Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Sparrow

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

45 reviews

sincetheflood's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

holy fuck. holy fucking shit. easily one of the best books i've ever read and also one of the hardest to get through.

especially those last 50 pages.

good fucking lord

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decapode's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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berkeleybear's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I don’t remember the last time I read a book so quickly. The suspense really sucked me in, and the theme was really fascinating.

The whole story was very cinematic, in a way that was really easy to follow and had good cliffhangers to keep me reading.

A few annoyances:

Some pacing issues
Some dialogue was a bit too corny to be believable, both when cracking jokes or taking about science
Major plot points are rather dully revealed
(Personal gripe) author clearly has a view on theology that’s kind of fucked up

Thinking more on this:

First, I can’t believe how anticlimactic the information about his hands was. It was kind of silly how unimportant it was in Emilio’s story. Second, I disliked the lack of subtlety in the authors literary device of being “raped by God”.

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gracieniems's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

probably my favorite book. if we’re talking roman empires then this is mine. this book is love and it is loss. my heart is in it. read it.

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ovationgal's review

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adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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roaming_enn's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"The problem with atheism...is that I have no one to despise but myself. If, however, I choose to believe that God is vicious, then at least I have the solace of hating God."

I first read this in November 2023. I just finished rereading it in August 2024 as a buddy read with a friend that I know irl (but whom I haven't seen since like 2018). This is still one of the best books I have ever read. Not sure that I'd say that it's my favorite OF ALL TIME, but definitely like top 5 maybe? And still, it might be number 1! I cried with devastation in the last 20 pages, because you're a monster if you don't.

I can't believe that this lady, Mary Doria Russell, wrote SO MUCH into this all the way back in 1996! Religion plays a huge role, of course, but it's more about, why do bad things happen if God exists and is supposed to be good? She writes about 2019 of artificial intelligence and electronic touchscreen tablets, all the way back in 1996. The POC main character is disabled and traumatized. There is even a gay character in the book! Like, that's a ballsy thing to write about all the way back then! This book has a lot of representation that wouldn't have been in a book written in the 90s. Plus, the book is just a beautiful testament to human dignity, resilience, and ability for deep suffering. You should really read this book!

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