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: A Near-Death Experience for the reader...
Summary: 2 Stars
What kind of book do you get when you combine a talented, multi-Hugo/Nebula-award-winning author like Connie Willis; the shadowy, supernatural world of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs); a race against time; and one of the world's greatest disasters?
Hold on, we'll get to the answer later....
In Willis's "Passage," NDE researcher Dr. Joanna Lander is asked to join Dr. Richard Wright's research project into the nature of NDEs. Wright has found a way to recreate NDEs via a designer chemical and is now looking to explore whether they have a purpose beyond that of ushering the dying into the afterlife. Dr. Lander's best friend in the ER, Vielle, also wants to see the young Joanna pair up with the hunky new doc on the block and soon Dr. Lander is helping Wright extract critical medical and psychological info from a less-than-ideal set of volunteers. Obstructing all the work is Maurice Mandrake, a bestselling author (and quack), who has made a small fortune selling his books to the gullible. Mandrake does not wish to see Lander and Wright come up with any results that would render his obsession with hokey New Age images of angels and "life flashing before one's eyes" less profitable.
But with the financing review for the project hurtling toward them, and the sudden withdrawal of some of the progressively fearful test subjects, Lander and Wright make a fateful decision: the best chronicler of the events would be someone well-versed in the science of NDEs. Lander assents, only to find herself caught in the horror of one of the most famous disasters of all time. Each further test reveals more of the greater picture, until Lander is driven nearly mad by what she finds out about The Other Side.
Sounds like a winner, right? Unfortunately, the answer to the opening question is, "A book with a great premise, but which is ultimately sunk by tedium, repetition, a flat ending, stereotypical characterizations, and a criminal lack of editing."
Seriously, someone should find Willis's editor and charge them with second degree murder--of a novel. The first two-thirds of the book is an ad nauseum repetition of events:
1. Dr. Lander gets info on a patient's NDE and puzzles over the meaning, while Dr. Wright drops names of brain chemicals.
2. Lander hangs out and watches a movie with buddy Vielle.
3. Lander pops in to check on a comatose patient.
4. Lander tries to convince Vielle to quit working in the ER.
5. Lander talks to a precocious (and oh-so-irritating) little girl with heart trouble.
6. Lander tries to avoid meeting undesirable people in the hallway or answering her page/phone.
7. One character or another yammers forever about something inconsequential.
8. Lander undergoes her own chemically-induced NDE and freaks out.
9. Repeat for several hundred pages.
Most novels in recent years are too long by twenty percent. This one pushes forty. I cannot tell you how much of a slog it is just to get to the interesting part of the book. Sad to say, even the interesting parts are disappointing. A major twist occurs in the last third, but at this point most people have lost the will to live and had an NDE of their own.
And this is a great loss, frankly, since Willis has some good ideas here. But the glacial pace at which events occur and plot points transpire could only be rescued by a triumphant ending, which this book completely lacks. The final key to NDEs is so underwhelming, and the fate of Joanna so frayed, that many readers will feel robbed for having pushed past the first hundred pages. Life is too short to read bad books and "Passage" has to rank right up there with some of the most draining books ever committed to print.
This is my first experience with Willis and I was disappointed by the shoddiness of this work, particularly in light of the number of awards she's won. Her reputation alone warrants an extra star here, but it's generous. Truth is, "Passage" is just barely passable.
Summary of Passage
A tunnel, a light, a door. And beyond it ... the unimaginable.Dr. Joanna Lander is a psychologist specializing in near-death experiences. She is about to get help from a new doctor with the power to give her the chance to get as close to death as anyone can.
A brilliant young neurologist, Dr. Richard Wright has come up with a way to manufacture the near-death experience using a psychoactive drug. Joanna?s first NDE is as fascinating as she imagined ? so astounding that she knows she must go back, if only to find out why that place is so hauntingly familiar.
But each time Joanna goes under, her sense of dread begins to grow, because part of her already knows why the experience is so familiar, and why she has every reason to be afraid.
Yet just when Joanna thinks she understands, she?s in for the biggest surprise of all ? ashattering scenario that will keep you feverishly reading until the final climactic page.
Most of us would rather not spend a lot of time contemplating death, but the characters in Connie Willis's novel Passage make a living at it. Joanna Lander is a medical researcher specializing in Near Death Experiences (NDEs) and how the brain constructs them. Her partner in this endeavor is Richard Wright, a single-minded scientist who induces NDEs in healthy people by injecting a compound that tricks the brain into thinking it's dying. Joanna and Richard team up and try to find test subjects whose ability to report their experiences objectively hasn't been wrecked by reading the books of pop-psychologist and hospital gadabout Maurice Mandrake. Mandrake has gained fame and fortune by convincing people that they can expect light, warmth, and welcoming loved ones once they die. Joanna and Richard try to quantify NDEs in more scientific terms, a frustrating exercise to say the least.
The brain cells started to die within moments of death. By the end of four to six minutes the damage was irreversible, and people brought back from death after that didn't talk about tunnels and life reviews. They didn't talk at all.... But if the dying were facing annihilation, why didn't they say, "It's over!" or, "I'm shutting down"?... Why did they say, "It's beautiful over there," and, "I'm coming, Mother!"
When Joanna decides to become a test subject and see an NDE firsthand, she discovers that death is both more and less than she expected. Telling anything at all about her experience would be spoiling the book's suspenseful buildup, but readers are in for some shocks as Willis reveals the secrets and mysteries of the afterlife. Unfortunately, several running gags--the maze-like complexity of the hospital, Mandrake's oily sales pitch, and a tiresomely talkative World War II veteran--go on a little too long and threaten the pace of the story near the middle. But don't stop reading! We expect a lot from Connie Willis because she's so good, and Passage's payoff is incredible--the ending will leave you breathless, and more than a little haunted. Passage masterfully blends tragedy, humor, and fear in an unforgettable meditation on humanity and death. --Therese Littleton
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