The Sparrow
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Narrated by:
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David Colacci
About this listen
A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: To make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end.
©2008 Mary Doria Russell (P)2008 Brilliance AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“A startling, engrossing, and moral work of fiction.” (The New York Times Book Review)
“Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“Powerful...The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
Featured Article: The best audiobooks about aliens for curious humans
Throughout the history of storytelling, we humans have been curious about the possibility of worlds beyond Earth and its inhabitants. Thanks to our endless fascination with extraterrestrial life, there is a mountain of literature, from novels to memoirs, exploring the potential outcomes of interacting with creatures from other planets. Without further ado, here are 20 of our favorite listens about alien life.
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- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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After America’s Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement. According to their Bill of Life, human life may not be terminated from the moment of conception until the age of thirteen. But between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, the child may be gotten rid of by their parent through a process called “unwinding.”
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Chilling, Scary, Difficult to Read
- By Joe on 11-11-20
By: Neal Shusterman
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The World We Found
- By: Thrity Umrigar
- Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author and PEN and Beyond Margins Award finalist Thrity Umrigar’s acclaimed novels “resonate with rich prose and vibrant depictions of India” ( Booklist). In The World We Found, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta - once friends at the University of Bombay - reconnect 30 years later when Armaiti is diagnosed with cancer. Coming together, all four women are forced to reexamine their lives.
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Good story but performance not so much!
- By Alisha on 09-13-15
By: Thrity Umrigar
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Scythe
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
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A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: Humanity has conquered all those things and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life - and they are commanded to do so in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe - a role that neither wants. These teens must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
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Teenage Thumbs up
- By Lila R on 04-01-17
By: Neal Shusterman
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The Stranger House
- By: Reginald Hill
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
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For years, the Stranger House has stood in the village of Illthwaite, offering refuge to travellers. People like Sam, a brilliant young mathematician, who believes that anything that can't be explained by maths isn't worth explaining. And Miguel, a historian running from a priests' seminary, who sees ghosts. Sam is an experienced young woman, Miguel a 26-year-old virgin.
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an OK read
- By Jen Terry on 01-18-08
By: Reginald Hill
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Shifting Love
- The Foundation, Book 1
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- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
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Maggie O'Shea knows that because of her dark past, there's no place for love in her life. She owns a successful store in Philadelphia, where she uses her special gifts to help the people she meets. Though this doesn't fulfill her, she is content. Most of the time.
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interesting and thought provoking
- By Kathy on 10-30-12
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The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination
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Mad scientists have never had it so tough. In super-hero comics, graphic novels, films, TV series, video games, and even works of what may be fiction, they are besieged by those who stand against them, devoid of sympathy for their irrational, megalomaniacal impulses to rule, destroy, or otherwise dominate the world as we know it. It’s just not fair. So those of us who are so twisted and sick that we love mad scientists have created this guide.
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HAND DANCING
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-30-15
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Windhaven
- By: Lisa Tuttle, George R.R. Martin
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
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The planet of Windhaven was not originally a home to humans, but it became one following the crash of a colony starship. It is a world of small islands, harsh weather, and monster-infested seas. Communication among the scattered settlements was virtually impossible until the discovery that, thanks to light gravity and a dense atmosphere, humans were able to fly with the aid of metal wings made of bits of the cannibalized spaceship.
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A promising early Martin work
- By Ryan on 12-04-12
By: Lisa Tuttle, and others
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Me Without You
- By: Kelly Rimmer
- Narrated by: Federay Holmes
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
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If you enjoyed Me Before You by JoJo Moyes, One Day by David Nicholls, or The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, then make time for Kelly Rimmer's stunning, heartbreaking new audiobook, Me Without You.A story of how love can break our hearts - and heal them. A year ago I met the love of my life. For two people who didn't believe in love at first sight, we came pretty close....
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Good Story; Too detailed
- By Seelake4 on 06-17-16
By: Kelly Rimmer
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Man Plus
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Overall
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Roger Torraway watched in horror as the monster lurched, toppled over and died. Project Man Plus had gone suddenly and drastically wrong. The race to colonize Mars was too important, too costly, and America was already too committed, for plans to be scrapped. They would have to make a new Martian. And Roger Torraway was it, candidate for the endless surgery, operation after painful operation, that would enable him to survive on that faraway planet.
