Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading but frustrating for some
Review: A little slow and repetitive, with uncomplicated characters. Also, a little unsubtle with the repeated mention of metaphors, but I think it drives home a more rewarding read of the book: I read the book not so much as character driven but as idea driven, with the hospital and the NDE destination representing the relationship between life, death, dreams, or whatever the reader decides. That is, what does the hospital, where nobody knows how to get from one part to another, or one person knows one path but not another remind you of? How does this relate to the NDE destination? This book is perhaps not executed as well as it could have been, but it investigates an interesting topic and raises interesting questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother!
Review: As a fan of historical fiction, I first read Willis' "Doomsday Book" -- it was interesting, engaging and well-written. After reading it, I couldn't wait to get my hands on another Connie Willis book. Unfortunately the next one I picked up was"Passage".
It was awful -- Don't bother reading it! Some of her ideas were interesting, and at first I thought it would be quite good. But then the crazy Titanic connection came up. It was hard for me to swallow -- I found it laughable and (for lack of a better word) LAME! Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this disaster of a book--pick up Doomsday instead.
Rating: 
Summary: an absolute speed ride!
Review: I foolishly started this book late in the evening. Finally I was
able to go to sleep sometime around 3:00am. I could NOT put it down. I loved her idea, the way she presented it, and the characters. Every one of them were the 'average' person. Death is something that interests us all whether we like it or not. No one knows what happens and everyone is curious. Her final explanation seemed logical and believeable to me. The way she presented it was exciting. This book made me start reading all her others.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I give this book 2 stars only because it is well written and a convincing portrait of what an NDE (Near Death Experience) might be to an individual incapable of belief in anything beyond scientific fact. I, personally, am a believer in the NDE experience, though certainly not in the vein that Ms. Willis presents in her book as her "villain." If you are looking for any sort of fictional spirtual enlightenment, you won't find it in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A haunting book
Review: I have been waiting a long time for a new Connie Willis novel, and I wasn't disappointed by this latest effort.The one difficulty that I had with Passage is a problem that I've had with many of Willis' book; much of the plot hinges on characters either a) being stopped by someone else before saying something crucial, b) not being willing to say something crucial, or c) not being able to remember the one crucial thing that they are supposed to say. Her characters constantly seem to be experiencing the unpleasant feeling of having something on the tip of their tongue that they just can't quite identify or remember. Sometimes I want to shout at them in frustration. All that said, that style worked remarkably well for Passage. Since a great deal of the story revolves around the body's attempts to communicate at the point of death, as well as the human desire to communicate with the living and the dead, the constant breakdowns in communication made sense to me. Overall, this was a wonderful book with an engaging plot and characters. I picked the book up yesterday, stayed up until 2am to continue reading it, and finished reading it under my desk at work. :) I'm exhausted, but it was worth it. I think the other reason that I stayed up so late reading Passage was that I was a little afraid to stop and turn the lights out. This isn't horror in the hack and slash sense, but it's definitely scary, uncomfortable, and haunting.
Rating:
Summary: Call me a quitter.
Review: I tried, but I could not finish this book. I was halfway through-which had been a test of endurance-and realized that nothing had really happened. The author spends a lot of time on conversations between characters that frankly makes them even more 2 dimensional than were to begin with. All the characters come off as way too cute-they are really quite unbelievable, and yet, this is not intended as tongue in cheek. It only seems like it should be.
Rating:
Summary: In search of...an editor.
Review: Inside the 800 pages of Passage is a riveting story. Unfortunately, that story is only about 400 pages long.
This is a good book that desperately needed an editor. There is page after page of redundant and unnecessary details, jokes run on far too long (enough with the cafeteria hours, already!) and general bloat. The story is compelling. The ideas are intriguing. And the ending, despite being telegraphed well in advance, offers a very satisfying experience...even if it does run on and on and on and on and on until you just want it to get to the point. If she had just trimmed out the fat it would have been better. Much better.
