I have been lucky this summer to come upon some of the best fiction that I have read in years. Like blow-me-away fiction. Like “I had no idea what I was getting in to when I cracked that cover” fiction. Here’s the two most recent additions, both read in August, but so worthy of mention here…
The Sparrow
/ Children of God
by Mary Doria Russell
Since these books were published in the late 1990s, I had the opportunity to read them in succession without a long anticipating wait in between… for this reason, the books will undoubtedly be one story in my mind, with unclear lines where one stopped and the other started.

My preface statement is – I have never read a “science fiction” genre book. When I picked the first book up at the library, and it had the little yellow binding sticker with the “SCI-FI” and a little rocket ship, I marveled at it. First time for everything, eh? Especially when I hear such rave reviews from some friends over on GoodReads (particularly Mick and Stephanie), I wanted to try it out. I have read my share of dystopian novels, but those are a sub-genre in and of itself.
One of the most profoundly moving books I have read in years – the only other one that comes to mind of this magnitude was As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg (yet, it was historical fiction, not sci-fi). This book was so well done; my first foray in to anything resembling science fiction, and it was so worth it. I am definitely glad I stuck with it – I usually give a book 50 pages, and it was around that time when I finally began to understand what was happening. I was impatient for the story to get moving, and once it did, I couldn’t put it down… when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. [My full GoodReads review]
The book has two time periods and two settings – the near future here on Earth, and the light years that pass as a small group travels to the newly discovered inhabitated planet of Rahkat. Reading the book, and experiencing this new genre brought on a realization: I like seeing and observing situations where a disparate group of people come together. Yeah, okay, that sounds a little funny, but I think it might be a common thread to some other literature I have read. I like it when an author brings people together in a book who might never otherwise meet… for instance, the primary character in this book is a Puerto Rican Jesuit priest/linguist. He is a genius with the spoken word and can learn new languages like *that*. Entering the mix: an older married couple – the husband is into aeronautics, and the wife is an ER trauma physician – an “indentured servant” intellectual, a hilarious and gawky physicist… see what I mean? Pour in to the mix a heavy dose of social contract and existential philosophy and religious duty… and lots of drama and human interest.
Well, early in the book, you learn what happens on their mission. And the remainder of the book, and the sequel are spent figuring out WHY it happened and how it will be remembered. At times it can be heartbreakingly sad, but a small glimmer of hope remains. The second book introduces a group of new characters, many of them inhabitants of Rahkat, and is full of religious allusions. It is intriguing and beautiful, and you can’t help but contemplate some of the major questions that the book raises.
Reading a book like this, published 13 years ago and completely unknown to me before this summer, makes me wonder what other gems are out there…
***
…and now for something completely different… but no less amazing…
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Díaz
I was not prepared to be so blown away by this book. I hadn’t heard much about it, and the synopsis on the cover of the book does not accurately describe how *real* it is. Putting together a review is challenging, because so many of the words that come to my mind are hard to work in to comprehensive sentences: gut-wrenching, awe-inspiring, incredibly raw, heartbreaking, life-affirming, inspirational. It’s like a study in opposites.

The book is told from several perspectives and revolves around a Dominican family and their life in the DR and in New Jersey after immigration. The main characters are Oscar, his sister Lola, their mother Beli, their grandmother “La Inca”, and a friend Yunior.
Diaz’s narrative voice was so clear, so unique. I had not experienced writing like this before, and it really surprised me. Although it was a work of fiction, I felt like I learned so much about the DR, specifically the years in the first half of the 20th-century under Trujillo’s dictatorship. The story spans decades and interweaves these deep mystical themes (the curse on the family) with some very funny and light-hearted moments (exchanges between Oscar and Lola / Oscar and Yunior). [My full GoodReads review here]
Most of all, this book really made me want to learn Spanish. There *is* a lot of Spanish in this book (that is a common criticism of the book), and there are no translations, but it is not a hinderance. With context, it is pretty clear what many of the phrases mean, or at least the gist of them. One other note on the language: this is a harsh reality book – there is a lot of explicit language and quite a few violent and sexual situations. They undoubtedly add to the richness and the beautiful drama of the book, and I would not take any of them out. If you are particularly sensitive to these things, you may not have the same experience with this book.
This book prompted me to read more about Dominican history, and I came across a movie, based on true events, about life in the DR during the dictatorship of Trujillo, In the Time of Butterflies. The movie is in English, and the story that it tells – about the sisters – is even referenced in Oscar Wao, as it was a major event that lead to revolution in the country.
Díaz’s writing is brilliant. Lots of literary, historical, and pop culture references, seamlessly interwoven with this understanding of human relationships and their intricacies and complexities. His characters have such depth and emotions – you learn so much about them and their feelings, that they seem completely real. And maybe they are… this amalgamation of people in the author’s mind.
…
The rapid/rabid reading pace is already beginning to slow down a bit. I am still keeping up on some audiobooks, but with work, yoga, and the new fall television line-up starting, there are some things competing for my attention. The good news about that is that more knitting will take place!