Last week my daughter said she’d been looking through the
Amazon responses to The Fall of a Sparrow
and had seen one that was very moving. I hadn’t looked at the responses for several
years, so I took a look for myself and was very pleased to find the response of
March 28 2002. I was also a little unnerved to be reminded that some readers
hated this novel with a passion, as in the response of March 4, 1999. Whoa!
LIKE CHEAP SEX WITH AN UNLIKABLE STRANGER, March 4, 1999
I read it all and afterwards had
to take a hot shower to wash it off. I thought maybe, just maybe Woody would
become more than a shallow, self-centered bumbling fool, but he never did.
However, what bothered me most was that every female character in the book was
written to be either cheap or simple. The authors attempts to write from a
woman's point of view are as unbelievable and pathetic as a 6'5, beer bellied,
hairy transvestite in a pink slip. The continual references to sex in the
banal, self-absorbed way they were portrayed became like unexpected flashes of
a pervert. When I think about this book, the time spent reading about
"Woody" I feel angry, like I have been mislead and taken advantage
of. I give it one star because the landscape imagery was well done. (March 4,
1999)
One of the most fortunate reading experiences of my life, March 28,
2002
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. (March 28, 2002)