The Fall of a Sparrow

Rating:
Summary: doesn't live up to his debut
Review: After reading and enjoying "The Sixteen Pleasures," I was profoundly disappointed with the pretentious and overwritten "The Fall of the Sparrow." The main character--so obviously Hellenga himself--is a weasly fool who doesn't have the sense to toss a drunken student out of his bed. He just seems to bumble from one event to another with absolutely no sense of honor or conviction. The sex scenes are embarrassing, for they smack of mid-life crisis gone mad. The convenient way the wife takes off for a monastery is not only unbelievable, but cruel, for what mother would turn her back on her remaining children after they already suffered the loss of a beloved sibling? The shifts in point of view are annoying and seem to have no point whatsoever. One minute we are seeing things through Woody's eyes, then Sara's. Hellenga did the same thing in "The Sixteen Pleasures," but at least that was a tightly contained, beautifully written book about characters you loved and wanted to know in real life. I didn't want to know anyone from "The Fall of the Sparrow."

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing, Generous Story Telling, Mostly Good
Review: This is an expansive book, told by multiple voices, traveling across time and place (from small town Illinois, to Iran, to Bologna) with a fulcrum that's equal parts classical literature and the exploration of love and loss.
Sound like a lot? Throw in bats, guitars, the blues, Italian terrorism, museum installations, chaos, cooking and a nun or two and you get the idea of the richness and variety of this deftly written book.
The story is moving and well-woven. The central character is likable, interesting and a pleasure to watch, even as he stumbles in the wreckage of a life devastated by tragedy.
Does the author pull it off? Sort of. The ending falls a bit flat, the voices sometimes waver (and so does the prose), the well-researched details sometimes lack a deeper verisimilitude or empathetic human understanding and the explorations don't always lead anywhere. Still, it's a rich, intelligent, ambitious ride and well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: What a wonderful book. I wanted to spend more time with all of these characters, I wanted to spend more time in their world. They deal with pain and tragedy and confusion so much more thoughtfully and interestingly than I do. I learned something from them all, like you would learn from a friend's misfortune that they were able to face gracefully. This book is as nourishing as an Italian banquet with friends outside under the trees on a balmy summer evening. I'm on to read more by Robert Hellenga. Why isn't he a household name?

Rating:
Summary: An absolutely compelling story, gorgeously written
Review: I'm an insatiable reader and I open a new novel hungry for...what? Truth, beauty, an engrossing experience, a convincing, compelling world not my own that I can inhabit, thrillingly, for a short time, and return from (at least in the best of novels)with both reluctance and relief. Well, The Fall of a Sparrow IS the best of novels, a true feast. The world of Woody Woodhull, revered Classics professor at a small midwestern college and beloved and very domesticated father of two daughters on the brink of adulthood, is a complex and fragile place. As the book opens, Woody is on emotional hold. Almost seven years ago his oldest daughter Cookie died in a political bombing in Bologna, Italy. Since then his wife has turned from the family to life in a convent near Chicago. Now his daughters, too, are leaving home, one for college, the other, Sara (the book's second narrator)for her first job in Chicago. Gradually, in what Woody first interprets as his moving beyond Cookie's death, he opens his heart again--falling in love first with a guitar, and then with a student. But in opening himself once again to the life of the senses--sex, food, singing the blues--he eventually discovers he has opened himself also to a deeper understanding and appreciation of who his lost daughter was, and then, as the novel moves to Italy, to a coming to terms with how she died.

This is a very rich and complex story. Without giving away too much to potential readers, I can promise a compelling, intelligent narrative, deliciously sensuous prose, and a level of emotional involvement in the characters that is both heartbreaking and wonderfully satisfying. Irresistible...I'm just waiting for the accompanying blues soundtrack and the cookbook!

Rating:
Summary: doesn't live up to his debut
Review: After reading and enjoying "The Sixteen Pleasures," I was profoundly disappointed with the pretentious and overwritten "The Fall of the Sparrow." The main character--so obviously Hellenga himself--is a weasly fool who doesn't have the sense to toss a drunken student out of his bed. He just seems to bumble from one event to another with absolutely no sense of honor or conviction. The sex scenes are embarrassing, for they smack of mid-life crisis gone mad. The convenient way the wife takes off for a monastery is not only unbelievable, but cruel, for what mother would turn her back on her remaining children after they already suffered the loss of a beloved sibling? The shifts in point of view are annoying and seem to have no point whatsoever. One minute we are seeing things through Woody's eyes, then Sara's. Hellenga did the same thing in "The Sixteen Pleasures," but at least that was a tightly contained, beautifully written book about characters you loved and wanted to know in real life. I didn't want to know anyone from "The Fall of the Sparrow."

