Cleave the Sparrow

Cleave The Sparrow is a unique but unbalanced mix of political satire, philosophy, and science fiction— politics overshadows the other two elements to the point that the reader undoubtedly questions whether Katz has gotten lost in the political sauce. But the narrative is confidently chaotic, scattered with unhinged tangents that may leave you wishing the literary landscape were slightly more homogenous. Or not. But, either way, you have to admire Katz for writing such a brash debut novel— one that has quite a mind blowing beginning and end but suffers from a little bit of a slump in the middle.