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ge with the similar terms page turner novel insights addictive savidge reads and all the books i can read faced paced and enthralling page turners and it really is to describe the plot of the passage in a way that both does it justice and avoids misconceptions is a difficult task basically there are two main sections one set in the present day followed by one decades into the future in the present day we meet wolgast a government agent tasked with convincing death row inmates to participate in a scientific testing for a government program in exchange for a lesser sentence of lifelong incarceration it becomes clear that the virus injected into the subjects with the hopes of discovering a way to prolong human life has in fact caused them to mutate into monsters or vampires the twelve subjects break out into the world and bring about the apocalypse just before the outbreak and ensuing bloodbath a six year old girl named amy is experimented on and survives the experience without changing into a vampire the setting then shifts to the future in an enclosed settlement of people attempting to shelter from the virals who have killed or taken up most of north america s population and perhaps the world s it is with the characters in this small colony fighting for survival that the reader spends the majority of the book i ve tried not to reveal too much more than the inside flap of the book makes clear but since it s such an epic book even that description encompasses a lot i felt it was important to at least briefly outline the future section because that s where the reader spends the most time and i felt the tone shifted considerably between the two time frames from very bleak and to something more like the tone of the hunger games by suzanne collins a thrilling but completely necessary sometimes deadly and inescapable adventure a lot has been made of the passage being a book about vampires but the vampires here are so animalistic and lacking in humanity except for in brief moments they can t even speak verbally like a usual vampire can but they are sensitive to light and drink blood the descriptions of them gave me the impression that they hardly even look human they re also rarely referred to as vampires except for in the present day section as a result the passage avoids a lot of the usual subject matter of vampire novels and so readers sick of vampires shouldn t miss out on this great novel by staying away from it oh and it s the first installment in a trilogy so expect to hear more about this wonderful series favourite quotes there was one great difference between the world as it was not and the world of the time before michael fisher thought and it wasn t the virals the difference was electricity fixing the batteries was impossible the batteries weren t made to be fixed they were made to be replaced the membranes were cooked their polymer pathways hopelessly gummed up with sulfonic acid molecules that s what the monitor was telling him with that little bitty hiccup in the day to day short of the u s army showing up with a brand new stack fresh from the factory hey sorry we forgot about you guys the lights were doing to fail a year two at the outside and when that happened it would be he michael the circuit who d have to stand up and say listen everybody i ve got some not great news tonight s forecast darkness with widespread screaming it s been fun keeping the lights on but i have to die now just like all of you by half day they had found the river again they rode in silence under the snow which was falling steadily now filling the woods with a muffling light the river had began to freeze at the edges dark water flowing freely in its narrowed channel oblivious amy leaning against peter s back her pale wrists slack in his lap had fallen asleep he felt the warmth of her body the slow rise and fall of her chest against him plumes of warm vapour flowed back from the horse s nostrils smelling of grass and earth there were birds in the trees black birds they called to one another from the branches their voices dimmed by the smothering snow links enter the passage justin cronin s official site find subject zero other reviews all the books i can read novel insights page turners savidge reads dk posted in books tagged post apocalyptic the passage vampires french milk by lucy knisley by dominique on august 20 2010 7 comments in french milk lucy knisley recounts the six weeks that she and her mother rented an apartment in paris to celebrate their 22nd and 50th birthdays its blend of comic book style drawings travel photographs and personal thoughts gives the book a collage feel and results in a feeling of intimacy with knisley knisley shares what she s reading how she s feeling from her bad moods to her longing for her boyfriend and what she s eating this book made me pretty hungry most things set in france seem to affect my appetite like that i found that the main theme in french milk apart from travel was the conflict that many people in their early twenties feel in as they make that strange transition from adolescence to adulthood as well as the anxiety about soon having to make one s own way that nearing the end of tertiary education produces these are all feelings i ve recently experienced but have not really seen captured in a book before so i really enjoyed and related to this aspect of knisley s thoughts this was just the trick today when i needed something light to entertain me while sick in bed it s short whimsical but also very poignant and it s my first graphic novel i m really keen to try out some more now after enjoying this one so much other reviews paperback reader links lucy knisley s official site posted in books tagged graphic novel paris travel soulless by gail carriger by dominique on august 17 2010 17 comments take the structured societal rules and preoccupation with manners of jane austen a sexed up version of the conflict ridden romance between elizabeth bennett and fitzwilliam darcy in pride and prejudice some dandy vampires and lusty werewolves who have integrated into society a la the sookie stackhouse mysteries a guest spot from queen victoria and add a few steampunk touches and you pretty much have soulless by gail carriger that s right one book combines all those awesome things alexia tarrabotti is labouring under a great many social tribulations first she has no soul second she s a spinster whose father is both italian and dead third she was rudely attacked by a vampire breaking all standards of social etiquette where to go from there from bad to worse apparently for alexia accidentally kills the vampire and then the appalling lord maccon loud messy and gorgeous werewolf is sent by queen victoria to investigate with unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing everyone seems to believe alexia is responsible can she figure out what is actually happening to london s high society will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing finally who is the real enemy and do they have treacle tart alexia was a wonderful character to travel through this story with stubborn assertive argumentative and partial to copious amounts of tea treats and lord maccon i broke out in giggles a number of times while reading this book which is always a good sign the combination of alexia s personality her less than loving family and the plot s mystery reminded me a little of the sweetness at the bottom