Dorene

“The Sparrow” is listed by io9 (http://io9.com) as one of “The Twenty Science Fiction Novels that Will Change Your Life”. The story follows the journey of a Jesuit priest, Emilio Sandoz, as he and a group of friends/associates he considers to be family make first contact with an alien species. This is a powerful story, challenging most notions of what extra terrestrial species would be like.

This is a second (or maybe third) read for me of “The Sparrow”. I've reread it this time with the sole purpose of being able to review it for Goodreads. I found the character of Emilio to be amazing. Here is a man who, growing up in a poverty ridden community, is “rescued” by a Jesuit priest. He is so influenced by D.W., he joins the Jesuits and becomes a priest. During the course of the book, he admits to never receiving a “calling” from God. In fact, he isn't even sure he is a total believer. As the events unfold to send him and his friends to the newly discovered planet, he begins to change his perception. That is, until misunderstandings and miscommunications on Rakhat take a tragic turn and he finds himself the victim of the unthinkable. The Sparrow is a story about faith gained and faith lost, packaged in a beautifully written science fiction setting.

This book has frightened me...it's frightened me in the same way “A Handmaid's Tale” once frightened me. It's not hard to imagine a societal breakdown such as the one portrayed in “Talents”...a breakdown where the disparity between rich and poor is so vast and the atrocities done in the name of “God” so great. The descriptions of company towns, reeducation camps, neoconservative religious political leaders...it just doesn't sound that farfetched. Butler knows how to spin a yarn in such a way as to keep me unsettled and almost despondant throughout the entire prose. I know Earthseed is supposed to be a comfort, but all I can see or feel is the desolation of the characters. As well as it was written, I was be glad to finish this and put it behind me. My emotions needed to settle down a bit.

A sequel of sorts to “The Best of All Possible Worlds”, “The Galaxy Game” seems to revolve more about the political structure and intrigue of the universe than the journeys of the actual characters. I personally tend to read for character and have a hard time following political structure and process. This book may take me a reread or two to understand completely what's happening.

I read this one for the Tempest Banned Book Group. The stories told by the students in The Freedom Writers Diary resonated with me because of all the stories I hear from my own students. Not a day goes by when I don't receive glimpses into their lives and hear things foreign to my own experiences. Reading the The Freedom Writers Diary was much like that for me. Those students face challenges and barriers to their success that I never encountered. And their teacher, through a combination of charisma, tenacity and yes, naivete, was able to make a huge difference in their lives. She stuck with this group of students for their entire high school career, seeing the vast majority of them through to graduation. A monumental feat for this particular population of students.