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67th out of 634 books
—
2,162 voters
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 usi...more
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 usi...more
Paperback, 780 pages
Published
January 2nd 2002
by Bantam
(first published January 1st 2001)
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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 more satisfied with it than I'd...more
(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 more satisfied with it than I'd...more
Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.
On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.
While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became...more
This book is kind of a beautiful mess. I can think of few other authors with the equal ability to drive me absolutely insane and keep me reading, usually with a lump in my throat. This is my third Connie Willis novel. To Say Nothing of the Dog is one of my favorite books of all time, a comedic farce wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a sci-fi novel. It is probably too long and a lot of the plot relies on misunderstandings, miscommunication, missed connections and narrative dead ends. Doomsday Book...more
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9 likes · like · see review
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.
I l...more
I l...more
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"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 in "Passage." I h...more
I loved the first two-thirds, about investigating near-death experiences -- fascinating subject, great characters, as usual -- but the last third consisted mostly of some of the characters racing around trying to figure out what another character (and thus the reader) had already figured out. The pacing and suspense were very good up until that point, but most of the rest was just not up to the beginning. I'd still probably recommend it, but with reservations.
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.
This book, about half-way through, does something one may not do half-way through a novel, and then continues, unabashed. I adore it.
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This book made a grown man cry. Granted, deferring to my partner, 'grown man' may be too strong a word, but you get my point. I'm usually cold-hearted and cynical, but Connnie Willis knows how to press my teary buttons.
At the time of first reading this I had a great lecturer called Joanna who fit the description of the main character to a tee, leaving me emotionally invested in the story more than the average reader.
Moving away from me sobbing like a baby, this is classic Connie Willis. Magnific...more
At the time of first reading this I had a great lecturer called Joanna who fit the description of the main character to a tee, leaving me emotionally invested in the story more than the average reader.
Moving away from me sobbing like a baby, this is classic Connie Willis. Magnific...more
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!) got pr...more
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 200 pages—-mostly due to r...more
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 200 pages—-mostly due to r...more
Dec 01, 2008
Maria
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people looking for a mind-trip
Recommended to Maria by:
cincodemaygirl
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 ideas about de...more
It's like she was in such a huge rush to get her ideas about de...more
May 05, 2008
Kate
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
My sister
Recommended to Kate by:
My boss
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.
Liked much of the dialogue and cared very much about most of the characters. Occasionally, some of the back and forth felt a little fake...more
Liked much of the dialogue and cared very much about most of the characters. Occasionally, some of the back and forth felt a little fake...more
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 time into...more
Mar 05, 2011
Ron
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
fantasy
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 through the mi...more
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 through the mi...more
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 scientific proce...more
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 scientific proce...more
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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 of the...more
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
This 2001 novel shows the same sprawl and bloat as in her latest two novels, leaving me yearning for the slim brilliance of her slightly earlier �Bellwether� and �To Say Nothing of the Dog�. Here she flies with a creative idea of a female psychologist, Joanna, and a male neurologist teaming up to elucidate why the brain generates a relatively common set of experiences in near-death situations. That an experimental drug might help research by simulating the patterns engaged in the �Near Death Exp...more
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 involving th...more
I started out loving this novel but ended up merely liking it and, to be honest, even getting annoyed with it toward the end. It takes place in a busy Denver hospital and revolves around several researchers trying to find out what’s going on in the brain during near death experiences. (You know…the kind where people “die” for a minute or two and awaken to remember walking through a tunnel towards a bright light and sensing angelic presences and whatnot…) In order to save the floundering research...more
This came really really close to ending up in my "gave up on" shelf. I tried so hard to like it, I really did. Many times I'd tell myself that was it, I wasn't going to continue, and the ONLY reason I did finish it, is because it was Connie Willis. If this had been the first book I read by her, it would have gone to the local charity shop and I'd never touch another by her. But it wasn't, so I slogged through it...and slogged, and slogged and slogged.
It started out promising - investigating NDE...more
It started out promising - investigating NDE...more
Passage isn’t an easy book to pigeon-hole when it comes to genre classification, in part because if I try to define it too clearly I will spoil the plot for anyone wanting to read the story. In parts it could be considered time travel or a medical drama, and it’s not without humor either.
In short, Passage is the story of a researcher named Joanna who is working on a project studying near death experiences (like seeing a bright white light at the end of a tunnel). She teams up with a scientist wh...more
In short, Passage is the story of a researcher named Joanna who is working on a project studying near death experiences (like seeing a bright white light at the end of a tunnel). She teams up with a scientist wh...more
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.
the characters have no re...more
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.
the characters have no re...more
Nov 11, 2011
Nix
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
older teens and adults
Shelves:
connie-willis
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 she wonders what the connect...more
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 she wonders what the connect...more
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 could have.
I g...more
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 could have.
I g...more
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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 wasn't...more
So far my least favorite Connie Willis book - it wasn't...more
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| Discussion Questions | 1 | 9 | Dec 31, 2012 01:12pm |
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s.
She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Ficti...more
More about Connie Willis...
She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Ficti...more
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