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Mar 26, 2008

Christy rated it:

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1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2009

Scott rated it:

Ugh. I'm sorry, Connie, I like what I've read by you in the past, but I don't think this relationship can go any further. You have some neat ideas, and granted, Doomsday Book was amazing, but dammitall, your writing style is just too unimodal for me. Every single one of your books seems to be filled with this frantic energy of characters rushing around in a frenetic frenzy for several hundred pages; after a while, it just gets tiring. After the three books I've finished, it's just gotten old More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2011

Beth rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2008

Debbie rated it:

Wow. This is a fantastic book, about NDEs and the Titanic and science and people. Just.Wow.

Connie Willis writes brilliantly, drawing you in to the characters and their lives and problems. The narrative is enthralling. It's hardly possible to put the book down (meals, hungry cats and lonely husbands not withstanding).

Drs Joanna Lander and Richard Wright are searching for the mechanism behind NDEs (Near Death Experiences). Joanna interviews patients at Mercy General, b More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 13, 2007

Farida rated it:

First, the good:
(1) The story of two doctors studying Near Death Experiences (NDEs) approaches the subject from a scientific bent, which is what science-fiction needs. Around the corner of every NDE is the thought, "Does this have a spiritual component to it?" but it doesn't ever take the easy way out in terms of answering the question.

2)Willis did not take the easy way out in terms of the ending, either. I won't post any spoilers here, but suffice to say, I was mor More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2008

Sandi rated it:

"Passage" is a remarkable work from a remarkable author. I've read it at least twice and it still blows me away. Willis treats the great question of what happens when we die with humor and sadness. Her treatment of the subject of dementia rang especially true. I had visited my grandmother in the nursing home (many, many miles away) when she was very far gone with senile dementia. She was completely unaware of her surrounding. Some of the things she was saying were eerily echoed i More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2008

Eliza rated it:

This book left me reeling- it forces you to confront your own mortality. When I finished the book, I literally just laid on my bed with my eyes wide open. I suggested it to a friend, but she it found it "too difficult" to get into. If you're up for a deeply moving experience, I cannot recommend this book enough.

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2008

Brownbetty rated it:

This book, about half-way through, does something one may not do half-way through a novel, and then continues, unabashed. I adore it.

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 12, 2011

Danica rated it:

haven't read a book that knocked the breath out of me like this one did in approximately, like, an eon. cerebral, intensely emotional, + passages of airtight suspense. i feel like i raved about the last willis book i read, too. didn't i? (my account's nifty already-read backlog tells me that i indeed did.) yes, the author could've shaved off a hundred pages or three, and the har-har elbowed joke of a supporting character cast (all! of them! stereotyped to the last dotted i and crossed t!) g More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2009

Ginny rated it:

I can’t believe I read this whole book. I swear, every time I picked it up, someone had added another 25 pages to it.

I thought about bailing at around page 100, and then again at page 200 and even at page 300! But I loved Doomsday by this same author, and couldn’t bring myself to give up on this one. It’s about near death experiences and the Titanic; how can that combination fail to be interesting?

In fact, the story was interesting, but the book was too long by about More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 01, 2008

Maria rated it:

3.5 stars if I could give them. I loved the entire second half of the book, loved the ideas, the plot twist, the ending, the imagery in the NDEs, and Joanna's revelation about what her NDE really means - all of that really spoke to me, especially considering that she seems to have the same views about death as I do - but the characterization, and the writing in the first half of the book just weren't as good as I know Willis can do.

It's like she was in such a huge rush to get her id More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 05, 2008

Katie rated it:

Engaging, fast-moving, facinating. It did not feel even half as long as it was. I hated putting it down to the point that I was doing crazyreader things like running off to the john at work so I could finish a chapter - only, often the chapters blended, so I'd have to then go down on a fake smoke break so no one would think that I had a stomach bug or some such(one day my coworkers will realize I've been 90% quit for years now, but until then I get a lot of reading done...).

Liked muc More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 14, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

The storyline of this book was interesting -- involving near-death experiences and the Titanic -- but the novel went on way too long. Part of the plot involved searching, but the confusion of hospital corridors and passageways got tiring. In recommendations, people mentioned a "twist" at the end, but I had predicted what would happen about 400 pages before it happened. The ending with Joanna, the main character, made little sense, and I stuck with it because I had already put too much More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 13, 2011

Ron rated it:

Another fun read from Connie Willis. Well-developed, sympathetic protagonist(s) struggling against others (and, apparently, themselves and the natural order) whose single-minded pursuit of their agendas impede, if not imperil, the hero/ine. As usual, Willis examines a serious subject--near death experiences--in a thorough and refreshing way.

The down side? Like many Willis novels, Passage suffers from the Soap Opera Syndrome: once she sets up and starts the story, she goes sideways thro More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 20, 2008

Laurel added it

So far this has been disappointing--I REALLY want to like it!

