The Sparrow

This book has made it onto my Favorites shelf, even though the first time I tried reading it I had to stop because it exacerbated my incipient depression too badly. The second attempt, several years later, went better, and although it does not have a “happy ending” at all, there is enough hope to see one through.

I spent much of the book wanting to yell at Fr. Emilio for his lousy, Dollar Store theology and puerile theodicy. I was happy to see his growth (and glad to find out that the author knew what she was talking about after all!). Even though this was one of the most painful books I've been able to read, with its merciless exploration of pain in all its forms, I recommend it to anyone who is trying to figure out how to make sense of it all.