Review: The Passage

The Passage by Justin Cronin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't often read post-apocalyptic novels - even less so post-apocalyptic novels involving a "vampire virus." Like zombie novels, or vampire/werewolf novels, they too often fall into cliche. And, even more so, I find that it's a rare writer who can craft a post-apocalyptic society/culture that strikes the right balance between a different, foreign culture of a society that's "moved on" (Thank you, Sai King) but is still relatable to readers.

In The Passage, Justin Cronin has done exactly that. This is a world that has forgotten things like Christmas (because no one has celebrated it in a 100 years), but there are still many tangible reminders of the past, and while the people of this future know little about The Time Before, they don't act as if they're barbaric hunter-gatherers from a cliched fantasy novel. They're still relatable human beings who may've forgotten who the Utah Jazz are, but they know that "gaps" are types of pants, because they've been scavenged from The Gap in derelict shopping malls.

Also, lots of writers are often called "lyrical" when, really, they're dense and almost unreadable. In this case, Cronin is the real deal. His prose is readable and straightforward, and lyrical and poetic when the story called for it. It's been awhile since I read an epic-length novel that was this engaging and obsessively readable.

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