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Tadiana ✩Night Owl�'s Reviews > Passage
Passage
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2.5 stars. Connie Willis combines the idea research into near-death experiences (NDEs) with dreams of the Titanic disaster. A doctor develops a drug that simulates NDEs, and psychologist Joanna Lander starts repeatedly using this drug to attempt to confirm the reality of NDEs and the afterlife. Every time she takes the drug, she ends up wandering the decks of the Titanic, trying to stop the disaster. What is the meaning of this?
This book has some really intriguing ideas and an interesting twist to the ending, but man, is it ever slow and repetitive. Joanna goes into these NDEs over and over and over, each time inching closer to a resolution.
Willis does sometimes get too longwinded (*cough*All Clear) and this is the one of hers I bounced off the hardest (okay, maybe Uncharted Territory was worse). In the end it was underwhelming: too much work for too little payoff. I bought a copy of this book because I thought any novel by Connie Willis HAD to be good, but gave it away as soon as I was done with it.
This book has some really intriguing ideas and an interesting twist to the ending, but man, is it ever slow and repetitive. Joanna goes into these NDEs over and over and over, each time inching closer to a resolution.
Willis does sometimes get too longwinded (*cough*All Clear) and this is the one of hers I bounced off the hardest (okay, maybe Uncharted Territory was worse). In the end it was underwhelming: too much work for too little payoff. I bought a copy of this book because I thought any novel by Connie Willis HAD to be good, but gave it away as soon as I was done with it.
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Reading Progress
March 8, 2013
– Shelved
2014
–
Started Reading
2014
–
Finished Reading
May 20, 2020
– Shelved as:
slower-than-molasses
May 20, 2020
– Shelved as:
science-fiction
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Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂
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May 20, 2020 05:37PM
That is a shame because it sounds like it should be so good! :(
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Thanks for the review, the book has been waiting on my shelf for quite a while and now it seems to stay there patiently hoping..
I mean, it’s possible it was just me? It did get nominated for several awards. But it’s a slower-paced one for sure.
It's not just you Tadiana. It was a DNF for me several years ago, to my disappointment as, at the time, I'd read and loved several of Willis' books. This was the first one I didn't.
Michele wrote: "It's not just you Tadiana. It was a DNF for me several years ago, to my disappointment as, at the time, I'd read and loved several of Willis' books. This was the first one I didn't."That makes me feel better! I love Connie Willis, especially Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, but I kind of bounced off Passage. I remember reading the end of this book and thinking, well, this whole thing was just underwhelming.
Tadiana ✩Night Owl� wrote: "Michele wrote: "It's not just you Tadiana. It was a DNF for me several years ago, to my disappointment as, at the time, I'd read and loved several of Willis' books. This was the first one I didn't...."Oh TSNOTD is my absolute fave of Willis', although I do love TDB (which was the first of hers I read). But yeah, this one definitely didn't pass muster, unfortunately.
I remember feeling as if I was supposed to find greater meaning in the ending than I did.
The end reveal was in fact a cool concept, kind of metaphysical, but I didn't think it justified the length and repetitive nature of this book.
Tadiana ✩Night Owl� wrote: "The end reveal was in fact a cool concept, kind of metaphysical, but I didn't think it justified the length and repetitive nature of this book."It was cool, but since I already have an explanation for the afterlife that satisfies me, I was a little underwhelmed. And I agree about the repetitiveness. I think it needed to be closer to the length of, say, Lincoln's Dreams.
Melissa wrote: "I think it needed to be closer to the length of, say, Lincoln's Dreams."I was thinking exactly the same thing!
