Passage

I am a firm fan of Connie Willis, and her novel Passage did not disappoint me.  At first I was a little surprised to find that the book was not speculative fiction; the other books that I have read of hers (To Say Nothing of the Dog and Uncharted Territory ) have been distinctly sci-fi.  And although this book certainly had elements of the fantastic, namely sequences of near-death experiences (NDEs), it was definitely contemporary realism.  Nevertheless, Willis has again proved herself adept at writing characters who are people.

Dr. Joanna Lander, a cognitive psychologist, is researching NDEs at Mercy Hospital, which is a hilarious maze of cordoned-off stairways, broken elevators, and floors that do not connect.  A neurologist, Dr. Richard Wright [insert pun about Dr. ‘Right’], has discovered how to simulate NDEs, and asks Joanna to assist him in interviewing the patients and assessing the information.  Together they struggle to discover what the brain is doing when subjects see a long dark hallway with a light at the end and a feeling of warmth and safety.  In the comical process, during which they do their best to avoid Mr. Mandrake, a quack convinced of messages from the Other Side, and which the Titanic, memory, and metaphors feature greatly, Richard and Joanna try to learn what is at the end of the passage.

If you want to find out, you’ll have to read the book.

–A review on the back cover which greatly amused me:  “…a wit with a common touch who’s read more great books, and makes use of them in her work, than two or three lit professors put together.”  For once, a reviewer actually got something Wright.  Oops, confabulation.