THE SPARROW by Mary Doria Russell

Finished Su 5/14/17   I ordered this book on the recommendation of one of the members in the Contemporary Book Club. I ordered it at the April, 2017 meeting from Amazon.

Told in flashbacks. Father Emilio Sandoz is the only survivor of a Jesuit mission to the planet Rakhat in the Alpha Centauri galaxy. Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico heard 'singing' from 'the stars'.

Four Jesuit priests
A young astronomer
An elderly husband and wife; engineer/ physician
Female ex-child prostitute, 'indentured' Computer expert. A 'vulture'- If you want to learn all a person knows, she will talk with the person and extract the information.

Priests-
DW Yarbrough- Captain of the mission. Ugly, gay, witty.
Emilio Sandoz- He is the primary storyline, and only human survivor of the mission. Expert linguist.
Marc Robichaux- artist
Alan Pace- musician


Anne and George Edwards- In their sixties and Liberal Do Gooders. Very moral yet bristle at the very idea that only God could create a moral universe. 'Don't need to be scared or threatened into doing the right thing'.
Jimmy Quinn- He is a very tall astronomer who first heard the 'singing from the skies'.
Sofia Mendes- The Jesuits bought out her contract so that she could be a part of the mission.

Interesting idea-
The homeless children problem is taken care of through Privatization. Wealthy patrons sponsor children's education and then take a percentage of their future wages.

'Leonardo Da Vinci is probably the last human who had  clear grasp of all the technology that he used'.

The two species of life on the Varakhai planet (Rakhat)
Runa- This species are bred for food. They are like pets. They only exist to prevent the ecosystem from going out of balance. This is the species that the humans meet first.

Jana'ata- The dominant species. When the humans introduce crop cultivation they thought that they would help the Runa, but it caused a genocide. Sandoz feels responsible for this. He also was used as a prostitute. Not entirely for sex, but kind of a 'gift'. His hands are destroyed, but the aliens were trying to make him beautiful.

Review-
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-679-45150-1

wikipedia-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sparrow_(novel)