Sparrow, part 1

So far, this book has been decently intriguing.  Although the jumping back and forth between before the mission and after has been slightly confusing, what I'm finding most frustrating is the pace of the book.  I enjoy a book that sets up the plot, which might take a little bit of time, but then you get to the point where you can't put it down.  So far, I'm struggling to get there with this book, if it even has a point like that.  But it's proven itself interesting so far, so even though it's taking a while to get through, it's still worth while.

We also are managing to have thought-provoking discussions in class, trying to figure out what the disaster was that happened.  One of these discussions centered around the question about the limits of faith and despair.  In my opinion, when Sandoz is referring to this boundary, he is reflecting on why God let him survive (the limit of faith) and why He let all the others perish (boundary of despair).  It seems that Sandoz is blaming himself because he views the mission as his idea.  Even though Jimmy was the one who detected the signal, and George helped him with all the calculations that told them it was possible, Sandoz really pushed Anne to come along as well.  So he likely feels responsible for all their deaths, including when he tells Anne that the Society would never allow a mission to occur if they thought it would be a failure.  So it seems to me that Sandoz feels that the limitation of faith was also the limit of the Earth's atmosphere-- once outside of that, and one enters the territory of despair.

I also thought it was interesting when Giulani starts to chastise Sandoz for his self-pity and doubting.  I understand how Sandoz could be doubting his beliefs- it seems logical to me that everyone, at some point, experiences religious doubt.  But I don't think Giulani truly understands why Sandoz is having doubts about God, so I think that Giulani should have gone about critisizing Sandoz a different way, rather than asking him if he thought he was the only one to ever experience doubt.  But it didn't really surprise me that it was a priest who was having these doubts because, like I said earlier, everyone experiences something along those lines, everyone has a low point in their faith at least once.  And it's only through those low points that I feel we can truly strengthen our beliefs.