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wrenreader 's review for:
The Passage
by Justin Cronin
It's weird because the whole time I was reading this I kept thinking: 2010 isn't that long ago and yet this book feels dated. I'm not even sure why.
Maybe because our ideas of dystopia, or maybe, more accurately, MY ideas of dystopia have changed a lot over the last ten years. I found myself resisting the second half of the book's insistence on patriarchy in the new dystopian world. I feel like that's a pretty common assumption in most dystopian novels and TV shows, and, while I have no doubt there would be large pockets of it, I have to say: I'm not convinced that would be the case everywhere.
At any rate, the first half was five stars. Interesting premise, great plot, some great writing. Second half was a struggle for a bit. I don't mind new characters in a book, but Cronin had a lot of backstory and a ton of new characters in the second half that I found less engaging at first.
One thing I found particularly interesting from a writing standpoint was the ideas about sleeping walking and lighthouses and dreams that transfered over into his latest novel: The Ferryman. The writerly obsessions we have that we rework and rework until we draw them down to the bone.
Maybe because our ideas of dystopia, or maybe, more accurately, MY ideas of dystopia have changed a lot over the last ten years. I found myself resisting the second half of the book's insistence on patriarchy in the new dystopian world. I feel like that's a pretty common assumption in most dystopian novels and TV shows, and, while I have no doubt there would be large pockets of it, I have to say: I'm not convinced that would be the case everywhere.
At any rate, the first half was five stars. Interesting premise, great plot, some great writing. Second half was a struggle for a bit. I don't mind new characters in a book, but Cronin had a lot of backstory and a ton of new characters in the second half that I found less engaging at first.
One thing I found particularly interesting from a writing standpoint was the ideas about sleeping walking and lighthouses and dreams that transfered over into his latest novel: The Ferryman. The writerly obsessions we have that we rework and rework until we draw them down to the bone.