Rating: 
Summary: A powerful, memorable read
Review: I just returned from a one-week beach vacation and Robert Hellenga's marvelous book was my companion for the week. I finished it on the plane coming home, with the tears running down my face. Like every great novel , it introduced me to memorable characters and it made me think hard about important issues: about terrorism, death, marriage, sex, and most especially about the relationships between parents and children. As the father of a daughter just about to be launched into the world and an unknowable future, I found it personally relevant.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most fortunate reading experiences of my life
Review: This masterfully told novel was my constant companion and best friend in the months that followed the accidental death of my twenty-four year old son. The book was given to me by a man who had read my own novel, and who saw some similarities in the blending of ancient and modern perspectives. Little did this man realize that "The Fall of a Sparrow" would come to mean much much more to me than his flattering perception of literary affinity. In fact, Hellenga's heartfelt wisdom was a lifeline that helped initiate whatever is positive in my life since that time. I only wonder at the strength and motivation this writer had which would lead him to create, and therefore live with, the very difficult circumstances he so realistically portrayed. I hope that the author will see this review and know of the gratitude I am yet feeling four years later for his profoundly effective, nearly-perfect, ultimately life-affirming story.
Rating: 
Summary: Making sense out of senseless violence
Review: The Sixteen Pleasures was wonderful and that made this book even more disappointing. A man is haunted by his daughter's murder - a terrorist bombing of an Italian railway station that killed her with many others during a Christmas vacation. The perpetrators are finally brought to trial and he goes to see justice (?) done. Great potential story that drowns in morose self-pity.The Fall of a Sparrow opens in Italy, under siege by terror. A Midwestern family is one if terror's victims, their daughter slaughtered in an rail station bombing. His life at home falling apart, her father, Woody, goes to Italy to witness the the trial of his daughter's killers --- which doesn't quite go the way he expected. Woody is looking for the sense behind the senseless -- not just his daughter's murder but also the collapse of his marriage. He hopes to find answers in Italy, but only finds more uncertainty. This book had great potential and Hellenga proved with The Sixteen Pleasures that he has the art, but this time it was Hellenga, not the reader who was seduced by his free-ranging imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Quite simply...not a good book
Review: The only reason I didn't give this 1 star is that there is some good dialogue and some memorable lines; and the writing technique itself is quite good. However, the book as a whole is not good. First of all, I don't know who would sympathize with the main character Woody. He's a snobbish, academic type who seems only conerned with himself. You don't get the idea he is really that riveted by his daughter's tragic death and he seems to care less that his wife of 30 years has left him and his family. The book jacket makes it sound like the plot revolves around a terrorist bombing in Italy, but the whole first 60% of the book is mostly just Woody fumbling from one unresolved scene to the next. Also, the other characters don't work either: an Iranian millionaire who doesn't seem to mind that much that Woody slept with his daughter and his wife...a horny and vindictive Dean...gimme a break! I get the feeling Hellenga just wanted to write a book about a midwestern guy in his 50's going through a mid-life crisis, but knowing that would be boring and is already overdone, he tried to set it against another external event. It doesn't work. By the end of the book when Woody is Italy and the plot finally comes to the terrorist trial, your left wondering if you really even care anymore about what happens. Disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Learning From Fiction
Review: Robert Hellenga is one of the few male writers who can speak in the voice of a woman and be believable. "Fall of a Sparrow'' is a beautiful account of a professor and his relationships: with his wife, his daughters, his lover and lover's daughter. While reading Hellenga, one is likely to learn about philosophy, humanities, music, theology and many other interesting subjects.
I find his characters and perspective fascinating, his views progressive and his writing truly delightful. "Fall of a Sparrow'' is so rich that it's a heartfelt, heartwarming and heart-wrenching read.
Rating: 
Summary: Hellenga writes a deep novel concerning terrorism
Review: Like in varying degrees to Tim O'Brien's "Tomcat in Love", Richard Russo's "Straight Man" or Michael Chabon's "Wonder Boys", this novel tackles the apparently active sex life and kooky habits of college professors. Only author Robert Hellenga decides to paint with much richer hues, giving the reader a solid and interesting introduction to Greek literature, Italy, a postmodern language and philosophy debate on the most modern of topics -- terrorism -- and bottomlessly deep character development. Hellenga, while not suprisingly a professor, writes about what he knows and manages to surpass the usual dark comedy hijinks that spoil some of his colleagues better-known works. "The Fall of the Sparrow" stays far afield from the cliches and other verities that so often threaten the topics that he chooses to muse about -- relationships between teachers and students, bureaucratical incompetence at colleges, among others -- and somehow turns in something thought-provoking and with believable characters. Hellenga switches the narrator from the hub character, Professor Alan Woodhull, to Woodhull's daughter, Sarah, quite deftly, and he has gotten into the kitchen of both father and daughter in a way that few authors have the ability to do. Robert owes a great deal of gratitude to his wife, or female muse. The sex in the book, at least the writing about sex, is noticeable, and that is problematic, considering the reader never asked for Hellenga to describe as much or want to imagine him writing about such. But the book is by no means pornographic -- it is simply really darn good.
Rating:
Summary: Almost disturbingly resonant
Review: What impressed me most about this book was how well the author seems to understand the long-range effects of an untimely death on a family. This understanding is apparent in other aspects of the book as well, especially in portions of the book told from the viewpoint of the younger sister. The story is not a simple tale of emergence from grief, but rather an exploration of cause and effect, and how events can change not only a person's actions, but also her view of life as a whole. The events in this book do not seem 'cleaned up' or edited to create a perfect novel, but rather seem to be the result of the author's attempt to create a completeness to the work. I enjoyed this book immensely, and it is one of very few books that can create such a deep sense of emotion in me.
Rating:
Summary: Just as good as Sixteen Pleasures! Better!
Review: I read Sixteen Pleasures several years ago, right after it was originally published and was instrumental in having a reading group also read it. We all enjoyed it thoroughly. Now with "The Fall of a Sparrow" - I thought Hellenga couldn't possibly match the interest level and history found in his prior book, well he's done it! Another facinating book, filled with family reactions to a horrible crisis that no one should have to suffer through. Everyone in this book handles this crisis in a different manner - and that is interesting to experience through Hellenga's eyes and words.
Rating: 
Summary: What about the end?
Review: ...sometimes I felt that the novel was written by twodifferent people. I particularly liked the scenes involving the memories of Cookie. I found those very poignant. I also enjoyed the food talk and the politics of Italy and most satisfying were the author's allusions to Homer. What I don't understand at all is the end which I found to be in poor taste. END
Rating:
Summary: Sex
Review: Wow. I feel compelled to say in Mr. Helenga's defense--There is everso much more to this book than sex. I couldn't help but notice thatsex seemed to be a stumbling block for many readers. But there is much less sex in this book than there are sumptuous Italian recipes or gorgeous discriptions of blues guitars. And if you argue that there is a difference I think you miss the point. This is a story about a man and his family, each in their own way, coming back to life--in all its untidy complexity. I was very happy that Mr. Helenga didn't scrimp on the honest detail. I look forward to his next book.
|