Rating:
Summary: Not for fans of "Sixteen Pleasures," but good nonetheless
Review: Fans of Hellenga's earlier "The Sixteen Pleasures" will likely not like this book. That just seems to be a fact. In "Pleasures" we get a sympathetic female character who's on a path of discovery about herself, her sexuality, and the world. It's a book with a broad base of appeal among book lovers. "Sparrow" is just a different kind of animal.

Hellenga seems to have a way of misdirecting his readers. In "Pleasures" one gets the idea that the whole point is a controversial rediscovered text when in fact its just a set piece.

The same is true of "Sparrow." The jacket talks about Woody's daughter dying in a terrorist attack in Italy. This certainly makes for an interesting story. Or rather, it would have. Instead, Hellenga takes us on another path as the main character, this time an older man, takes his own path of discovery. It's likely that some don't want to take the ride, especially fans "Pleasures."

Yes, this book has sex. But then, so does "Pleasures." Maybe folks are just more comfortable reading about a younger woman's maturing sexuality than they are with an older man who lusts for young and older women alike. Frankly, both books are honest and both are good (I admit "Pleasures" is by far the better read). At the risk of offending certain readers, I think the problem is more with one's views on sex and not necessarily a failing of Hellenga.

In one scene Hellenga describes a situation in which he realizes that he's hurt a female colleague his own age who's emotionally distant. Woody recognizes the lost opportunity and shows empathy, at least internally, towards the woman. In other words, this isn't just some guy out to have sex with a student. He's complicated and he has feelings.

Hellenga is a versatile author. Unfortunately, he attracts certain readers by his apparent misdirection. While he might be guilty of false advertising, he's certainly not guilty of being a bad writer. If you're open to the experience, give "Sparrow" a chance. Just be forewarned - it's not "The Sixteen Pleasures."

Rating:
Summary: Split Decision
Review: I understand both those who praise and those who damn this book.

Woody is not an easy person to like, but he also rings true. He had a stable, happy life, until his daughter is savagely killed. He is safe in his books, his family, and his job. Rather than take control of his life after the tragedy, he goes on auto-pilot. He lets his wive drift away. His other daughters are drifting away. He drifts into an affair with a student. Not honorable but understandable. He even drifts through the enevitable repercussions when the affair is discovered.

He finally takes some control and does build a new life for himself. Not a great or even greatly meaningful. But, a new life with him in some control.

His wife reacts by withdrawal. Another plausible response.

I was not as put off by the sex has some of the other readers. However, it did not ring true or particularly needed by the story. In his affair with the student, I felt as though he was looking for the sex to give meaning to the relationship. In his second affair the relation gave meaning to sex.

Rating:
Summary: very politically correct
Review: The narrator is running away from an academic position teaching the classics towards a new life as a blues singer. The type of thing that people did in the '60s. He's a somewhat passive, anesthetized character, coming across as rather indifferent to the breakup of his marriage after the death of the eldest daughter, and to the emotional welfare of his two surviving daughters. He shows a lot more emotion about the purchase of an expensive new blues guitar. There is a lot of very good descriptive writing, but in the end, it's hard to feel any interest in him or the story's outcome.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Novel by One of the Best Novelists
Review: Hellenga's second of three novels(he must have too heavy a class load at Knox) rings so true that it is hard to put down even though it is a difficult read. Exquisite passages like the one describing the purchase of a too expensive guitar are meant to be read over and over. I would guess that even a non-teacher could feel the protagonist's joy in his profession and anyone with a family can share the anguish as his disintegrates.
It has been many years since I discovered a novelist I enjoyed this much.

Rating:
Summary: The worst book I ever read
Review: As part of a book club, I forced myself to read this book to the end. It was so boring and drawn out. I would speed read/skip to look for any interesting sections. I personally found his descriptions of sex/romance practically repulsive. I haven't read a male author in awhile. It was a turn off.