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A review by stephwd
The Passage by Justin Cronin
4.0
I picked up ‘The Passage’ purely by accident from the library thinking it looked fairly interesting and having heard nothing about it before this. There is always something rather exciting about discovering a new author or series that turns out to be so utterly captivating and this was certainly the case with ‘The Passage.’ In fact, in many regards ‘The Passage’ felt more than a novel, but rather like several interwoven together.
It begins as a series of stories between which the novel leaps: there are the mysterious agents who seem to be signing up death row prisoners to a peculiar new experimental programme; then there is Amy –a mere girl, wise beyond her years struggling to survive with her mother who makes a living through prostitution; then there is Sister Lacey, who despite her dedication to God is clearly disturbed, has never in her adult life left the confines of the nunnery in which she lives and has blanked out the horrific truth of her past with a more consoling fantasy; finally there is the military compound in Colorado where ‘Project Noah’ is underway, led by a Doctor desperate to learn how to preserve life and cure the disease that so cruelly stole his wife. Yet on one terrible night all their worlds collide – the night that ends the world as we know it and begins a new and more terrible existence for all those within it. What follows is extraordinary, brilliant and utterly compelling.
I am not a fan of the post-apocalyptic novel (a genre that has been rather overworked in both literature and film in recent years). However, ‘The Passage’ is a far more than this. At once post-apocalyptic, human drama and gothic thriller, this is a novel that defies easy definition and propels you from one story to another with break neck speed. It seems to combine ‘Dracula’, ‘The Road’ and Tom Clancy with the human drama of ‘The Pillars of the Earth’. There is a reason why some novels become best sellers and it is only after reading ‘The Passage’ that I realised it was indeed a New York Times bestseller. Now I’m not claiming this is a great literary work, but there is something brilliant about its epic scale, the sheer leaps of imagination that Cronin has taken to formulate ‘The Passage’ and the engaging way he compels the reader to follow him into a world that sprawls terrifyingly into the future.
Moreover, I am a sucker for vampires (hahaha) and Cronins’ were original and convincing in the terror they evinced in those around them and thus for the reader. These were no romanticised beauties jealously guarding their immortality with a sense of superiority to their human counterparts. They were powerful, bestial, telepathic terrors that terrorised a world already torn asunder and we were thrown back to a world reminiscent of the eighteenth century. Yet Cronin does not rely solely on fear. This is a long novel and if he had, it would have become boring. Rather, Cronin also captivates us with the human element of those who survive and the unique communities that he creates are original and absorbing. We are interested not merely in how they will and have survived, but in their community and the way they interact, which is at once so alien and yet similar to our own existence.
The novel was not without flaws. There were moments that seemed to drag and lost pace. You did have to spend quite a significant element of disbelief at times. There were also some issues with characterisation and dialogue at certain moments that was not always convincing. As a result, there were times when I felt that I had to plough through and kept asking a friend (who had previously read the novel) whether it was going to improve. So it could perhaps have done with a little more editorial work. Nonetheless, it was worth it. In fact, I read the novel back in September and yet it remains one of the most memorable books of the year for me that seems to stand out in my imagination. Of course, there is the desperate frustration of the ending. After nearly 800 pages, there is a childish part of me that still requires some kind of resolution. Cronin offers almost none! However, there are two more novels to follow ‘The Twelve’ that has already been published and is dutifully waiting on my desk to be read and ‘The City of Mirrors’ which is not due out until at least next year in incredibly infuriating news. I hope Cronin can maintain the momentum and imaginative genius that he displays in the first novel and that it will not be another money-making trilogy scam. If he does, the series deserves to be up there with the best in the fantasy and thriller. Moreover, if the rumours are true that the likes of Ridley Scott are beginning to consider film versions, they will undoubtedly be a huge success regardless of their quality and will make for tremendous cinematic viewing. So watch this space…
It begins as a series of stories between which the novel leaps: there are the mysterious agents who seem to be signing up death row prisoners to a peculiar new experimental programme; then there is Amy –a mere girl, wise beyond her years struggling to survive with her mother who makes a living through prostitution; then there is Sister Lacey, who despite her dedication to God is clearly disturbed, has never in her adult life left the confines of the nunnery in which she lives and has blanked out the horrific truth of her past with a more consoling fantasy; finally there is the military compound in Colorado where ‘Project Noah’ is underway, led by a Doctor desperate to learn how to preserve life and cure the disease that so cruelly stole his wife. Yet on one terrible night all their worlds collide – the night that ends the world as we know it and begins a new and more terrible existence for all those within it. What follows is extraordinary, brilliant and utterly compelling.
I am not a fan of the post-apocalyptic novel (a genre that has been rather overworked in both literature and film in recent years). However, ‘The Passage’ is a far more than this. At once post-apocalyptic, human drama and gothic thriller, this is a novel that defies easy definition and propels you from one story to another with break neck speed. It seems to combine ‘Dracula’, ‘The Road’ and Tom Clancy with the human drama of ‘The Pillars of the Earth’. There is a reason why some novels become best sellers and it is only after reading ‘The Passage’ that I realised it was indeed a New York Times bestseller. Now I’m not claiming this is a great literary work, but there is something brilliant about its epic scale, the sheer leaps of imagination that Cronin has taken to formulate ‘The Passage’ and the engaging way he compels the reader to follow him into a world that sprawls terrifyingly into the future.
Moreover, I am a sucker for vampires (hahaha) and Cronins’ were original and convincing in the terror they evinced in those around them and thus for the reader. These were no romanticised beauties jealously guarding their immortality with a sense of superiority to their human counterparts. They were powerful, bestial, telepathic terrors that terrorised a world already torn asunder and we were thrown back to a world reminiscent of the eighteenth century. Yet Cronin does not rely solely on fear. This is a long novel and if he had, it would have become boring. Rather, Cronin also captivates us with the human element of those who survive and the unique communities that he creates are original and absorbing. We are interested not merely in how they will and have survived, but in their community and the way they interact, which is at once so alien and yet similar to our own existence.
The novel was not without flaws. There were moments that seemed to drag and lost pace. You did have to spend quite a significant element of disbelief at times. There were also some issues with characterisation and dialogue at certain moments that was not always convincing. As a result, there were times when I felt that I had to plough through and kept asking a friend (who had previously read the novel) whether it was going to improve. So it could perhaps have done with a little more editorial work. Nonetheless, it was worth it. In fact, I read the novel back in September and yet it remains one of the most memorable books of the year for me that seems to stand out in my imagination. Of course, there is the desperate frustration of the ending. After nearly 800 pages, there is a childish part of me that still requires some kind of resolution. Cronin offers almost none! However, there are two more novels to follow ‘The Twelve’ that has already been published and is dutifully waiting on my desk to be read and ‘The City of Mirrors’ which is not due out until at least next year in incredibly infuriating news. I hope Cronin can maintain the momentum and imaginative genius that he displays in the first novel and that it will not be another money-making trilogy scam. If he does, the series deserves to be up there with the best in the fantasy and thriller. Moreover, if the rumours are true that the likes of Ridley Scott are beginning to consider film versions, they will undoubtedly be a huge success regardless of their quality and will make for tremendous cinematic viewing. So watch this space…