Mary Doria Russell's first novel has attracted a readership peopled,
yes, by indefatiguable fans of speculative fiction, but also by those
who have never before even considered browsing the sci-fi and fantasy
aisles. It should come as no surprise, for The Sparrow is
more than a well-crafted game of what-ifs; it is an exquisite work of
fiction whose excellence transcends genre lines. Russell's story provides
an engrossing study of human nature. The dichotomy of the human heart's
fragility and its resilience play a significant thematic role in this
astounding novel. Faith, hope and love are tested to their limits, and
the ability of the soul to survive such tests is a thing hoped for but
never assured.
In the early decades of the 21st century, a young SETI scientist is
struggling to keep his job. The Japanese managers of the radio telescope
in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, would like to cut costs by having artificial
intelligences supplant the humans who man the dish. Jimmy Quinn buys a
short reprieve with an interesting proposition: a good AI analyst will pick
his brains and construct a program to do his job, and for six months Jimmy
and his AI alter-ego will work concurrently but independently. If the AI
outperforms Jimmy, Jimmy goes, the AI stays, and the analyst and her
broker get paid three times her normal fee. If Jimmy beats the program, he
gets to keep his job and a point is proved about artificial versus human
intelligence.
Jimmy Quinn's friend, the young Jesuit priest Emilio Sandoz, suggests
the name of the AI vulture who did him. Sandoz's troubled and troubling
youth didn't seem to make him the ideal candidate for the priesthood, but
he's made a name for himself as a linguist and missionary. Ordered to
cooperate with an AI analyst who would "codify and computerize" his talent
for learning languages, Sandoz met Sophia Mendes, a cold and guarded
woman whose own painful childhood has never resolved into a contented
adulthood. Orphaned of her parents, Sephardic Jews, by ethnic cleansings
in Istanbul, Sophia Mendes chose life -- by the age of fourteen, she was
prostituting herself to survive. A French "futures broker" spotted her
on the street, gave her a home, an education and a career, but bought
her freedom. Privatized orphanages made such children more valuable in
the monetary sense; it was the new capitalist style of slavery. If Sophia
can create an AI that can do Jimmy's job better than Jimmy, she can buy
out her broker and finally become her own woman.
Emilio's granted request to return to La Perla, Puerto Rico, gives
him a chance to pay back his hometown for some of the pain his misspent
youth gave it. Emilio asks Anne and George Edwards to come to La Perla.
George is an engineer chafing at retirement and Anne is a doctor, and their
skills would be put to good use. Emilio, Anne and George became friends
when Anne took the Latin 101 class Emilio taught at John Carroll University
while being AI-vultured by Sophia Mendes. Anne and George go to La Perla;
the young astronomer Jimmy Quinn becomes a member of their little adopted
family. When Sophia Mendes arrives, the sparks still fly between the
AI analyst and the Jesuit priest, and Jimmy Quinn pratfalls headfirst
into love with the diminutive, distant, beautiful programmer.
As the friendship of this little group grows, and as Jimmy prepares
to bow gracefully away from the sparking attraction between Sophia and
Emilio, the unbelievable happens. Jimmy discovers music coming
from somewhere near Alpha Centauri, about four light years away. With
that discovery, this motley group of friends takes the first step on a
journey that will change their lives for better and for worse. The Society
for Jesus, with the wealth and missionary zeal of the Catholic Church at
its back, will undertake what no government or corporation wants to:
sponsoring a manned spacetrip to Rakhat, the source of this interstellar
music. Joined by several other Jesuits who are masters of diverse disciplines,
the circle of friends embarks on a mission that will show them amazing
joys, utter loss, and the hope that only faith can support.
Intelligent and emotional, The Sparrow is one of the most
stunning works of speculative fiction in recent years. It plainly examines
the gamut of human emotions, from the plumbless depths of lifelong love
to the most harrowing guilt that can only come from causing the life of
one you love to end. In Emilio, Russell brings to life a future Job, a
man whose beliefs are put to excruciating tests. This is not a novel for
the faint of heart; it is one for those who want more than anything for
that core of themselves to be found strong.