dlxfuentes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
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? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Sexual assault and Trafficking
hayoho's review
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Rape, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, and Trafficking
Moderate: Murder
emiliosandoz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ok a lot of thoughts about the sparrow
for anyone who doesn’t know uhhh huge r*pe tw
ALSO A LOT OF SPOILERS!!!
i don’t think i can quite articulate to anyone, even my fiancee, what this book means to me. i really don’t.
how can i, a puerto rican interested in religion and space and constantly searching for g-d, who was viciously abused growing up, who spent hours sitting in front of my window and screaming at g-d, begging to know why he hated me or for answers as to why this was happening to me, explain to anyone who hasn’t been trafficked, who hasn’t been abused, what this book could possibly mean to someone like me??
they used me hard, john. they used me hard.
sometimes…sometimes there was an audience.
face it. tell us.
i was not a prostitute.
then at least i have the solace of hating g-d.
would you like to know precisely how dark the night of the soul can get?
as you see: the whore sleeps badly.
i was naked before g-d and i was raped.
like i can’t explain it. how can i articulate that emilio sandoz is everything i am on a page? the only difference between the two of us is he was abused by aliens and i was abused by my parents. the only difference is he’s a man and i’m not. the only difference is he’s older than me. the only difference is he’s a priest.
and those are THE ONLY differences.
how many times have i thought to myself well if i was meant for all the good that’s happened to me, then i have to have been meant for all the terrible too? and how many times have i thought to myself the equivalent of “but it was my body. it was my blood. and it was my love.” how many times have i hated g-d and loved him all over again and hated him again and….
idk man. i can’t articulate it. i just can’t. because i can’t show you how many times i’ve cried reading this book. i can’t show you my whole life because we haven’t invented memory recall display technology (or whatever it would be called) yet.
this is the best way i can describe any of it and i KNOW even this isn’t good enough.
i guess the only thing i could do is write down every single line from the book that made me scream on the inside. but if i did that we’d be here all day.
i mean…idk it’s the fact that emilio is puerto rican like i am. like THAT is what mostly messes with me. that and the fact he reacts to trauma the EXACT same way i do. and also his pride and inability to admit when he’s suffering.
HIS INTEREST IN LANGUAGES
THE WAY HE JOKES.
and then the trauma too.
he was used. he was used hard. he says that himself verbatim. (they used me, john. they used me hard.) and wow hi i was trafficked. i’m PERMANENTLY DISABLED because of what my father let those men do to me. so yeah it’s really fucking hard not to compare myself to emilio sandoz when humans are literally child sized on rakhat. not just child sized: they’re the size of an eight year old child. i was seven, okay? i was seven.
oh and then there’s the fact i literally have spent YEARS dESPISING g-d bc of what he put me through. do you want to know how many times i literally was on my knees in front of my bedroom window screaming and begging g-d to tell me why he was doing this to me, to tell me why he hated me. (do you want more? would you like to know precisely how dark the night of the soul can get?)
g-d’s whore. yeah. (as you see: the whore sleeps badly)
oh and the fact that emilio really wants to fucking be dead and against all odds he’s survived. like moi. (this will kill me. this will kill me and then i can stop trying to understand)
there’s also the fact my own father beat me and my mother just let it happen. she let that and everything else happen. kind of like emilio’s mother with his father.
and emilio being incapable of saying the word until forced to it. (i was not a prostitute. no you weren’t, what were you?) the fact he can’t say that word and that i literally can’t even think it now and that i had to astrick it out at the beginning of this post…
see there’s a reason why i can’t be normal about this book. it’s not just the fact that i love emilio and my heart breaks for him. it’s the fact that i AM him. THAT’S what fucks me up so much.
i AM emilio sandoz.
i know EXACTLY how he feels. i’ve reacted EXACTLY how he has. do you want to know how many times i’ve woken up yelping at night? my own fiancee can tell you. it happens at LEAST once a week.
would you like to know precisely how dark the night of the soul can get?
i can’t fucking handle it, okay? i literally can not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cannibalism, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Grief, Death, and Sexual assault
arayo's review
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, Rape, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and Cannibalism
Minor: Pregnancy and Infertility
brenna_kcw's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this book. I think it is a fascinating reflection on the concept of “first contact” with a new culture or species, and a beautiful reflection on God and faith. However, knowing that the author saw this book in some sense as a way to bring empathy to the colonizers and conquistadors of humanities past, I don’t find it adequately recognizes their abject cruelty towards the people they met. It is possible to have misunderstandings but the enslavement and genocide of many indigenous people’s was intentional by the people who literally stole them away in ships to be sold in Europe. Those actions can not be misconstrued as anything other than unnecessary and unprecedented cruelty, so I’m still unsure what Russell really hoped to achieve.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, War, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Murder, Vomit, Sexual assault, Body horror, Torture, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Vomit, Blood, Death of parent, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Colonisation
The book includes a lot of descriptions of a character with intense and ongoing mental and physical illness including vomiting, body horror/medical consent stuff, which would be more difficult for some audiences. There is a VERY explicit although I wouldn’t say gratuitous description of rape. It centers the fear and horror of rape which is better than the often creepy sexualisation of rape, but it’s really awful to read so pls be aware, it’s within the last 2 chapters that any graphic description is made, the rest is vague.tauboi's review
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
tense
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual content, and Rape
vespasiana's review
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Medical content, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Body horror, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, and Rape
Minor: Trafficking and Child death
While all the above things do happen in the book, both on and off screen, the bulk of the plot is about the “before” and “after”. Very little of the extreme or moderate stuff is shown for long, but is referenced very frequently in the “after” sections as something the main character is dealing from the fallout of.nouveau's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, and Trafficking
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Pregnancy
conqueringsquid's review
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Rape, Blood, Chronic illness, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
smallredboy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
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? No
5.0
This is one of those novels that as soon as you finish reading them you will know they will stick with you for a long, long time. I don't even know how to say anything that I want to say. But incredible book. Read it.
Edit a few days after this fact: This is a complex book. It's very much Jewish, even when it deals largely with Jesuits, as it gives you a thousand questions about God (including the good ol' "if God exists, why do horrible things happen?" question) but provides exactly zero answers (maybe half an answer), which is very much a Jewish thing to do. The characters are alive, almost too alive, enough for the foregone conclusion to hurt even before it happens. The way it deals with trauma (mental, physical and sexual) is realistic and cathartic, believable; I feel for Emilio deeply. While I don't know much about science, most of it felt pretty realistic, and I absolutely adored the focus on anthropology and linguistics, as that I understand some more of. The non-linear narrative makes it better, in my opinion; the sinking dread having an understanding of what's going to happen while hope is still high in the air is incredible.
It's a very heavy book, with a thousand trigger warnings to be given. But if you can read it, I really do recommend it.
Edit a few days after this fact: This is a complex book. It's very much Jewish, even when it deals largely with Jesuits, as it gives you a thousand questions about God (including the good ol' "if God exists, why do horrible things happen?" question) but provides exactly zero answers (maybe half an answer), which is very much a Jewish thing to do. The characters are alive, almost too alive, enough for the foregone conclusion to hurt even before it happens. The way it deals with trauma (mental, physical and sexual) is realistic and cathartic, believable; I feel for Emilio deeply. While I don't know much about science, most of it felt pretty realistic, and I absolutely adored the focus on anthropology and linguistics, as that I understand some more of. The non-linear narrative makes it better, in my opinion; the sinking dread having an understanding of what's going to happen while hope is still high in the air is incredible.
It's a very heavy book, with a thousand trigger warnings to be given. But if you can read it, I really do recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: War