As it stands, you'll find yourself skipping whole pages just to get on with the story...and probably not missing much, if anything at all, when you do.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting, but needs editing in spots
Review: It is quite gutsy of Ms Willis, in the present climate in this country, to have some very unsympathic (arrogant and/or crooked) characters whose primary business is pushing one form or another of some religious faith. I liked the book a lot, although I do think hitting the reader over and over and over with just how garrulous the World War II vet was in his absolutely endless stories about the war in the Pacific was a bit much. I wish she had tried a little harder to identify the parts where the reader's eyes would start to glaze over and cut them.
More, though, I liked her account of how difficult it would be to do serious research on just what people do experience while dying with all the pressures to make it fit into someone's pre-conceived scheme. I thought Joanne the researcher and Maisie the dying child were terrific characters I came to care about a lot!
This is not as good as Doomsday Book (her best), but a really interesting exploration of ideas about death.
A suggestion: This is worth reading, but skim over the World War II stories. They have very little to do with the story line.
Rating:
Summary: Coudn't put it down
Review: It's hard for me to identify with female characters, so I usually stay away from books that are focused on them. There are rare stories that bridge that gap, and this is one of them. I can particularly identify with this story, because the heroine is doing research, and she has to fight uphill against opininated bias, charlatans, and all kinds of assorted quackery. (Is that a word?) Anywho, this book has some great dialogue, great characters, and realistic as hell. 800 pages is a bit long, but it went too quick. Really great ending too.
Rating:
Summary: Connie Willis is a Topnotch Writer
Review: Joanna Lander has an unusual medical specialty; she researches NDEs (Near Death Experiences) in patients who's hearts have stopped beating, but then are brought back from the brink. She has problems, though. An author, Mr. Mandrake, believes that NDEs are the beginning of God's heavenly message...and to prove his point he's written multiple best-selling novels on the subject and tries to beat Joanna to the interviews with patients who experience them. The trouble is, though, is that Mr. Mandrake leads his interviewees down his personalized ambrosial path by asking questions like, "So when did you see the heavenly light?" and "Was your family there waiting for you?" This really ticks off Joanna... She asks questions like, "Tell me what you saw?" and "How did you feel?" Non-leading questions, in other words. And if she get's to the patients before Mr. Mandrake does, the results are markedly different; no angels of light and no family waiting for you. Enter Dr. Richard Wright. He's also interested in NDEs. And he has medical research in mind. He's developed a drug that induces a type of artificial NDE and begins using it on volunteers (with Joanna's eventual help), trying to discover why some people have NDEs and others don't. If he can find out, maybe he can utilize his research to bring dying patients out of their NDE state and back to the living. Maisie is a ten year old child who's been brought back from death multiple times thanks to a congenital heart defect. And she's Joanna's and Dr. Wright's friend. She thinks that Mr. Mandrake is a flake (which, of course, he is) and is fascinated with disaster stories (like the Titanic and Hidenburg). She's never seen an angel or Godly light during her true NDEs, and Joanna and Dr. Wright soon come to rely on her more than they will ever know.
****************************************************************
Undeniably, Connie Willis is one of my favorite authors. I love almost everything I've ever read by her. Her prose is smooth, her characters memorable, and her subject matter relevant. And PASSAGE is no exception. Joanna, Maisie, Dr. Wright, Kit, Mr. Briarly, Vielle, and Mr. Mandrake all still stick out in my mind. Great characters one and all. My only beef with this novel (as many other reviewers here have pointed out) is that it's a bit wordy. At 780 pages (paperback), I began to lag a bit while reading. But only a bit! I tiny bit! Mrs. Willis' able writing abilities kept me involved in the story and I persevered. The ending: For those who enjoy everything tidied up and in one neat little plot developed package, this book is not for you. It'll leave you wondering what awaits us when we all take that final plunge into the PASSAGE of no return. B+ rating.
|
