The Fall of a Sparrow

by Robert Hellenga

Book Overview

Robert Hellenga, bestselling author of The Sixteen Pleasures, once again reveals his profound understanding of the strength and resilience of the human spirit in a compelling and masterful novel.
Alan Woodhull ("Woody"), a classics professor at a small Midwestern college, finds himself convinced that life has taught him all the lessons he has to learn: After the tragic death of his beloved oldest daughter during a terrorist bombing in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684850273
• ISBN13: 9780684850276
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

One of the most fortunate reading experiences of my life

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.

Learning From Fiction

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.

I savored this book like a fine wine.

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.

An absolutely compelling story, gorgeously written

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!

A complex narrative that ventures to engage our intellect .

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.