Style
Willis includes elements of madcap comedy in the style and form of Passage, and links different events thematically in order to foreshadow later events.
The novel celebrates metaphor, the very idea of which gives Joanna the understanding of how the NDE works to help the dying brain, rather than to ease it into death.
Willis gives certain dialogue traits to some characters. Joanna, seeking to avoid leading questions, continuously asks of patients and even friends, "Can you describe it?" and "Can you be more specific?" (When she finds Dr. Wright starting to unconsciously mimic her, she grins in approval.) Maisie, meanwhile, always manipulating Joanna and others to remain with her during her boring bouts in hospital rooms, tends to begin questions with, "Did you know...?" as in, about the Hindenburg, "Did you know they had a piano? Up in a balloon?" Later, when Kit Brierly begins a question, "Did you know...?" Joanna laughs in appreciation.
Read more about this topic: Passage (2001 Novel)
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