31 December, 2005

Passage (Connie Willis)

Another wonderful Connie Willis book - this one is barely speculative fiction at all. Well, only a little bit.

Joanne is a psychiatrist researching Near Death Experiences (NDEs) who teams up with Richard, a scientist who can chemically induce NDEs in volunteers. Due to a series of failures with volunteers, Joanne herself experiences an induced NDE, and her discoveries stemming from this experience form the remainder of the story.

Passage is an astonishing story about life, death and the intricate machinery of our bodies. While it's not, of itself, a depressing story, I felt rather depressed after reading it all in one go. Reading about death for 8 hours straight will do that to you. Regardless, it's a brilliant novel, and highly recommended - 5 out of 5.

1 comment:

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