Third Book: The Passage by Justin Cronin

The review was supposed be on Sebold's "The Lovely Bones," however I just finished Cronin's "The Passage" and was inspired to write quickly while thoughts were still in my head.

Justin Cronin is an English Professor and has written 3 novels; "The Passage" is his third and most anticipated. It is another vampire novel but not in the style of Stephanie Meyers melodramas; think more Robert Ludlum meets Bram Stoker. The first third of the novel is quick paced, interesting and written with a particular direction in mind. Its narrative is seductive and the reader is engaged with the plot and the machinations of the various characters. The characters, quite a number of them, are well-developed individuals; they are unique with perspectives explained and motivations coherent. The first parts of the book are intriguing.

The second and subsequent parts of Cronin's novel are more questionable. It becomes a post-Apocalyptic world of vampires subsisting on scattered humans and squirrels; there is a nation of Texas complete with oil supplies; and a tremendous, if somewhat oblique, faith in God, home and the American dream. But the focus of this review will be on garbage. Cronin's novel is replete with garbage. Survivors travel the country carrying with them 93 year old cans of food; humans don't starve because they can subsist on ancient, tinned food. And, they dump cans they no longer need. They encounter homes with clothing still packaged and wearable; colonies are almost built on the remnants of shopping malls; heroes are made in the galaxy of consumerism. Although gardening and farming are taken as a necessity, the various characters of Cronin's world struggle in a material world still dominated by the curiousities of the American culture. Books are not explored; although, some characters encounter Melville's "Moby Dick" and various children's books. They are amazed by the moving pictures on a movie screen and the Texan Army still uses the obvious tools of the trade: tanks, walkie-talkies, and bombs.

Cronin's novel world is built upon that which is easily disposable and, thematically, mirrors, the ease with which humans are overrun by the vampire virus. It is questionable whether Cronin did this on purpose; it does not appear deliberate. That fact makes the reviewer consider the influence of consumerism on Cronin's writing. In a sense, the world he creates is almost Disneyfied: vampires eat squirrels and live in the dark. Wouldn't rats be more likely and more available? Mice scurry about the empty houses and vehicles are left in stasis for miles upon miles of traffic; but, there are no descriptions of the horror that would have occurred upon the dead. There are implications about vampire attack, but not about rodent. It wouldn't be so noticeable except it becomes bothersome. The new world, post vampire infection and Texan dominance, seems so clean; travelers can almost drink from streams, plumbing still works. After 100 years. Cronin's novel becomes not just a post-Apocalyptic fiction but almost a fantasy. Worse, and this implication arises more because of the book's timeliness than its storyline, oil still seems like a huge necessity. The Louisiana oil spill is still happening as this is being written and Cronin's work anticipates a world still dependent on crude. Worse still, his narrative fails to consider the possibility of oil accidents although the novel is based upon the arrogance of the American military and its failure to consider accidents. Perhaps, the eventual departure of the Texan citizenry predicts the exploration of the ramifications of an oil spill in a post-Apocalyptic world?

Finally, "The Passage," somehow, is supposed to mirror themes developed in the biblical story of Noah and the Ark. Cronin fails completely to explain the reason why the heroine of the story is connected to the Noah story; she carries the cure to the virus? She is the cure? At one point, the heroine has the cure to the virus and burns them. It really doesn't make sense. Nor does the conclusion. Either Texas is over-run by vampires or the remaining citizens of the world move to New Zealand; for some reason, the heroine disappears and the story concludes in a set of documents presented at a conference. It makes for a less than fulfilling conclusion. If Cronin had been able to maintain the tight, fluid narrative with which he had begun "The Passage," it would be an exceptionable book. Much better than Stephen King's "The Stand" with which it shows similarities. However, the story line seems to dissolve in traveling motifs--characters walking to Wisconsin, to Utah, being driven to Texas. It is reminiscent of J.K. Rowling's final book in the Harry Potter series in which the three main characters are set adrift in a series of camping expeditions that make no sense at all.