karen.d Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 Wellllll............me no say nuttin'. All I can say is that it was good. So I FINALLY finished 'The Passage' this afternoon, after ploughing through it for the last month or so! I think that it has its flaws, but in general is a very good read. Pontalba, I was right with my prediction, this book finishes with a lot of cliff hangers! I will definitely be buying the next installment when it comes out to find out what happens. Will write a proper review of this soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 (edited) So I FINALLY finished 'The Passage' this afternoon, after ploughing through it for the last month or so! I think that it has its flaws, but in general is a very good read. Pontalba, I was right with my prediction, this book finishes with a lot of cliff hangers! I will definitely be buying the next installment when it comes out to find out what happens. Will write a proper review of this soon. ROTFALOL! I could hardly keep my mouth shut when you first posted wondering about the ending. When I finished and came to that last scene I almost croaked!! It was almost time to throw the book across the room at the wall time for me. Frustrated didn't begin to cover it! And to wait all this time for the sequel...../gnashing of teeth/ I know I'll have to have a skim reread before I read the second. grrr, just like Gabaldon's series. heh Edited June 9, 2012 by pontalba Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 OOh...!!! I've got the Passage on my TBR pile I'm tempted to make it a summer read just to find out about the ending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 OOh...!!! I've got the Passage on my TBR pile I'm tempted to make it a summer read just to find out about the ending It was truly one of the best and almost unexpected cliff hangers I've read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 It was truly one of the best and almost unexpected cliff hangers I've read. That's it I'm definitely bumping it up the list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 It was truly one of the best and almost unexpected cliff hangers I've read. I wouldn't say that this had the best cliff hanger I have ever read, it's certainly good though. I did feel a little cheated by the end actually, because it left me with more questions than answers to what this was all about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I.........................because it left me with more questions than answers to what this was all about. That is exactly what I thought made it soooo verra effective. My reaction was anger, disappointment, and extreme curiosity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 (edited) That is exactly what I thought made it soooo verra effective. My reaction was anger, disappointment, and extreme curiosity. But is it right for an author to build to something, only to never really progress to some form of understanding of what that something is? (does that make sense?) I know some things are revealed, but I didn't feel that I learnt much of what was going on at the end. It's a good way to sell the sequel I suppose! Edited June 9, 2012 by karen.d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I think any author that is into writing a series does the same thing to a lesser degree perhaps. The last Diana Gabaldon for example, An Echo in the Bone had several extremely effective cliffhangers involving several of the characters, most of the main ones as I recall. I remember putting the book down and shouting a certain expletive deleted. The expletive was both on account of the very interesting ending, and the fact I know how slowly she writes! So, yes, I think it is partially to sell the sequel, and partially just plain fun on the author's part. Here they are, with how many readers dangling?? What a power trip! hee hee......shades of grey......har! I also think that in some cases even the author hasn't worked out exactly how they'll get XX out of that particular pot of boiling water. What fun! Really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 I also think that in some cases even the author hasn't worked out exactly how they'll get XX out of that particular pot of boiling water. Throughout 'The Passage' I had the feeling that Justin Cronin didn't know where the story was going a lot of the time, I found that partly frustrating as many times, he would build up a relationship between certain characters, only to kill them off. What is the point of investing your reader's time and emotions on characters, only to bring that to an abrupt/pointless end!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I thought he was trying to show how hopeless life had become over the long term, generations of people trying different ways to survive. Cronin is creating a whole new reality for us to understand. It isn't like he is setting his story in an existing time or place, he has to create that reality practically from scratch. I agree the book had ups and downs and on occasion I had a "oh, come on, spit it out!" moment. But it was all to create a tapestry for us to observe. At least that's my take on it. In some ways that sensation reminds me of Stephen King's The Stand. King went from one group of people to the next, making the rounds, telling the individual stories, looping them together, finally. The Passage will, I think, end up the same way....it's only a bigger project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 In some ways that sensation reminds me of Stephen King's The Stand. King went from one group of people to the next, making the rounds, telling the individual stories, looping them together, finally. The Passage will, I