Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievably Bad
Review: Fall of a Sparrow is an unbelievably bad book. First, the main theme is that serial sex affairs are a crucial response to grief. (This is the experience of the book's two main characters.) Second, the book is just plain badly written. The author often repeats virtually the same narrative in two parts of the book. This is either an example of sloppy editing or what the author thinks to be good writing. In either event, it was an annoying testament to the generally low quality of the writing. My advice: Don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: THE FALL OF A SPARROW: Am up to page 147, and am greatly disappointed. I should have studied, and retained, all classical literature, I guess. The descriptions of music were so incomplete :"D was a great key. G was too", "Left the low d open like a drone of a bagpipe"...the latter wasn't bad, but "a great key"? Why? Describe it to me so that I can close my eyes and HEAR the music. I won't comment on what bothers me about content, it would take too long. I do object terribly when the editor is sloppy as to let a flagrant error pass: When Woodhouse is talking to the Dean, he says he has voted for "Kennedy, Carter, Mondale and Dukakis". This scene takes place in 1986, right? (I looked back and forth to see if I missed something). And Dukakis ran in 1988. Bad. I enjoyed the authors' first book, not entirely, but there were many interesting new things about books, it was well paced, and it took a nice turn. I expected more out of this one.
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't care about the characters or the outcome...
Review: Initially I found the book somewhat engrossing and entertaining. However, the author divides the book into two sections, and there is a real disparity between part 1 and part 2. Part 1 has a real story, with dialog and a plot that seems to move along, albeit slowly...I was involved with the characters, interested in their lives, anxious to see what would happen next. However, that interest dissipated in part 2. Characters I had met in the first part seemed to be gone ...(Turi); new characters were relatively undeveloped (Gabriella). As a result, by the end I really did not care what happened to the characters, or how things "turned out". Good thing, as there did not appear to be a real resolution! A bit of a disappointment to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Unlike 16 Pleasures, Hellenga's FALL doesn't illicit emotion
Review: I was disappointed in Hellenga's new venture. The emotions of anger, hurt, love, pain, fear are written about and not felt. Whether he's caught by the school, his own daughters, or the husband/father of a lover, he seems cooly detached from the experience. Events seem to happen as though from a dream. Perhaps that is his intent. His Woody walks through life seemingly incapable of decision-making in contrast to the women in this novel. I wanted to feel emotions from this horrific act of terrorism and the pains of the families division.
Rating:
Summary: A little hard to swallow
Review: I understand that Robert Hellenga's The Fall of a Sparrow is a novel of ideas and accept that the characters' job, in some instances, was to convey those ideas at the risk of seeming unrealistic. However, throughout this book, I kept feeling as though I had stepped into Robert Hellenga's own mid-life fantasies. Examples are Woody's seduction by Turi, the way the situation surrounding his employment and rehiring played out, the forgiveness of Alireza for Woody's having sex with Alison, etc. This extended to other relationships as well, such as the meeting and subsequent friendship between Sara and Richard's wife, Sally. For this kind of suspension of disbelief to happen once or twice in a novel to make a point or introduce an idea is fine, I just thought that this novel had the sort of yucky feel of walking through someone else's fantasy life.
Rating: 
Summary: Hellenga hits one out of the park.
Review: There's something for everyone in "The Fall of a Sparrow"... The Blues, bats,Italian recipes, The Classics,lots of foreign languages, a good dog, tasty sex, terrorism, death, travel, (Bologna should get a few extra rooms ready for the onslaught), and an irresistible philosopher/ father protagonist. (It's fun to imagine who might play him in the inevitable movie.) I had a few problems with The Feminists, but not enough to keep me from turning the pages. Bravo.
Rating:
Summary: How a noble theme can be profaned.
Review: The power of love to heal is indeed a noble theme which has been told and retold countless times. Mr. Helenga does use this as his source of inspiration, it seems, but tacks onto it unnecessarily graphic sexual experiences which add nothing to the content or development of his story. The most disturbing element of their inclusion was not that they were included. Sexual intimacy is a powerful element of the love relationship. However, it was disturbing that Mr. Helenga felt it necessary to be so anatomically detailed and specific. There have been other modern works which touched upon similar ideas, e.g. 'Our Town' or 'The Human Comedy'. Love and death were powerfully connected in these. What they lacked were lurid details deriving from the motto:"Sex sells!"
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book!
Review: I'm a Knox student who has had writing classes with Hellenga and with this novel he's proven that he can do what he teaches in class. A must-read, whether you attend Knox or not!!!
Rating:
Summary: colorful and textured, but strangely skittish as well
Review: I became interested in this book after hearing the NPR review on "All Things Considered" recently. The reviewer described this book as packing a walloping emotional punch, based, as it was, on the themes of loss, particularly that of a parent losing a child, and the subsequent disintigration of a family. Perhaps the author tried to pack too much into the plotline; the novel teems with themes competing for the reader's attention; there are sibling rivalries, divorce dynamics, reflections on death, desire, yearning, food, jealousy, political correctness, collegiate life, books, language, vengeance, friendship, aging, travel, the bonds of marriage and its temptations, and somewhere in the mix I didn't get that emotional knockout punch I expected. In contrast, the final chapter of Kundera's "Unbearable Lightness Of Being" was shattering for me, and even the muted ruminations of Richard Ford's Frank Bascombe over his dead child in "The Sportswrite! r" were more effecting. However, like Frank Bascombe, "Woody" in "Fall of A Sparrow" is an unassuming but ingratiating character, one we wish well of, and his daughters are portrayed as sympathetic and interesting, even though we wish we knew them better. Hellenga's a professor and he writes like one, sometimes seeming a little self-conscious in his characterization of his protagonist. These are the moments when Woody feels like an author's conceit, to me. Hellenga is generous with Greek, Italian and even Latin references, but only occasionaly offers translations; I don't object to different modes of expression in a single work ("Ulysses" wouldn't be the same without it) but Professor Woody seems to operate in a world where everyone gets his references and allusions, especially his children, who are written as eternally precocious; most of us, however educated, however often we operate in educated circles, don't have that luxury. I think t! his wouldn't be so noticeable had he written Woody in the f! irst person just as he wrote his daughter Sara; contrast the feel of the prose in "Fall of A Sparrow" with Robertson Davies' "The Rebel Angels", a far superior novel of academia and the academic life.) To sum up, this book is engaging, well written, with colorful characters who are psychologically true; occasionally there are some terrific insights offered, but the overall effect is that which leaves a lighter aftertaste than its themes would suggest.
Rating:
Summary: Take a deep breath and keep reading until you finish.
Review: This is a lucious book. I couldn't put it down. It reminds one of how surprising life really is.
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