Customer Reviews

Whose Eye is on Which Sparrow?

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This story of an established WASP doctor and his affair with a young black choir director is a pleasant if mild tale. I had hope for surprises, but they really aren't in store here. The characters and settings are realistic, and as the story progresses you do wonder how these men will sustain their fervent love affair.

The real "controversy," if any, is not the interracial romance. While much is made of this, the more daunting obstacle is that Brendan, the doctor, is married. How he realizes his gay side, while remaining a loving (and sexual) husband, and good father, is the best-developed aspect of this novel. The way Brendan's wife reacts in the novel during various events is realistic and natural, a good stroke.

If you want a meaty book, this really is not it, though it's a nice read. There is a little too much dialogue and minutiae to suit my tastes. Don't take this as a bad review--I'm an avid reader and prefer novels that take a daring or unusual approach, or which trod a usual path with panache.

What a sweet story! The book is deceptive in its simplicity. Here is a tale about two wonderful human beings - a young white married male doctor and a handsome black male choir director - who fall in love. These two generous and compassionate human beings must keep their affair a secret in order to comply with the rules imposed by a constraining society. The author lets us know that everyone can pursue his or her dream even if it means overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

I highly recommend this book for all types of libraries.

Whose Eye Is On Which Sparrow? is a homosexual romance novel between a young married doctor and a handsome back man named Jonathan Miles. The doctor must wrestle with giving up his "white-bread" world, his wife and children, and a promising political career to pursue his romantic future, while Jonathan must decide whether to leave the security of his job as church choir director to follow his dream of becoming an opera singer. Transcending boundaries of race, class, and sexuality, as well as confronting the stigma and veiled racism that oppose the protagonists, Whose Eye Is On Which Sparrow? blends emotion and life-changing choices in a drama about how love can drastically change everything in one's life.

In "Whose Eye is on Which Sparrow," a young doctor named Brendan, married with two children, wealthy, white, and socially connected, is shocked into recognizing his true sexuality as he examines a new patient, Jonathan, who is a handsome black singer and choral director. The novel takes the reader through the stages of their romance and the effect it has on both men and their very different communities. Robert Taylor clearly enjoys good writing--Brendan reads Flaubert, and in the author photo one can see a title of Henry James--and his subject is ripe with promise, but leaden dialogue and a certain tidiness of construction prevent the novel from achieving that promise. The novel's ungainly title is derived (mangled, actually) from a spiritual hymn, and I found that the book made more sense to me if I read it as an extended sermon, a moral tale. In this light, its predictable plot developments and its one-dimensional characters are less bothersome, and the reader can finish the book feeling the comfort of having one's moral truths illustrated and confirmed. I don't mean for this review to be overly harsh; I did enjoy the book and would recommend it to friends, but only those who are forgiving of less-than stellar writing.

I am not one that reads a lot, but this book is great I could not put it down.