Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book

Hot Search

Providence of a Sparrow: Lessons from a Life Gone to the Birds

chris chester

... Show More
“There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” --William Shakespeare, Hamlet

B fell twenty-five feet from his nest into the life of Chris Chester. The encounter was providential for both of them.
B and Chester spent hours together playing games like bottle-cap fetch or hide-and-seek. They learned “words” in each other’s vocabularies. B developed a fetish for nostrils and a dislike of the color yellow. He grew anxious if Chester came home late from work. At bedtime he would rub his sleepy eyes on Chester’s thumb and settle to sleep in his palm. Chester ended up turning part of his house into an aviary and adjusting his social life to meet B’s demands. This was a small price to pay, though, for the trust and comfort of a twenty-five-gram friend who brought joy and wonder back into his life.

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 3,2002
Literary awards
oregon book award, 

This edition

Format
304 pages, Paperback
Published
April 13, 2004 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN
9781400033850
ASIN
1400033853
Language
English

More editions

About the author

Profile Image for chris chester

chris chester

... Show More

Readers also enjoyed

Community Reviews

Rating(3.8 / 5.0, 49 votes)
5 stars
12(24%)
4 stars
14(29%)
3 stars
23(47%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
49 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
An-tA
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
Sooooooooooo depressing. Couldn't finish it. And if sparrows are sentient, then I'm screwed (they very probably are). Scratch that, we are all screwed. But then I think about how as a whole, humanity has done good things... we have taken care of small sparrows, we have helped animals live who in the wilderness surely would have died. But we've also boiled chickens alive and kept pigs in terrible conditions before slaughtering them... I guess it's a toss up.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Joe-kun
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
If you have only an imagined sensitive bone in your body, you will be moved by this book. If you were raised to despise, and, yes, destroy all House Sparrow as pests, as I was, then you can count on being transformed. You will never see another House Sparrow as anything but a creature potent with potential providence. Thank you, Chris Chester
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Kei-kyun
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
This is one of my favorite memoirs for its unusual subject matter. The author is incredibly insightful and leads his reader through a series of revelatory moments experienced in the process of raising this bird, named B, with his wife Rebecca. He balanced anecdotes with reflection in a way that makes the book very readable.

At first glance, this seems like a ridiculous premise for a book that is actually quite long---but its actually a topic that offers lots of food for thought on serious life issues. Some ideas the author explores: becoming attached to a creature that can so easily be crushed by the most insignificant human movements (ex: shifting your butt around the couch can be fatal to B), that has such a short life span, that cannot exactly be hugged or cuddled with, and that must be given a certain level of freedom to fly, to be independent, in order to be content--and the author's own internal struggle about having deprived B of his life in the wild. It also helps that Chestler is pretty much an average person working for a tech company in Portland--this is not someone who has loved animals all his life. Finding B (and ultimately keeping him) was a random twist of fate that impacted his life hugely. The result is a memoir with a lot of fresh insight on the nature of loss, depression, love, and attachment----but none of it feels too constructed or falsely emotional. The reader experiences these mini revelations as the author himself discovered them.

Overall, this probably seems like a bizarre and unappealing read to lots of people, but I highly recommend it. Especially if you're someone who enjoys memoirs as a genre.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
BruhPani97
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
I'm mystified by all of the glowing reviews for Providence of a Sparrow. I guess it just wasn't the book for me. I was ready to pack it in after the first couple of chapters. It seemed as though the author was trying to prove how intelligent he was by writing in the utmost high-brow manner. As I continued reading I felt as though the book was more about the author's life and less about the sparrows he had saved. At that point, I began skimming. I'm happy to say I found a few parts of Providence of a Sparrow I enjoyed reading.

I love birds (Just ask my Facebook friends, haha.) but I couldn't relate to this book. I'm glad so many people loved it. It must be a case of "It's not you, it's me."
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
TheSlyRomano
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
This is one of my all-time favorite books. In addition to being about rescuing a baby sparrow who had fallen from its nest, the book is about the human condition, dealing with death, ethics. I treasure it.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
ChivaVonChiva
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More


I adored reading this book. I have a rescued house sparrow of my own (Charlie), so I thoroughly enjoyed the author's descriptions of his sparrows' personalities and behavior. I can tell you from experience that everything he says about the workings of the minds of sparrows is true. I highly recommend this book to animal and bird lovers.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
arigatou_ne
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
Loved it. True story. You'll never look at a sparrow in the same way again.
0 0 Reply
Profile Image for Kimberly .
Alicorn14_8
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
... Show More
Who knew what humor, literary allusions, and hope sprung from the small feathered body of such a hated, introduced bird pest species? I am now in love, again, with a new bird.
0 0 Reply
Leave a Review
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.