There are three layers of narratives, and each of them is a powerful, sentimental story, told in a different time frame - first, there is Virginia Woolf's life, with her thoughts and work, tied within a psychological drama that's waiting to happen. Second, there is the life of a 1950's housewife, Laura Brown, who will change her son's future within the course of a single day's decision. Then there is the modern day Mrs Dalloway, Clarissa Vaughan, who tries to help, then to survive the loss of her poet friend.

While I enjoyed enormously the psychological tensions and the dramatic expectations, I suspect this book will mostly please female readers. Men are not presented in a favourable light, and the strong women steal the show. Virginia Woolf's husband seems inadequate in trying to guess her state of mind or her actions; Mrs Brown's husband likes nothing less than just living the routine life of a working man in the 1950s; the modern poet is unable to rise above his past, destroys his life, because of his psychological issues with his mother, and also because he has a disease he is dying from.

The two-dimensional men are in strong contrast with the women, whose complexity of thoughts and actions make them stronger than they appear. They take the important life decisions, in spite of their social restrictions, and the book is a way to praise the women's right to independence and decisions, within the course of the 20th century. This is a recommended read for those evenings when something different from the usual is needed. ( )

Engrossing ( )

From my blog: http://weelittleactress.blogspot.com

"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself"
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

Recommended Tea: The Republic of Tea's Sip for the Cure Pink Grapefruit Tea with Pink Peony Petals
(a bouquet of Pink Peonies wouldn't hurt, either)

I saw the film The Hours a few years ago. I will go ahead and bravely say that it went right over my head (imagine my hand sweeping over the top of my head right now, because that's what I'm doing and that's what the movie did to me). I knew nothing about Virginia Woolf, nothing about Mrs. Dalloway, and frankly only watched it because Nicole Kidman was awarded an Oscar for it.

So, after reading Mrs. Dalloway, after growing into Virginia Woolf, hearing her calling me from the bookshelf and then from the pages of Orlando and now from trees and flowers, it was still with a little trepidation that I picked up The Hours at the local library. Was it going to be better than the movie? Was it going to injure my newfound love for Virginia? Instead of hearing Virginia speak to me, would I be picturing Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose in my mind?

What joy, what bliss, then, to discover the beauty of Michael Cunningham's The Hours. I admit, I couldn't shake the images of Meryl Streep (even though the actual Meryl Streep appears in the book - surprise!) and Julianne Moore. But, I am happy to say, Nicole Kidman's nose took a back seat and I saw Virginia (and her own lovely nose), heard her voice, could even see through her eyes as she looked up through the beautiful and terrifying water.

For me, the beauty of this book lies in its truth. It explains so vividly what is so terrifying and similarly what is so wonderful about being a living, breathing human being. There is the beauty of the world, ecstatic errands, flowers, making cakes, throwing parties, stolen kisses. Similarly, these things can each hold their own terror. There are also the hours - all of those terrifying hours that stretch out ahead of you for who knows how long. On some days, those hours disappear into the horizon, making it almost impossible to get out of bed. On some days, that horizon seems all too close, uncomfortably close, and the terror comes from the realization that it's closer than you once dreamed.

But, that is the MOST beautiful thing about the human condition - we all experience that terror and that comfort together. We all both fear and respect death. We can all appreciate the beauty of the sunshine and the fear of the day when we will see it for the last time.

Michael Cunningham says it best himself:

There is just this for consolation: an hour here or there, when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children (and perhaps even they) knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult. Still, we cherish the city, the morning, we hope, more than anything, for more. Heaven only knows why we love it so.

I also find it worth noting that everything that I have just said, explaining why I loved this book, explains why I loved Mrs. Dalloway. That feeling of interconnectedness is so well presented in both, which is why I think it is so important to see The Hours as a companion for Mrs. Dalloway. They are like cheese and wine or oreos and milk - they bring out the best in each other. Michael Cunningham obviously has a great love for Virginia Woolf and her work, and this is a love letter to her and to the modern readers who love her but wish that they could see her take on the world as it is now.

