Visions of the Future, Courtesy of Russell

Wow. Okay, so I just stayed up an extra 2 and a half hours to finish the book and I'm not sure where to start on this post but I felt I should write it while I had it all in my head, undisturbed by sleep or papers.
First, I read a lot. I do. Constantly. I'm fascinated by the written word and have been known to absorb books like water. I'm drawn into the worlds books create and find myself ruminating on them after I'm done with the book, unconsciously drawing it out, thinking up extensions. Despite this, I think I maintain some kind of detachment to what I read, I'm rarely really moved to tears by something I've read. Books can be beautiful, conclusions satisfying and joyous and I can cheer for the characters, but tears? Not really my thing. However, I have to admit, around 388, I teared up and I'm not going to wave it away as being tired or allergies; I'm pretty sure I was moved. Perhaps it is the intersection of such a degradation that is bad enough on Earth with the removal to a world that far away, with such an alien race and a lack of complete understanding of the language and culture, having lost all of your friends, some you've loved for decades. And for it to happen to such a religious man, although he doubted he'd changed and reached true belief, is much worse because we hold them in such high esteem and they make such sacrifices for a purpose beyond our mortal coil, so to speak. Perhaps it is worse that you (the reader) felt like things were building up to such a betrayal by Supaari, what with the unease I felt when in Supaari's point of view and the knowledge that something had happened to Emilio, though details were hazy.
Second, as a Roman Catholic this book was doubly fascinating to me due to the idea of Jesuits in space. Kind of funny, all things considered, but they've always been the academic, pioneering sort so I suppose I could see it happening. By the way, pg. 16, for all the non-Catholics, we totally call some priests "Father What-A-Waste", and there's a seminarian at my church at home who really is one. Normal conceptions of monks, men in religious orders, fall under the Friar Tuck image or the closed off, all attention paid to God type. Jesuits however, are a touch different. They are encouraged to be in the world, they are discouraged from wearing robes of the order (habits) or sometimes even a collar outside of Mass, thus wearing what everyone else in their parish or community wears, breaking that barrier to communication that a habit would necessarily have. Russell does a very good job with the Jesuits, both in describing the people and the order itself. It would be a very different book had she chosen Dominicans or Franciscans or Benedictines, the other three most well known Catholic male religious orders. So religion is inherently intertwined in any sort of discussion about the book. The Sparrow is as much about going to another world to see if there's other life out there as it is about Emilio Sandoz's journey of faith, both to it and from it. He got to question it all in a radically different environment whereas the rest of us have to endure it here on Earth, with everybody else.
Third, I suppose I should get around to the science fiction part, Rakhat itself. I seem to recall another book I've read where there's a dominant race, like the Jana'ata, who use the other, more peaceful and vegetarian like the Runa, as food...hmm, what was that? Oh! Right. The Time Machine. Which bounced around between now and then a bit too. Ah, parallels. Anyway, it was interesting to read about the complete world (no, I'm not poking at that argument again, just pointing it out) and the vast differences between how the Jana'ata live and how the Runa live. Brings up an interesting ethical discussion too. Is our way of getting meat more acceptable because the animals we use don't talk/we can't understand it if they do? I feel that it is because the Jana'ata interact with the Runa on a daily basis and yet they can shrug their shoulders and use them as food or a plaything at the drop of a hat. Terrible place. Ignorance can be bliss, can't it?
To close, because I feel I've bounced around a bit and no one should be expected to be this coherent past 3 in the morning, I'd like to note the discussion of politics and Texans on 119 at the bottom, especially about not blaming Texas for producing George Bush (the first, due to the publication date). Funny how a book set in the future can be slightly dated, isn't it?