It's about this psychologist-nerd lady who studies Near Death Experiences with this hot MD who replicates the NDE with medications. Psych Nerd starts to self-experiment when they can't get enough subjects to participate. It's taken 200 pages to get to her first self-experiment and that is FAR too long. I can't take 200 pages of silly banter and cheesiness before the action starts. There is way too much detail about the sc More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 19, 2008

Kristin rated it:

For me, Passage went from three stars, to four, to five during the last 200 pages of this (exceedingly long) book. Yeah, it could be edited down, and no, this isn't a book to read for elegant, beautiful prose. But man--combining near-death experiences, science, and the coolest at-sea disaster of the 20th century...Willis had me hooked. Give this book a chance. The last third is more profound than you think it will be. I was voraciously reading toward the end, hoping for a light at the end o More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 28, 2007

Zigforas rated it:

A gripping novel about how a psychologist and a neurologist venture to (peek through) death's door with the aid of a newly discovered drug able to replicate near-death experiences--but find their investigation takes a surprising turn (really, several). For what it's worth (because I think the way Willis finished will disturb or dissatisfy some readers), I really liked the way the book ended. Hint: There's a reason that Joanna's favorite poem from high school English with Mr. Briarley is The Rime More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 27, 2009

Samantha rated it:

Psychologist Dr. Joanna Lander specializes in near death experiences, or NDEs, and has spent the last two years of her life interviewing patients who have clinically died and lived to tell their stories about the "Other Side." Neurologist Dr. Richard Wright believes NDEs may be a survival mechanism that if understood by medical professionals may help them slow or even reverse the dying process. After witnessing the sudden death of a patient who from death's door leaves her a mystery in More...

1 comment like

Dec 07, 2011

Ryandake rated it:

all in all, a well-done meditation on what a near-death experience (NDE) might signify, and what it might imply for life after death.

i read this book pretty obsessively--it's well-plotted, full of interesting scientific and philosophic detail. if you're after a book with some meat on its bones, you could certainly do worse than this one.

but i am unhappy about it as a whole... mostly because it came so close to being deeply awesome, and instead is just a really good book.
More...

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Nov 11, 2011

Nix rated it:

This book is for adults (heavy themes of death in here).

It's an amazing premise (expecially having read 90 Minutes in Heaven and part of Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back). Joanna Lander and Richard Wright are scientists researching NDEs (Near Death Experiences) using a drug that imitates NDEs. When only a few of their volunteers are able to produce useful data, Joanna has to be "sent under." She sees the Titanic, and sh More...

0 comments like

Jun 23, 2011

Tobinsfavorite rated it:

Oh.

Thirty-six hours ago, this was a 3-star book and I told my husband that it was captivating but flawed. It still is a bit flawed, but the trade-off is a well-constructed, elaborate metaphor of a 600-page novel. (And that is 600 serious pages: no double spacing, no giant margins, longish chapters, so not so much white space. I would imagine the paperback, which I have not seen, runs closer to 800.) I did not manage to read the last 200+ pages in one sitting, but I would have if I More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 24, 2011

Coli rated it:

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0 comments like

Feb 12, 2011

Mary rated it:

Psychologist Joanna Lander and Dr. Richard Wright are involved in a research project involving NDEs - Near Death Experiences. They would both like to prove that these are scientific events not involving any sort of religious afterlife. When the participants in the study start to drop out for various reasons, Joanna decides to become a subject and what she discovers surprises her and sends her on a chase to try to fit all the pieces together.
So far my least favorite Connie Willis book - it w More...

0 comments like

Aug 07, 2010

Sara rated it:

Passage by Connie Willis
4 Stars
594 Pages

Dr. Joanna Lander is a psychologist at Denver's Mercy General who specializes in the study of near-death experiences. And she's not the only one. There is also Dr. Mandrake, a best-selling author of spiritual books meant to convince people of the reality of the Other-Side and that those who have died can still communicate with those of us still here. Joanna spends most of her time trying to avoid him and get to patients who have cod More...

0 comments like

Apr 17, 2010

Francesca rated it:

I went to the library to check out Willis' Doomsday, but this was the only Connie Willis book available...

There's a reason for that. It was awful.

The plot plods along and, as mentioned before, the running gags are not only referenced too frequently, but they don't lend anything worthwhile to the story. The cafeteria's always closed, hallways are constantly being painted, Joanna never remembers to eat lunch but Richard's lab coat is magically a vending machine, poorly written More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2010

Didi rated it:

I've loved Willis' other books, but this one was a disappointment. The first time I read it, I put it down when I was halfway through and didn't pick it up again. Now, a few years later, I finally finished it, but it took some work.
Like some of Willis' other books, this is science fiction about scientists working. It is about Dr. Joanna Lander investigating near death experiences. She teams up with Dr Richard Wright who's found a way to medically recreate the near death experience.
More...

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Jan 18, 2010

Ian rated it:

"Passage" suffers from the same major problem that plagued Willis' book "Bellwether"-they both run a joke or a character trait into the ground through endless repetition. The hospital that serves as the main setting for "Passage" is always under construction and so any time a character goes from one place into the hospital to another, the reader is treated to a discourse on the detours required. In addition, the oily charlatan Mandrake never wavers from his one mess More...

0 comments like

Dec 22, 2008

Cheri rated it:

I picked this out of one of my boxes of books, looking for some easy fiction to read.... it's engaging, but my GOD is it maddeningly repetitive. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh

Page 729 is a perfect example of why this book drives me nuts, and why I ultimately gave it a 2, despite it being fascinating on many levels.

''
She looked at him, bewilderd. "What do you mean?"

"Was it a few days after your session or More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Jenny rated it:

What a colossal waste of time. I kept reading thinking it would somehow come together as I so enjoyed Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of The Dog, but it didn't.

The story is completely unbelievable from start to finish and seems to have been written in a fit of pique after reading too many New Age books about spirit messages. The "science" involved is idiotic. The hospital setting so unrealistic you wonder if Willis has ever spent more than an hour in a hospital. The theo More...

0 comments like

May 10, 2011

Marcus rated it:

This was my first book by Ms. Willis and quite possibly the last as well. For a book that’s written by a supposed luminary of sci-fi, there’s a lot of unnecessary narrative in it. If you cut out the extraneous stuff, this book could have easily been trimmed by a couple hundred pages. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a long book. But Willis seemed compelled to write details that were eyerollingly mundane.

Consider that the first 10% of the book consisted of Wright looking for Landers w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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