So, I Finally Read THE PASSAGE

2011 at 5am     Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky

You’d have to have spent 2010 in a bunker somewhere to not know that Justin Cronin’s The Passage was the Big Book of the year. Big in that it was ubiquitous in the way that, say, The Marriage Plot is right now and in that it was nearly as long as the also-currently-unavoidable 1Q84. Oh, and it was about vampires, sort of, and they were still (sort of) all the rage.

And that’s basically all I knew about The Passage. It was everywhere, and pretty much everyone I knew read it. Most of my friends loved it, though the ones who didn’t were fervent in their dislike, and I felt like I couldn’t win. If I read it and hated it, I’d have that awful feeling that I must have missed something vital, or worse, that I simply wasn’t up to understanding something about it, and if I loved it, I’d feel like I had to defend it (and by extension, my taste) to the ones who deemed it less than worthy. Add to all this the fact that I wasn’t really doing genre at the time, and you have the makings of an epic case of bookcrastination.

So I just left it languishing on my galley shelves. I saw it every time I moseyed over to select my next read. I picked it up and *almost* started it a few times. I even took it on two vacations. But I just couldn’t get excited about it. For a while, I thought this failure to launch was a result of the hangover from all the hype surrounding the book’s release. Despite the fact that I knew a great deal of the buzz about The Passage was genuine because it was coming from people whose recommendations and opinions I trust, there was so much talk about it that I was a bit turned off. I needed to put some space between all that chatter—and all those loaded expectations—and my experience with it.

The stars aligned last week, and I finally picked it up (and then promptly hunkered down), and you know what? It was pretty great. Not perfect, but perfectly enjoyable.  

I knew that Cronin was a literary writer (dude won the PEN/Hemingway Award, after all), but I didn’t expect the writing to be quite so gorgeous in parts. Not to say that genre books can’t also have terrific writing, but I’m new enough to them—and attached enough to my literary fiction roots—that I still find it surprising when I’m moved to pause in the middle of an apocalyptic vampire thriller to underline a beautifully constructed sentence. Also, multiple narratives are the most powerful of my book kryptonites, and I was thrilled that Cronin presented the story not just from many different characters’ perspectives but also through incorporating non-traditional formats like emails, journals, and academic papers into the text.

The plot is compelling and scary in that “holy shit, what is the government experimenting on that we don’t know about?” kind of way AND in the usual vampires-are-creepy way, and Cronin forces readers to consider just how easily something could get out of hand—or fall into the wrong hands—and cause the end of the world as we know it. There are some pacing problems that make the first half of the book seem to drag at points, but the end (literally, the stuff that happens in the last 20 pages of this 800-page tome) makes them seem like non-issues after all. There are a lot of characters to juggle, but Cronin mostly succeeds in making each one recognizable and memorable, and all the important ones are just plain unforgettable.

Though I didn’t lurve The Passage, I liked it quite a bit, and this was a ridiculously fun and generally positive reading experience for me. I’m not well-versed enough in the tropes of vampire fiction or science fiction to address other critics’ accusations that The Passage is derivative, and I think that actually made me an ideal reader for this book. I didn’t know what Cronin was modeling his book on (many say it’s Stephen King’s The Stand), so I was able to meet it where it was.

When I realized that—that one of the most important things about my experience with this book was the fact that I was able to meet it where it was—I also realized that this wouldn’t have happened if I’d picked it up a year ago. In mid-2010, I just wasn’t ready for it. Plain and simple. But my adventures in genre over the last ten months have shown me that I can read, understand, and enjoy genre fiction, and they’ve given me a deep appreciation for the magic that happens when a talented literary writer sets out to write a book in which Things Actually Happen.

The moral of the story? Next time there’s a Big Book you feel like you’re supposed to be reading but not right now, wait it out. Let it come to you. You’ll be glad you did.

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Comments7 Responses to “”

Sandy onOctober 26th, 2011 6:13 am

Well, strangely, I was one of the people that actually read this book last summer. (Actually listening on audio, while I was walking in Indiana on lonely roads lined with lots of trees and cornfields – holy crap!) But I know exactly what you are talking about. I’m usually behind when it comes to reading the latest and greatest. Perfect example is The Night Circus. I have the thing, but after sitting and staring at it for weeks, I think I’m going to have to wait. Too many reviews, too much hype.
Sandy´s last blog ..Not So Wordless Wednesday: Gdansk #1

Lauren onOctober 26th, 2011 11:51 am

I JUST finished The Passage last week. It took me 3 months to read it (between being a full time pharmacy student and working). The last month though I really “bunkered down” and started reading it alot more, and also listening to it in my car while I was driving to and from school/work, which helped ALOT!
I couldn’t agree with your review any more. I think the last 2 sections of the book are the best. I was racing through them trying to see what happened. I think it was a good book and left you in a cliff hanger. There were some chapters that could have been left out. The way he jumps from character to character wasn’t that confusing and left you wanting to continue to read the next few chapters to figure out what happen to that character.
I’m looking forward to the next book.

Katharine Herndon onOctober 26th, 2011 7:51 pm

I’m still having that same relationship with The Passage, so your post gives me hope.

Marie onOctober 27th, 2011 4:54 pm

You’ve given me hope, too! I’m still waiting for The Passage to come to me. I hope to read it sooner rather than later. Nice review, by the way.
Marie´s last blog ..The Best Art You’ve Never Seen by Julian Spalding

Anna onOctober 28th, 2011 6:04 am

I know what you talking about, it happened to me too with some book. I couldn’t read it, only couple of years later i could get to it. and then, i fell in love with the book…
Anna´s last blog ..5 Tips On How to Make a Relationship Work

ella onOctober 28th, 2011 7:48 am

It actually happens to me quiet often where I start a book and then i put it down for a few months b/c something goes “wrong” but once i get back to it I love it and I end up rereading the first part again
ella´s last blog ..Halloween Party Food for Your Office or Home Party

Rachel onNovember 1st, 2011 11:11 pm

Being one of those people who was shouting from the heavens at you to read this book, I’m so happy to see that you did and that you enjoyed it! I’m with you when it comes to “meeting it where it was.” I was at the right time at place for that book when it came out, I think mostly because I was doing genre fiction via YA, but I also had no previous knowledge of it’s derivatives. I’d barely heard of The Stand for goodness sakes.

This is also how I feel about the Game of Thrones series. I don’t really have any other experience with high fantasy, so I can’t make those comparisons but he’s a brilliant writer so I can meet Martin exactly where I’m supposed to. It’s a wonderful way to read a book.
Rachel´s last blog ..UPDATE: Read-a-thon: End of Event Meme

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