going to happen!The Sparrow is the perfect combination of theory and imagination. You can tell M.D.R is very meticulous, focused and I longed to be a guest of Anne & George Edwards sitting alongside the entertaining & intellectual giants of tomorrow.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful read for anyone!
Review: This book is so unique! When recommending it to friends and asked what it's about, after several attempts to convey how it's NOT a science fiction book, even thought it involves space travel, I finally came up with this: It's the story of one man's struggle in his search for God. Loved it, though I'm neither a regular reader of science fiction nor religious writing. Uncategorizable!
Rating: 
Summary: Jesuits in Space...
Review: This is a solid first novel for Russell. Although at times the characterizations bottom out, the novel is at its best when Russell's earthlings ask the big questions in life. I'm anxious to read the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: An imaginative treatment of cross-cultural misunderstanding
Review: This is an imaginative and well-written "first contact" novel which vividly illustrates the limitations of good intentions in a cross-cultural encounter. Russell has created a fully realized alien culture on the planet of Rakhat, and credibly charts the escalating missteps which her human characters make in exploring it. Sponsorship of the Rakhat mission by the Jesuits is perhaps a bit implausible, but the thought-provoking parallels with the "discovery" of the Americas justify the slight suspension of disbelief. The post-mission interactions among the earthbound Jesuits who are trying to make sense of what happened are also fairly gripping. I have only two complaints about the novel. First, I was irritated by the evident authorial expectation that I should hold the character of Anne Edwards in high regard; it was (alas) not surprising at all to read in interviews that Russell had based this figure in large part on herself. Second, a "key" revelation at the end of the book smacks of cliche- Russell all but states "now the healing process can begin"- and is artificially delayed in a way which seems oddly out of character for the person who makes it. But these are minor quibbles about an otherwise terrific read!
Rating:
Summary: A bird in the hand
Review: This is one title I've known about for years. Intrigued by the book cover and the description, but somehow always steered myself away, most likely by the science fiction element. A huge fan of sci-fi in my youth I've since become immersed in other genres. But alas, ever the student of popular culture, once I heard it was being adapted for the screen I decided to give it a second look. All in all, worth the read and I am anticipating reading Children of God. The scholarship in this book is quite evident. Coherent character development and cogency of plot, less so. Russell takes on a very ambitious project here and she is a talented writer. Now for the quibbling. I had several issues with some of the book's major points. Characters are arguably the most important element of any good story. And these characters didn't seem quite real, more archetypes serving various functions within a cohesive whole. Anne in particular, bothered me. Her gung-ho, outrageously candid den-mother didn't ring true for me. She basically seemed like more of a catalyst for the less frank and more emotionally stunted characters. And what ultimately happened to her and D.W. really seemed to have been inexplicably glossed over for some reason, which I found quite odd as well as frustrating. George was barely developed at all. And certain revelations about other characters, D.W. especially, were way out of left field and generally unnecessary and pointless. But then, of course, there is Emilio. His Job-ian role as a vessel for human suffering is an unenviable one, to be sure. Ultimately I think he pulls it off by behaving in a realistic way, in a fashion anyone who suffered such pain and indignity would behave. The story hinges more on his believability as a character, and his reaction to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, than anyone else's. And toward this end, Russell triumphs. The story itself is still an engrossing read rife with possibility and absorbing detail. And it brings much to bear on what it means to be human. Or humanoid.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating intriguing novel
Review: This is the best book I have read in quite awhile. It is one of those books you want to share with others but it is hard to describe with the right complexity and character development. Mary Doria Russell makes it clear that she does not intend for there to be evil, scary villains in this book. Horrifying things occur, to be sure, but the from the point of view of Rakhat's people, equally horrifying things occur on Earth as we all bungle through this journey called life. From the life described on Rakhat, to who the explorers are, to the exploration of faith, to the delving into the human psyche, to the meaning of kindness and love and friendship - it is all in this book, and all fascinating and truly thought provoking.
Rating:
Summary: Why dumb down a book about ideas?
Review: Though the ideas behind *The Sparrow* it are intriguing and some of the social developments she describes feel as inevitable as the very best of sci-fi writing, Dr. Russell seems to have been afraid that her ideas would overwhelm the reader. The book is diluted with stereotypical secondary characters (the cruel Austrian, the stuffy Englishman, the colorful Texan, the mothering woman who--though she is a doctor married to an engineer--cannot understand the simplest concepts of physics) and lots of anachronistic pop-culture references along with puerile sexual innuendo, maddeningly repetitive explanations of the Theory of Relativity and insipid conversations. As others have noted, this was a book very much in need of an editor. Some particularly hackneyed or saccharine sections made me wince. While the novel has many good and some outstanding attributes, the quality of its writing is so uneven that I could not ignore it. Unfortunately, like many academics and science-fiction writers, Dr. Russell has wonderful ideas but doesn't express them well in writing. I very rarely find myself wanting to read a book as quickly as possible: usually the work in question is either too bad to bother with or so good that I want to savor it. Because *The Sparrow* is a little of both, I found myself rushing through it in order to get to the interesting sections. In spite of mutual good intentions on the part of both author and reader, I am sorry to say that the experience was not very enjoyable.
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