Several of you have written to say that, based on my recommendation, you've read The Sparrow. Most of you have also mentioned that you found it depressing. Well, yeah, that's probably true. The second book, Children of God sets what happened in The Sparrow into a different context, but CoG is not nearly as well written. If you pick it up, feel free to skip the chapters that are clearly not relevant to the plot from the first book (you'll know what I mean if you start reading the book).
Spoiler Alert
If you don't feel like wading through CoG then let me just say that it turns out that everything Emilio did and said on the alien planet was misinterpreted. As strange as it seems, they thought they were honoring him, and doing him big favors. Ah, miscommunication, ain't it great?!?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Mr. Ginger,
I require our Philosophy intro students to watch the movie Shadowlands (about CS Lewis and his dying wife) to introduce them to theodicy. When they inevitably complain about its sad ending I reply along the lines of "Let me know when you find a movie that is light and chipper and still deals seriously with theodicy." The same can be said for The Sparrow.
I read your spoiler on CoG. It sounds like she tries to undercut the harsh ending of the first book. Why do that? What makes the first book so good is that it is suffocatingly tragic. (It reminds me of the beginnig of Aliens III where the space ship crashes and the little girl is dead. I mean, after knowing that, why watch Aliens again, knowing that she dies right after the closing credits)??!!??!
sorry for the rant.....
Bobby,
Of course you realize that CSL wrote a historic science fiction series...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Trilogy
Taran,
Shadowlands is excellent on a number of levels. I'd love to sit in on the class discussion.
As for CoG, I agree that she does, to some degree, undercut the ending of the previous book. Yet, this also raises other interesting questions. Why, for example, would God put Emilio in this situation? Why would God allow this miscommunication? Why do good intentions sometimes turn out so bad?
Post a Comment