Passage

Rating:
Summary: OH Please!
Review: Do not waste your time on this book! You'll see more flushed out characters in Dr. Seus than in this absurd novel about near death experiences. My favourites (not) are Dr. Hunk - aka Richard Wright and the Dickensian sick kid Maisie. The plot is largely made up of people describing in tedious detail how they got from one hospital department to another or what great lengths certain characters go to avoid other characters, leading up to a truly banal conclusion that is particularly long in coming because it is so hard to stay awake while reading this tripe!

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: Connie Willis drafts and entertaining and unique story. The characters easily pull you in for an enjoyable read, which I did not want to put down. Willis also creates a good sense of place throughout the story. I found myself thinking about the ideas presented in the book, the inner workings of the brain and the possibilities of near-death experiences. I too wondered what research Willis had done in writing this book, it all sounds very plausible. This is one of those books that you wish were not just fiction. I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed Doomsday Book. I will definitely read more Connie Willis

Rating:
Summary: Loved it. Loved every last word.
Review: I'm a big, big Connie Willis fan, and will let you know from the get-go that I am also acquainted with the author, so maybe you'll think this review stacks the deck just a little too much. Even so, I have to disagree with the naysayers regarding this terrific and terrifying novel. Connie started writing the novel =eighteen months= before _Titanic_ was released in theaters (which gives you some sort of idea how much time and effort goes into her books). This fact re: the book lets you know that that particular plot point was in place well before the film ever came out. Actually, the film's release, it seems to me, simply gave her even more material from which to draw, especially since she is such a lover of movies (but not, obviously, this particular one!) The film didn't provide her with the plot point. It only enhanced it.

Connie =did= in fact cut a lot (over 30,000 words). Some might argue that more cutting was required, but I don't agree. I loved the way the everyday life of the characters was slowly but surely intruded upon by the frightening, inexorably unfolding events. As for the foreshadowing being heavy-handed...well, that's a matter of opinion and taste. I relished it and didn't find it heavy-handed at all. Clearly, some readers won't agree. But whether one does or not, one must admit, this is a =very= brave book. I'll probably never get over the emotional wallop it packs in the same way I've never gotten over =Lincoln's Dreams= or =Doomsday Book=. Connie is an amazingly gifted, original writer, and doesn't need to steal ideas from anyone. And writing quotes at the beginning of each chapter is hardly a new device. Certainly more authors than Connie Willis and Mike McQuay have used them in their books.

=Passage= is a triumph, and I'd put it in the same category of greatness as =Doomsday Book=. Don't miss it!

Rating:
Summary: one of the most haunting books i've ever read
Review: Connie Willis has pulled it off again, with her amazing talent for storytelling that descends from wonderful comedy deeper and deeper and deeper, without ever being able to point out exactly where you stop laughing and start crying. The book was amazing, and the surprise ending that everyone mentions hit me like a sledgehammer. I read this book in the bookstore, desperately leafing through those all-important last 100 pages to know the end before I had to leave to go home. The supporting characters are a major part of what makes this book as amazing as it is, but the real hook is that as the main character goes deeper and deeper into obsession, the reader is drawn into it as well . . . if you're looking for light entertainment, go for something else. If you want to be forced to think, and grieve, and wonder, don't pass this book by. I know I personally will be shoving it down the throats of everyone I know.

Rating:
Summary: Thinking/living/ dying (probably)
Review: It's not often that you find a book so rich in ideas, and also in characterization and dialogue. The people in the book came alive for me, and I could not wait to find out where she was going with the plot. I have a friend who's had an NDE, and I appreciate the fact that, for all the interesting science in the book, there remains a breath of mystery, and the connectedness of all things.

Rating:
Summary: [e-mail]
Review: I really wanted to love this book - But, alas, I found it to be extremely repetitive and ultimately dull and unsatisfying. A few reveiwers wrote about how great the last 100 pages were, by the time I got to the last 100 pages I just wanted it to end - so speed read to the end and was glad that I didn't put the extra time in. The last 100 pages were just a repeat of the first 500, which in themselves said the same things over and over and over and over and over again. I do have to say that the writing overall was engaging as well as some of the characters, however I wouldn't recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Thrilling like Crichton's style
Review: I'm supposed to be reading lots of history this summer and I read about Passage in U.S. News & WR and sent my teenager daughter to the library to pick it up. I couldn't put this book down and read all 591 pages in 4 days (which means I stayed up too late and neglected things)! Someone else in the reviews here said it bothered her for days and I must admit I find myself missing reading it and thinking about the themes of life after death, symbolism and trying to rise above one's desperate circumstances. The characters were all very solid and I really wanted to yell at the book to help the characters come up with some answers. I loved the repeating symbolism which would pop up at unusual times and cause me to want to yell again! Willis' style reminds me very much of Michael Crichton's Timeline or Jurassic Park which I also found to be quick paced and gripping reads. Great Job!!!

Rating:
Summary: Literary Excellence and Risk Taking
Review: Connie's latest book pushed every one of my literary buttons. The characters are real and heartfelt, particularly the little girl, Mazie. The ideas, which a lot of folk believe are at the heart of science fiction, are huge and human. What could be more important that what happens to us when we die? Connie takes narrative risks, which I'm not going to talk about because it would spoil the plot, but 3/4 of the way through she does something that seems impossible to pull off, and I think she does.

I gave the book to my wife who doesn't read much SF other than my own, and she was fascinated.

Connie has been my favorite, contemporary author. I recommend LINCOLN'S DREAMS, REMAKE and THE DOOMSDAY BOOK to everyone looking for something to read. I return to her short stories to learn more about the craft of storytelling. PASSAGE has enlarged her reputation.

If you believe thinking is important; if you enjoy being entertained; if you want to be gripped by a book that won't let you go, read PASSAGE....

Rating:
Summary: Bothered me for days....
Review: Like other reviewers, I can't decide whether I love it or hate it, but it blew me away, so I give it five stars. Once you hit page 417, you will stay up all night reading it. I stayed up until 5:00am and then sobbed the rest of the night. Reading this book is like losing a very good friend. You'll feel as sick, exhausted and emotionally drained and it will haunt you for weeks. Odd things will remind you of it--be prepared! And all the things you wondered about--where they went and can they ever return to you in some way, are answered. Sort of.

Rating:
Summary: Boggled by the raves
Review: I read a glowing review of this Book on Salon--a source I respect--so I felt fairly confident that I'd enjoy it. Instead, I found myself bogged down in a surfeit of unnecessary details and overworked themes (how many times are these people going to get lost in the hospital, for Pete's sake?) True, I was a little surprised by the culminating events, but I had a real problem with the author's take on near death experiences as versions of early 20th century disasters. If this is the case, then what did someone like Jesus see when he met his end?