I’ve been sadly neglecting this blog, but have resolved to revive it, if only to keep track of my reading. The things that I write on Goodreads (an increasingly squirrelly platform; and has anyone else noticed it is giving inaccurate dates for when a book was read?) will now also go here, starting today, on the 206th anniversary of the way-too-early death of Jane Austen (even though she is, for practical purposes, immortal).

Starting with my most recent read, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (a great author name, very nice balance of syllables).

Read more: Hello Again

THE SPARROW is a novel written in the 1990s and set partly in 2014-2019 and partly about 40 years later, telling the story of a mission to another planet led by Jesuits.

Which sounds like the setup of a joke but isn’t. And why not Jesuits, I suppose? They are known for bringing the word of Jesus everywhere.

Which does raise the question of whether, if there are other planets in the universe with sentient life (the odds for it seem good when you consider just how big the universe is), what kind of gods do they have? Can the Jesuits really argue that Jesus came to Earth to rescue humanity from original sin, but you guys on Planet X ought to worship him too, because….

Or should we suppose that Jesus, taking as our Jesuit starting point the notion that Jesus literally existed/exists, also came to Planet X, in some form or another? Such questions tax my weak theological muscles, so I would probably be better off talking about the novel.

The earlier timeline tells the story of how the mission came to be: a radio telescope has picked up a transmission from a distant planet that consists of beautiful and haunting music. A group of people — among them, an astronomer, a physician, an engineer and a Jesuit priest — who are all friends become fascinated by this and somehow find themselves involved in a secret Jesuit-sponsored mission to the planet.

The other timeline is 40 years later, when the sole survivor of that mission, the priest, returns to Earth, physically and mentally shattered. (Although not actually 40 years older, because, relativity) The party that came and rescued him found him in a shocking and lurid situation (details of which are revealed only gradually) and the job of a group of priests in the later timeline is to figure out what happened. To get him to confess, basically, so he can cleanse his soul.

As the priest, Emilio Sanchez, gradually and reluctantly tells his story, the other timeline also advances and the two eventually converge.

What I liked about this book: the alien planet is very interestingly imagined. At a few points, the omniscient narrator allows us into the mind of one particular resident of the planet who will play an important role in the story, and I found this fascinating and persuasive. We also learn a little about the alien language the visitors pick up and how the language shapes how they see the world. The parts set on Earth also feel solidly detailed and imaginatively realistic, if that makes sense. I also thought the conceit of the novel was so wacky yet intriguing that I could not help but keep reading to see how it would be resolved.

What I struggled with: the pacing is a little odd. It takes a long time to get going, though the setup is mostly enjoyable. But the mysteries so intriguingly introduced get resolved at the end in what felt to me like a rush, and they are not narrated directly but instead are told at a remove. Also, the characters are introduced in the start, sometimes at great length, and then we don’t seem to learn much more about them as we go along. They spend entirely too much time for my taste bantering with each other; the author insists a bit too much on how incredible and clever they all are.

But I admired the author’s willingness to go there — to address questions of faith and doubt in a way that was earnest and searching, even at the expense of seeming unsophisticated or basic. Even though I am not a religious person, these are interesting questions. Even though I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way they are resolved here. And it was somehow fascinating to see a writer in the 1990s imagining the time we live in now.

This book also made me happy by reminding me of another book about a Christian mission to an alien planet, which I remember loving though I have forgotten many plot details: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber.