Page Fifty-Four

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Where to start with this book? I would love to be able to cheat here and simply write what is on the back, but that does not even come close to what unfolds in this 766-page book. I picked this book up on a recommendation, and also the reviews seemed to paint quite a summer blockbuster: grossly engaging, can't put it down, one of the year's best books (and the list goes on). I was wary because the book was science-fiction, post-apocolyptic . . . everything I usually dislike and avoid. Though I thought if I could get through The Road, I could get through this. Many times I was about to toss the book aside and not finish. It is complex in its vast number of characters, scenes, dream sequences, and overall plot. In a most basic synopsis, a plan is hatched by a scientist traveling in South America and carried out by the military at a government facility in Colorado to create a drug that will prolong life. The plan requires twelve individuals; Brad Wolgast, FBI, and his partner are the two men responsible for acquiring them. All twelve are death-row convicts, so their lives - apparently - can be easily spared. The final piece of the puzzle is a young 6-year old girl, Amy, who was abandoned by her mother - a necessary fact, as the ideal group for this experiment are individuals who would not be missed from their everyday lives. Wolgast brings Amy to the facility against his better judgment, having found a fatherly affection for the young girl. Soon after their arrival at the facility, all hell breaks loose and The Twelve - by this time having turned into green-illuminated vampire-like figures (glowsticks/sticks/smokes/dracs), begin their blood-sucking rampage that will last for the next ninety-odd years . . . or more (that is when this first book ends). It is ultimately up to Amy to save the world from these freakish figures.

The book eventually became a definate page-turner for me over halfway. At times it was touching and many others definately chilling and creepy. I didn't love it though, especially not from start to finish. I found some of it confusing and the switching between scenes and characters sometimes frustrating, as was sometimes feeling like Cronin should just shut it with all the detail and side stories and move on. It was, however, a good summer read once I got into it. I can definately see this becoming a movie. Am undecided as to whether or not I will read the next book: The Twelve.

Page Fifty-Three

Room by Emma Donoghue

Jack is five. He lives with Ma in Room. Also there is Rug, Wardrobe, TV . . . Room is all Jack knows. He has not been Outside. Ma was a teenager when she was abducted by 'Old Nick' and locked inside what becomes revealed as an old garden shed. Through Jack's perspective the reader feels Ma's fierce love for her son and her need to protect him from both Old Nick and from the knowledge that there is a world outside their small Room with real people, toys, and wonderful things. However, Room cannot contain Ma and Jack forever, and the time comes when Ma knows she and Jack must leave at any cost.

I didn't think I would like this book at first, but halfway through I could not put it down. The real challenge for Jack is life outside Room. The innocence of Jack is heartbreaking amid what the reader knows his and Ma's reality really is, and amid the fast-paced and puzzling Outside.