think, end up the same way....it's only a bigger project. Yes this is exactly what I was thinking during the novel too! Although I have only seen the mini series of 'The Stand' and not read the book, I was thinking that Cronin had copied a lot of the elements of 'The Stand'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I read The Stand not too long ago, the expanded version, and I can highly recommend it. Haven't seen the mini series. Don't most stories of that genre have some of the same incidents going on though? How many differences can there be. Sure many variations of the same thing, but different? nah, I don't think so. Something I read years ago spoke of there only really being One Story and I have to agree, the human struggle can only take so many forms. I'm a Star Trek fan, the original series mostly, and as I recall they advertised it as The Wagon Train of the stars. Wagon Train was a popular (US) western tv series on when I was a kid. IOW you could transfer stories from a western to space. neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 I read The Stand not too long ago, the expanded version, and I can highly recommend it. Haven't seen the mini series. Don't most stories of that genre have some of the same incidents going on though? How many differences can there be. Sure many variations of the same thing, but different? nah, I don't think so. No you can't do much more with the genre. That's why I felt that 'The Passage' was a lot of stuff already done, rehashed and with a different name on it. I did enjoy this however, even if it isn't entirely original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 'Sunday Snippet' Now that I have finished 'The Passage' by Justin Cronin, I can add a different 'Sunday Snippet' rather than have continual extracts from the same book! I haven't really progressed past the prologue of 'We Bought a Zoo' by Benjamin Mee, so I haven't formed any opinion of this yet. Here's the first sentence of the novel: Page 1 : 'Mum and I arrived at Dartmoor Wildlife Park in Devon for the first time as the new owners at around six o'clock on the evening of 20 October 2006, and stepped out of the car to the sound of wolves howling in the misty darkness.' 'We Bought a Zoo'- The Amazing True Story of a Broken-Down Zoo, and the 200 Animals That Changed aFamily Forever' by Benjamin Mee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Sounds really interesting Karen.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Sounds really interesting Karen.... I saw the film version of this a while ago, I thought that it would be interesting to read the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 (edited) 'The Passage' By Justin Cronin (Contains Spoilers!) Publisher: Orion Books ISBN: 978-0-7528-9784-4 Length: 766 Pages Opening Line: 'Before she became the Girl from Nowhere- the One Who Walked In, the First and Last and Only, who lived a thousand years- she was just a little girl in Iowa, named Amy, Amy Harper Bellafonte.' Being a door stop sized novel, I was bit hesitate about reading this novel. However, the cover alone pulled me into giving this a go. I wouldn't say that I was completely disappointed by this novel, but I certainly wouldn't say that this was the best book I have ever read. 'The Passage' is a book that is hard to get into for starters. It took me over 200+ pages, before I could comprehend where this book might be going. The set up is rather slow and a few times I contemplated abandoning this altogether. However, I would recommend to anyone who is/contemplating reading this novel, is to stick with it, the story gets better. What I would say with this novel, is that I think that this would translate better on film rather than on paper. Whether or not Justin Cronin had a film in mind when writing this novel, I do think that the vast landscape and multi layered story plot might be better explained on the big screen. A lot of dialogue could have been better though. Sometimes I didn't feel like the characters where real people talking and the speech felt a little disjointed. One thing I found particularly annoying (apart from the endless use of the word 'Flyers'), was that on numerous occasions, Justin Cronin sets up relationships between characters, investing a lot of the reader's time getting to know these characters, only for Cronin to then inexplicably kill the character off! It felt like Cronin was making all of the events up as he went, rather than having a purposeful journey he wanted to take his readers on. Twists and turns are sometimes good in novels, but when it gets to the point where the reader has no idea where the story is going, can be rather off putting. I also felt this novel was an amalgomation of many things (books and films) that I have seen before. In all fairness, a lot has been done in the apocalyptic/monster genre in the case of films and literature, so there is many more places for 'The Passage' could go with it. However, I felt that this was orignal enough, to keep my interest. Is this book worth a read? Yes I do think that this novel is worth a read. 