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More timely now than ever
- By Sandy R on 06-28-10
By: Frederik Pohl
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What listeners say about The Sparrow
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Howard
- 05-17-14
An interesting take on higher powers.
I listened to The Sparrow and immediately moved on to The Children of God. Enjoyed listening to both and following the adventure into the discovery of other intelligent live in the solar system. Many well developed and memorable characters with dialog which propelled the story forward to discover a world beyond our own. It has many political and societal issues woven into the story, if you pay close enough attention to catch the author’s attempts to make statements about the church, capitalism, politics, belief in a higher power, slavery and population control. Some of the characters switch from good to bad and back several times during each book. These are novels that can make you listen for a while and then think about how this effects our present, our past and our future, for just as long. I found myself often stopping to contemplate these issues before continuing on with the story. If you have two credits and want several hours of intelligent novels, by all means get The Sparrow and The Children of God. (please note, you don’t need to get COG, but you really must start with The Sparrow. I don’t think you would understand near as much of COG without first listening to The Sparrow.)
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9 people found this helpful
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- R. O'Connor
- 01-08-15
I didn't want it to end...
MDR has a gift for setting big theological questions in the context of vibrant characters who came to life with deep humanity as she wove personal journeys into THE quest.
Her eye for detail & her ear for speech both alien & human made her book rich indeed
The narrator added color while not inserting himself...a truly humble blessing
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4 people found this helpful
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- sabitat
- 11-14-15
Haunting
3yrs after listening to it, I still find the thought of this book unsettling, yet I can't help but keep coming back to it. This book has made me laugh and cry...
Who knew sci-fi and religion could come together so well without feeling forced?!
I'm glad someone told me about this book. It has become one of my favorite pieces.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Vicki Schmidt
- 08-29-16
Struggled a long time, but finished
Lots of questions many have asked over the years, and many more that are explored. In the end, I'm glad I stuck it out, but it was the last hour where everything happened.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Nessy Alford
- 11-05-15
Left me thinking
Where does The Sparrow rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
One of the better written stories so far, very thought-provoking. A lot of unpredictable moments.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, it started very slow I was actually thinking about dropping it. But then it picked up and kept looking for chores to do and places to go just so that I can listened to it more.
Any additional comments?
I would recommend it to a friend that has patience to sit through the first 1/3 to get to the gem it is.
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- Ron Lubovich
- 03-29-13
A modern SF classic with moral complexity
What did you like best about this story?
I liked how this tale of first contact went incredibly wrong due to human nature, our inability to understand something truly alien to our perspective. Too often in SF, alien species end up being anthropomorphic projections of human expectation. The worldbuilding is complex and believable. The characters are real people whose suffering has meaning, and boy do they suffer. It is tragedy porn, to a certain extent, like Connie Willis' novels, but the best literature often falls in this category. The author is unafraid of moral complexity, something usually lacking in genre fiction where the villains are usually clearly evil and the heroes' virtue outshines all the darkness. This novel shows the folly of the arrogance of even the most benevolent of our species.
What does David Colacci bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He accentuates the tension of the protagonist exquisitely.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
AMC is thinking of making a TV show out of this.
"Most depressingly brilliant SF show ever."
"It's like John Carter of Mars, but with interspecial rape."
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1 person found this helpful
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- Nicole
- 11-10-17
Intelligent Author
So many unlikely, yet somehow likely, topics all in one plot. I really love a good Sci-Fi story and Russell weaves a brilliant one! ~ Highly Recommend ~
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- Jeffrey
- 07-05-16
Good read
I really enjoyed this book. It dealt with religion as an important part but not overwhelming part. I enjoyed how it was also very much about science and discovery. My only complaints are the characters were not amazing and are used more as vehicles for the conversations and the books ends sort of abruptly.
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- Phil Saunders
- 11-26-17
Deeply Layered Magic
prepare to see the Catholic Church as you have never imagined it and perhaps even find some compassion for it
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- Maureen Walsh
- 06-27-21
Great Read
This was such a devastating and beautiful book. I can easily see it being picked up by netflix as a limited series!
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