Passage
by Connie Willis
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Book Summary Information
Author: Connie WillisEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-01-02
ISBN: 0553580515
Number of pages: 800
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Passage
Book Review: 2 1/2 stars; failed to hold my interest
Summary: 2 Stars
For starters, I freely admit that I didn't finish this book. I made it about 250 pages into it, by which time I had lost interest. According to other reviewers on here, the back half of the book picks up the pace, but in all honesty I just couldn't get enthusiastic about slugging my way through it to see if that's so.
I had several problems with Passage. The basic premise, that near-death experiences can be simulated with drugs, requires a very healthy dose of suspension of belief. Although I don't buy that, I managed to put aside my skepticism and go with it. Others might not be so forgiving.
My major problem was the author's prose. Passage is *very* rambling and repetitive, with so many descriptions of trivial things that it began to feel like padding. Maybe it all becomes relevent in the back half, but I doubt it. The book is 800 pages, but could easily have been weeded down to 500. Had that been the case, it might have held my interest and I probably would have finished it.
There is also a heavy-handed dose of medical terminology, courtesy of a character doctor who believes NDEs are chemical brain reactions. If you're into medical thrillers, this might appeal to you, but since I lack the background to know what he was talking about, I was disenfranchized and disinterested.
The book is fairly well researched on the subject, but I knew quite a bit of this already. Back in college, I took a religious studies class on "death and dying" where we talked extensively on the subject. I recall thinking that the majority of NDEs could be explained by the person's immediate surroundings and predisposition (ie: what pop culture had told them to expect), and that much of the pop-culture perception was based on leading questions from people with a pre-conceived agenda. Apparently Ms. Willis has a similar view, so she was preaching to the choir in my own case.
All that said, I actually give this book a hesitant recomondation. If you're interested in NDEs and have a very high tolerance for flourid writing, give it a go. Your best bet its to check it out of the local library, in case you can't make it past the half-way mark for reasons similar to mine.
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