'The Passage' is not without flaws, but the suspense and cliff hangers Cronin creates makes me want to read the sequel, if only to have some answers to the numerous unanswered questions left, in this novel. Apologises if the spoiler didn't work on this review. Can anyone help me with this? Edited June 12, 2012 by karen.d spoiler tags added as wished :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I added the spoiler tags for you If you have any problems with how to use them, just ask and we'd be happy to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Regarding your spoiler section, my take on Cronin's methodology here is that he is creating layered context to give the reader a sense of civilizations passing, of huge amounts of time passing, IOW a "Big Picture". It gave me a better understanding of the whole "happening". Usually first novels of a series are a great deal of set-up for the rest of the story. Sometimes that can be a bit tedious to some readers, but in the long run, necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 I added the spoiler tags for you If you have any problems with how to use them, just ask and we'd be happy to help Thanks Frankie Just to check, to have a spoiler in a post, I have to press <> button next to the 'Image' button, then insert the text in the box and press ok. Is that correct? Regarding your spoiler section, my take on Cronin's methodology here is that he is creating layered context to give the reader a sense of civilizations passing, of huge amounts of time passing, IOW a "Big Picture". It gave me a better understanding of the whole "happening". Usually first novels of a series are a great deal of set-up for the rest of the story. Sometimes that can be a bit tedious to some readers, but in the long run, necessary. I understand what you mean about setting up the story, but I found the 'stop/start' pace of the story/storylines sometimes uncomfortable reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Thanks Frankie Just to check, to have a spoiler in a post, I have to press <> button next to the 'Image' button, then insert the text in the box and press ok. Is that correct? That's for code (and unfortunately I don't know what that means). You can find the spoiler tag option in the first row of tools, it's the third one from the left, right before Font options. First 'color' the section you want to put in spoiler tags, then click on the green-blue-yellow square icon, and in the options list you will find 'spoiler tag'. I hope that makes sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 That's for code (and unfortunately I don't know what that means). You can find the spoiler tag option in the first row of tools, it's the third one from the left, right before Font options. First 'color' the section you want to put in spoiler tags, then click on the green-blue-yellow square icon, and in the options list you will find 'spoiler tag'. I hope that makes sense I've just had a go and it works! Thanks for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 17, 2012 Author Share Posted June 17, 2012 (edited) 'Sunday Snippet' It's funny how some of the books I have read are arduous and quite frankly a chore to get into and others, I whizz through. 'We Bought a Zoo' by Benjamin Mee, is the latter. I will probably finish this book today and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Whilst with 'The Passage' by Justin Cronin I mentioned that this would be better in film form, I think that 'We Bought a Zoo' works perfectly as a book. The film version has the bare bones of the story, but the book version provides the flesh to tell this interesting story. Here's a 'snippet': Page 276: I didn't help, pointing out that by the tiger house (for want of something to say while we waited for the keys to arrive) there was blood on the padlock of the external door. 'We Bought a Zoo' by Benjamin Mee. Edited June 17, 2012 by karen.d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 'We Bought a Zoo- The Amazing True Story of a Broken-Down Zoo, and the 200 Animals That Changed a Family Forever' by Benjamin Mee Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers ISBN: 978-0-00-743182-3 Length: 313 Pages Opening Line: 'Mum and I arrived at Dartmoor Wildlife Park in Devon for the first time as the new owners at around six o'clock on the evening of 20 October 2006, and stepped out of the car to the sound of wolves howling in the misty darkness.' Review: Up until a few weeks ago, a group of friends (a mix of Spanish and English) and I would spend our Wednesday nights going to a discount evening at our local cinema. Not only did this provide an excellent form of Spanish practise for us Brits, but also a very enjoyable evening for all. This is on hiatus at the moment, but one of the films we have been to seen, is 'We Bought A Zoo' with Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. Having enjoyed the film (despite being a little schmaltzy), the end credits revealed that this film was based on a true story, told in the book I'm about to review. The story surrounds Benjamin Mee the writer of a DIY column buying a zoo with his family, despite none of them having any experience of animals whatsoever. The majority of the book deals with the problems Benjamin faces learning the many rules and regulations necessary to reopen Dartmoor Wildlife Park and also family tragedy. Being a animal lover, I knew that this book was going to be right up my street. Mee's writing is warm, funny and contains many interesting facts on animal psychology/behaviours and very amusing anecdotes about the individual animals within the park. Mee also deals with his personal tragedy with sensitivity and even at times, humour. In most of my reviews, I can always find something within a book that doesn't quite work, but with 'We Bought a Zoo' I can't find anything negative to say. The only disappointed I felt when reading this book, was that it had to end. Is this book worth a read? If you're an animal lover like I am, 'We Bought a Zoo' is definitely worth a read. Even if you aren't, I still think that this story of taking on the unknown is very good read. One word of advice, forget the film version of this, just read the book. It's brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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