Connie Willis
Completed 2/28/2014, Reviewed 3/7/2014
4 stars
“Passage” is novel about researchers studying the phenomenon
of NDEs, or, near-death experiences. It
is told in the same vein as Willis’ Oxford time travel series, and has all the
same adventure, excitement, and urgency.
I have this mental block with books that are over 400 pages long, dreading
the length, wondering how long will it take me to get into the plot and the
characters. A few pages into this 600
page tome was all it took to pull me in.
Willis simply has a knack for strapping you into a roller coaster and
not letting you off until the ride comes to a complete stop.
The main character Joanna Lander is a researcher at a Denver
hospital, trying to collect objective data on NDEs from people who have just
experienced them. Unfortunately, her
data is often polluted by her unintentional associate and nemesis, Mr.
Mandrake, another researcher who always seems to get to the patients before
her. By asking the patients leading
questions, Mandrake ruins the objectivity of the information Joanna needs for
her own research. And there’s no way of
blocking Mandrake because he’s a famous author of life-after-death books and
the darling of the hospital’s most generous and oldest benefactor.
Soon, another researcher comes on the scene. Richard Wright is researching the brain while
under the influence of a certain drug which seems to imitate the NDE. Joanna joins forces with Richard, while
trying to avoid the prying, pushy, and self-absorbed Mandrake. Because of a small pool of slowly dissipating
test subjects, Joanna offers to be a test subject for Richard. Who better than someone who already knows the
questions to ask. And then the book gets
really exciting.
Besides Willis’ fast-paced story telling style, she excels
at creating amazingly vivid and profound supporting characters. Because of the nature of the story, many of
these are people who you don’t expect to be living by the end of the book. It adds a depth to and sympathy for these characters. My favorite was Maisie, the annoying kid with
a terrible heart condition who becomes a major player in the race to figure out
the riddle of NDEs. To Willis’ credit, she
moves Maisie beyond the hackneyed disaster-porn child character, keeping her
from being too annoying, making her an active and realistic part of the
excitement.
Ultimately, one of the things I like most about the book was
that it was about something that could be really emotionally manipulative, but wasn’t. This is about death research--yes, there are
several deaths in the book--and I really liked how it was handled by the
characters. It’s gut-wrenching without
being maudlin. I give this book 4 stars.
Thanks Steve - I think I will need to read this book, sounds great. I love the way you write your reviews - your use of descriptive language presents a snapshot of the plot and characters without giving away the whole thing.
ReplyDelete