Willis, Connie - Passage
Mon, Jan. 26th, 2004 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI don't really know what to say about this book. I think I am an immensely non-partial reviewer, especially for this, because I've been thinking about the whole mortality thing recently (brooding, you might actually call it), so a book on near-death experiences and what they mean wasn't really the best thing for me to pick up. This was compounded by the fact that I read it on the airplane, in that gray limboland between actual places, in which everything is just a little too surreal and maddening.
So. The back of the book said it was ultimately enlightening, but I mostly found it scary. It wasn't written to be a scary book, I think, but it was for me. I kind of liked the way Connie Willis was extremely scientific about NDEs (near-death experiences), but I was also a little offput by the rather heavy-handed sneering at New Agers who believed in NDEs as a sign of life beyond death and at the main character's Christian sister. I mean, I don't particularly agree with any view in the book, but I do think it's a bit unkind to have them be raving cariactures who no one would take seriously.
Also... the Titanic? What? I was going along fairly well in the book while Joanna Landers was exploring the mysterious corridor/tunnel and really fascinated by the scientific process of trying to document a NDE and the pains of avoiding leading questions, etc. And then she ended up on the Titanic. I get why, but I felt the final explanation of NDEs as an alarm from the brain to try to somehow resuscitate the body was a little off. I mean, it made sense medically, but I wasn't quite sure why something so elaborate as the Titanic scenario had to be stuck in, and why we had things like the mysterious last words of Greg and fifty-eight. Was all of that Joanna's subconscious? Why was the Titanic so real? Why did she have to substantiate that it was the Titanic? And if all the people kept insisting the NDEs felt real, why was Maisie's so surreal? I don't know. I was following while I was reading the book, but looking back and thinking about it, it just seemed to be a very elaborate explanation that didn't really fit for me. I mean, why do most people see a corridor with light? They can't all be seeing the Titanic. And it was so strange how Joanna's findings seemed to point at the Titanic being near universal -- what came of that? Was it just Joanna's attempts to make things make sense? Plus, what about cultures for whom the Titanic is really not that big a thing? This is my general problem with most religions. They all feel very culturally specific to me.
So in the end, I was mostly scared because of the subject, and a bit confounded by the ultimate explanation.
So. The back of the book said it was ultimately enlightening, but I mostly found it scary. It wasn't written to be a scary book, I think, but it was for me. I kind of liked the way Connie Willis was extremely scientific about NDEs (near-death experiences), but I was also a little offput by the rather heavy-handed sneering at New Agers who believed in NDEs as a sign of life beyond death and at the main character's Christian sister. I mean, I don't particularly agree with any view in the book, but I do think it's a bit unkind to have them be raving cariactures who no one would take seriously.
Also... the Titanic? What? I was going along fairly well in the book while Joanna Landers was exploring the mysterious corridor/tunnel and really fascinated by the scientific process of trying to document a NDE and the pains of avoiding leading questions, etc. And then she ended up on the Titanic. I get why, but I felt the final explanation of NDEs as an alarm from the brain to try to somehow resuscitate the body was a little off. I mean, it made sense medically, but I wasn't quite sure why something so elaborate as the Titanic scenario had to be stuck in, and why we had things like the mysterious last words of Greg and fifty-eight. Was all of that Joanna's subconscious? Why was the Titanic so real? Why did she have to substantiate that it was the Titanic? And if all the people kept insisting the NDEs felt real, why was Maisie's so surreal? I don't know. I was following while I was reading the book, but looking back and thinking about it, it just seemed to be a very elaborate explanation that didn't really fit for me. I mean, why do most people see a corridor with light? They can't all be seeing the Titanic. And it was so strange how Joanna's findings seemed to point at the Titanic being near universal -- what came of that? Was it just Joanna's attempts to make things make sense? Plus, what about cultures for whom the Titanic is really not that big a thing? This is my general problem with most religions. They all feel very culturally specific to me.
So in the end, I was mostly scared because of the subject, and a bit confounded by the ultimate explanation.
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Re: confounded
Tue, Jan. 27th, 2004 07:26 am (UTC)I picked up Doomsday Book once, but never got around to reading it before I had to return it =(. I think I'll try again sometime.