Customer Reviews

The Fall Of A Sparrow

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I'm an insatiable reader and I open a new novel hungry for...what? Truth, beauty, an engrossing experience, a convincing, compelling world not my own that I can inhabit, thrillingly, for a short time, and return from (at least in the best of novels)with both reluctance and relief. Well, The Fall of a Sparrow IS the best of novels, a true feast. The world of Woody Woodhull, revered Classics professor at a small midwestern college and beloved and very domesticated father of two daughters on the brink of adulthood, is a complex and fragile place. As the book opens, Woody is on emotional hold. Almost seven years ago his oldest daughter Cookie died in a political bombing in Bologna, Italy. Since then his wife has turned from the family to life in a convent near Chicago. Now his daughters, too, are leaving home, one for college, the other, Sara (the book's second narrator)for her first job in Chicago. Gradually, in what Woody first interprets as his moving beyond Cookie's death, he opens his heart again--falling in love first with a guitar, and then with a student. But in opening himself once again to the life of the senses--sex, food, singing the blues--he eventually discovers he has opened himself also to a deeper understanding and appreciation of who his lost daughter was, and then, as the novel moves to Italy, to a coming to terms with how she died.

This is a very rich and complex story. Without giving away too much to potential readers, I can promise a compelling, intelligent narrative, deliciously sensuous prose, and a level of emotional involvement in the characters that is both heartbreaking and wonderfully satisfying. Irresistible...I'm just waiting for the accompanying blues soundtrack and the cookbook!

This masterfully told novel was my constant companion and best friend in the months that followed the accidental death of my twenty-four year old son. The book was given to me by a man who had read my own novel, and who saw some similarities in the blending of ancient and modern perspectives. Little did this man realize that "The Fall of a Sparrow" would come to mean much much more to me than his flattering perception of literary affinity. In fact, Hellenga's heartfelt wisdom was a lifeline that helped initiate whatever is positive in my life since that time. I only wonder at the strength and motivation this writer had which would lead him to create, and therefore live with, the very difficult circumstances he so realistically portrayed. I hope that the author will see this review and know of the gratitude I am yet feeling four years later for his profoundly effective, nearly-perfect, ultimately life-affirming story.

I understand both those who praise and those who damn this book.

Woody is not an easy person to like, but he also rings true. He had a stable, happy life, until his daughter is savagely killed. He is safe in his books, his family, and his job. Rather than take control of his life after the tragedy, he goes on auto-pilot. He lets his wive drift away. His other daughters are drifting away. He drifts into an affair with a student. Not honorable but understandable. He even drifts through the enevitable repercussions when the affair is discovered.

He finally takes some control and does build a new life for himself. Not a great or even greatly meaningful. But, a new life with him in some control.

His wife reacts by withdrawal. Another plausible response.

I was not as put off by the sex has some of the other readers. However, it did not ring true or particularly needed by the story. In his affair with the student, I felt as though he was looking for the sex to give meaning to the relationship. In his second affair the relation gave meaning to sex.

When reading this book, I would oscillate continually between the brink of liking to the pit of distraction when, in the midst of a beautiful passage that had nothing to do with sex, some kind of sex or genitalia was thrown in. Is this necessary? I like sensuousness and sexuality in books as much as the next guy, but only if it's artfully done. In _The Fall of the Sparrow_, many of the sexual descriptions are forced and inappropriate where they show up. For example, in one place, the character Sara comments that touching a waterwheel she's built is "sexual," and then goes on to liken it to touching things that are full of energy...hmm.

That said, there were some parts of the book I liked. The relationship between Woody and Turi rang true to me, somehow, though there again, just when I thought they really cared, the author let me know that it was nothing, that they were just experimenting, thereby robbing me of the one thing I was holding on to. This book, overall, comes across, to me, as a little pretentious, a little overblown, and just a little overdone. There is too much detritus, too much flotsam and jetsom, to make the story ring real, true, and make the reader stay with it until the end. Less isn't necessarily more, but if you want to see a big, long book about love and failed marriage, rendered truly, read John Irving's A Widow For One Year.

Beyond the author's skillful use of language and the color of Italy, the love Woody feels for his daughters is refreshing. His reawakening to the basicpleasures of his life, namely his music, desires, and cooking, pave the path for his rebirth to a new and fulfilling life. I read this book slowly, taking the time to visualize both the settings and the emotions. One of the best books I read this year.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through The Fall of a Sparrow and really I am having to force myself to keep going. The characters do not feel real- the author seems to be trying too hard -doesn't seem like he really had the story in him. Too contrived. And why no discussion of why the mother left her children? It is unbelievable that the girls just shrug their shoulders about it and happily go on. I found the endless identification (it wasn't really description) if what the characters were eating, drinking or picking in the garden boring. So many things seem to have been put in the book just so we'd know how "cool" Woody (Hellenga?) is: He plays the blues, is a gourmet cook, is irresistable to women, is hip about the fact that his daughter is having an affair with an older married man, listens to Garrison Keillor, had hot sex with his wife every Sunday morning, the list goes on and on. Spare me.

Robert Hellenga offers us not only a well constructed tale of intrigue as played out on a family level, he has obviously spent time with his characters - developing people who are unique, memorable, understandable in their motivation, and well strung on his terse and tense rope of story telling. In the times in which we find ourselves it is refreshing to accompany Hellenga on his journey, his characters' self-exploration, all the while gracing his pages with allegory and metaphor, and the glory of not only the English language but also Greek, Persian, and Italian. The minor weaknesses of this book are so thoroughly compensated for by the sheer joy of his prose. This is a book to read slowly, think through quietly, and finish more enlightend about myriad details we skip in our too rapid daily routine.

Although I've never met anyone like the main character he remains so real and believable. The novel is beautifully written and the character development is perfect. Frail, depressed and lost he slowly, through many missteps, eventually finds a bit of truth about life for himself that helps him rebuild. I loved this book!

Robert Hellenga is one of the few male writers who can speak in the voice of a woman and be believable. "Fall of a Sparrow'' is a beautiful account of a professor and his relationships: with his wife, his daughters, his lover and lover's daughter. While reading Hellenga, one is likely to learn about philosophy, humanities, music, theology and many other interesting subjects.
I find his characters and perspective fascinating, his views progressive and his writing truly delightful. "Fall of a Sparrow'' is so rich that it's a heartfelt, heartwarming and heart-wrenching read.

What impressed me most about this book was how well the author seems to understand the long-range effects of an untimely death on a family. This understanding is apparent in other aspects of the book as well, especially in portions of the book told from the viewpoint of the younger sister. The story is not a simple tale of emergence from grief, but rather an exploration of cause and effect, and how events can change not only a person's actions, but also her view of life as a whole. The events in this book do not seem 'cleaned up' or edited to create a perfect novel, but rather seem to be the result of the author's attempt to create a completeness to the work. I enjoyed this book immensely, and it is one of very few books that can create such a deep sense of emotion in me.