I just finished The Passage by Justin Cronin. I was SO disappointed.
It was gripping – and spooky (it’s a vampire book but totally not for kids). The story was LONG and detailed. I loved that it was told from various points of view. He's got the science of story telling down. The use of time delay was curious and added to the story's power - some of it was a view back to the time period (about 2014 or so) when the vampires were "hatched" (called "virals" because when they take you in, you become a vampire too). Of course it was a dastardly plot by the US Army to create super-human soldiers that went sadly and horribly wrong. Now the vampires have basically killed or infected everyone in North America -- except for a small Colony of humans (we are not sure if there are other colonies until well in to the story). Some of it was in the primary moment of the action - about 100 years after the virals hatch. The opening bits were foretelling the story - and give some interesting grounding for a few main characters. Some was a look back to history from a thousand years later. So we know that humans continue to survive, which is nice, but honestly, you'd never know why or how from reading this novel.
So the science of it was there - there's a strong plot, a narrative, good characters. He slips in things like book-lovers and a scene of movie Dracula. Very clever. There is some magic in it (I'm a fan of magic. Cronin's has a bit of God as Guide spirituality mixed with it, but not too overt.) Yet the art of storytelling is really about telling the story - I want to know how things come about, why the characters interact, and I want some sort of logical conclusion to the story. Not every detail wrapped up in a bow like a cheap romance, but at least some sort of reason to end the novel where it ends.
So while Cronin does a nice job of including some details to the story that make the characters alive and human, the story telling doesn't seem to have a strong purpose. It's like the story never finds purchase amid the gruesome vampire actions and the human colony's colossal struggle for survival. Instead, the end of the book reads like the end of just another chapter. I found myself puzzled as to why there wasn't more.
Cronin left so many things unanswered and sort of vague. I was incredibly disappointed. It was either a completely undisguised play for a sequel or it just made sense in his head and not mine.
For the spookiness factor alone, I would urge caution. I had to put it aside and not read it before bed if I wanted to sleep at all.
So you were disappointed by The Passage after all... but I can see you obviously liked aspects of it nonetheless. That often happens in a horror book... i.e., with Stephen King.... the anticipation and build up -- and the storytelling -- are sometimes the best part.
Posted by: James | August 05, 2010 at 10:03 PM