of the pie but only a little soulless is gloriously fun for anyone who enjoys a light slightly tongue in cheek read i know i ll be reading changeless the next installment in the parasol protectorate series favourite quotes mr macdougal gave her a shocked glance as subtly as possible alexia winked at him he looked as though he might faint but sat back in his chair clearly of a mind to let her deal with the situation in whatever way she saw fit miss tarrabotti had the transitory idea that he might be suitable husband material after all and then realized that a lifelong alliance with a man of such weak character would certainly turn her into a veritable tyrant p 267 other reviews the book smugglers giraffe days links gail carriger s website and blog posted in books tagged romance vampires victorian age enduring cuba by zoe bran by dominique on august 13 2010 4 comments cuba is on my list of travel destinations i d like to make it to one day and so when enduring cuba by zoe bran caught my eye one day i suggested it to my library as an acquisition because i m cheap like that the back cover reads zoe bran has always been fascinated by the gap between the ideals of the world s socialist countries and the arduous hand to mouth struggles of the people who live in them castro s cuba is one of the last such places on earth seeking to understand the realities of cuba today zoe travels the length of this beautiful island beneath the surface of music and dancing cockfights and animal sacrifice she finds a land of complex ambiguities a fertile land where many hunger an educated country with scant knowledge of the outside world a nation exhausted by socialism but proud of its independence and history of revolutionary struggle from havana to the pastoral hinterland zoe talks with writers and artists with expatriates with committed revolutionaries and those desperate to escape abroad enduring cuba presents a kaleidoscope of cuba and its people whose tenacity and endurance is both inspiring and humbling as someone who had only a limited knowledge about cuba s history before reading this book i can honestly say it taught me a lot bran gives a very detailed account of historical events as they come up in her conversations with cubans and fellow travellers this can make the book a bit heavy going at times and for that reason i probably wouldn t recommend it to someone looking for light armchair travel but it suited me my only complaint is that i would have liked a few more accounts of bran actually doing things in cuba as the majority of the book is made up of her conversations with people which are interesting but i did expect a bit more doing from a book under the lonely planet brand that s not to say there isn t any action bran s accounts of a cockfight and a religious festival involving animal sacrifice are vividly gruesome and capture the intense atmosphere while these events were slightly uncomfortable to read about they were a strong point of enduring cuba and i think it would have benefited from more captivating passages like them posted in books travel tagged cuba lonely planet travel the male gaze and my cousin rachel by daphne du maurier by dominique on july 10 2010 13 comments my cousin rachel is my third daphne du maurier and the first i ve read told from a masculine perspective it s told by phillip ashley an orphan brought up by his older cousin ambrose ashley as his heir the narrator phillip is older and looking back on events past knowing there is no altering them now he opens his story by recounting a time that as a young boy he was goaded by ambrose into throwing a rock at the hanging corpse of a man who was strung up for murdering his wife as he recalls the episode he ponders how to endure his life no one will ever guess the burden of blame a carry on my shoulders nor will they know that every day haunted still by doubt i ask myself a question which i still cannot answer was rachel innocent or guilty maybe i shall learn that too in purgatory we learn of phillip s intense desire as a young boy to be just like ambrose we read his thoughts that the boy who stood under her window on his birthday eve the boy who stood within the doorway of her room the evening that she came he has gone just as the child has gone who threw a stone at a dead man on a giblet to give himself false courage tom jenkyn battered specimen of humanity unrecognisable and unlamented did you all those years ago stare at me in pity as i went running down the woods into the future had i looked back at you over my shoulder i should not have seen you swinging in your chains but my own shadow and so the first chapter concludes and in just a few pages du maurier has foreshadowed the events of the novel and set an intensely gothic and dramatic tone then the plot commences with phillip as a young man in his twenties who gets left behind at the estate as ambrose leaves for florence due to his poor health before long phillip learns that ambrose has married phillip s cousin rachel whom phillip has never met and he feels overcome with an intense jealousy and hatred he imagines rachel as a hundred different women all completely detestable before long phillip receives a worrying letter from ambrose which indicates that he is unwell and expresses concerns about his doctors and suspicion of rachel phillip leaves for florence but by the time he arrives ambrose is dead and rachel has left he returns to cornwall and eventually receives word that rachel is coming and believing her responsible for his cousin s death he intends to make her pay but once she arrives he becomes completely obsessed and infatuated by her but what are her motives what happened in florence is she phillip s evil seductress or is she a victim is phillip naive paranoid a victim mentally ill as phillip indicates in the first chapter the reader will never completely know the answer my cousin rache l is a novel of considerable technical skill i think the most accurate analysis of phillip s character was given by sally beaumont in the novel s introduction phillip ashley is twenty three but old before his time willingly imprisoned by the reactionary chauvinistic anti intellectual and misogynistic beliefs of the older cousin guardian he worships this aspect of the character and phillip s male gaze that both imprisons and obscures rachel s true character from the reader were the most interesting aspects of the novel for me beaumont described this aptly when she said we see rachel and hear her speak yet she remains essentially unreadable her features distorted by the male gaze of the possessive jealous and infatuated man describing her we can never see her because phillip ashley blind to his own oedipal impulses obscures her in which context the semiotics of the possessive pronoun used in the title is not one feels accidental as that my signals an act of appropriation takes place in this narrative one that denies rachel autonomy forced to fit inside the fictive prison phillip ashley constructs around her she cannot be herself she has to be his belonging his adjunct and chattel and she is merely another item on a long privileged ashley list my house my estate my money my family jewels my cousin rachel all this takes place in the subtext of the novel in the foreground the reader analyses whether rachel is corruptive or pure but who is really doing the poisoning it seems the whole story is poisoned by phillip s point of view and how much can the reader trus...