So, I would suggest going to your local (independent!) bookstore today, picking up a copy of Mrs. Dalloway, and keeping enough money in your wallet to buy The Hours next week.
But above all else, avoid Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose. ( )

Sometimes I wish books came with reading prerequisites listed on the cover. There are very few novels with which one can assume the average person will be familiar. In The Hours, I suspect it would have been rather helpful to have first read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Or be, you know, at all familiar with Woolf in the first place. Not that a quick skim of the Wikipedia plot summary wasn't enough for me to understand the story, but I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it were I able to pick up on the subtle references to Woolf's characters. All in all, I wasn't too impressed with this one. It wasn't bad; it just didn't really pull me in at all. I didn't care much about the characters, the depressing bits felt meaningless, and the introspection was nothing I hadn't heard before. I suspect I might enjoy a Cunningham novel not based on another book. I'm just not sure I'll ever get around to picking one up. ( )

A very introspective novel that wasn't quite what I was in the mood for. Lots of detail and slow moving. The three women's lives were contrasting and didn't necessarily link easily together. Dramatic ending took me by surprise. ( )

'The Hours'--Brilliant. Michael Cunningham weaves a novel about three women whose lives span the 20th century. Their lives are oven into each others through the book 'Mrs. Dalloway'. Cunningham not only portrays his characters images, but he involves the reader in their thinking and emotions in such a way that one is drawn into their lives. This is serious literary art of the highest quality. The choice of words to depict scenes, emotions, memories and hours divulges an effort of labor and excellence that comes along rarely. The use of metaphore is exquisite. "The woman's head quickly withdraws, the door to the railer closes again, but she leaves behind her an unmistakable sense of watchful remonstrance, as if an angel had briefly touched the surface of the world with one sandaled foot, asked if there was any trouble and, being told all was well, had resumed her place in the ether with skeptical gravity, having reminded the children of earth that they are just barely trusted to manage their own business, and that further carelessness will not go unremarked." ( )

This is the ultimate homage one writer can give to another. It is the story of three women united across time and space by one powerful novel: Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf. The characters, who are all profoundly touched in some way by the novel, are rendered in such exquisite, loving detail that the reader’s life in turn becomes entwined with theirs.

Woolf herself is one of the main characters, just beginning to write Mrs. D while dealing with the repercussions of what today would probably be diagnosed as bipolar disorder. Mrs. Brown is reading the novel in post-World War II Los Angeles, a where where she feels completely out of place, unfulfilled and trapped. And in the present day, “Mrs. Dalloway”—as she is nicknamed by her oldest friend—bustles through the day preparing for a party she is giving in her dying friend’s honor (another author).

Following the same structure as Mrs. D, the novel spans only one pivotal day in the life of each woman, a day that seems like a microcosm of their entire lives. And as their stories unfold, we gradually learn that all three women are more closely linked than it seemed at first—indeed, their lives are inextricable entwined with one another’s. ( )

Well... meant as a parody of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, I cannot say I was strongly impressed: newer people, newer problems - populating the same old story. An actualization of the tale - using end-of-the-century people, with different problems and thoughts; well realized though - a great script for a bestselling movie.
All the couples used are gay in this book - as opposed to the original one; that changes a lot on the main character, to me. In terms of a parody - unquestionably a good one.
Kinda strange - to imagine one of Virginia Woolf's stories, with people wearing blue-jeans ! ( )

I had several reasons to read this book. First, Mrs. Dalloway is one of my favorite books and the film adaptation of The Hours is one of my favorite movies. So, I was prepared for something profound, but I was not expecting a book that would speak to me the way this one did. Michael Cunningham has a way of describing his characters' thoughts and feelings that makes me feel like he's inside my own mind. The fears, sensations, and oddities of Virginia, Laura, and Clarissa are so much like my own and it forced private feelings that I have never really acknowledged to come to the surface. Reading this book was a a very personal experience for me, but I believe that any reader will be able to enjoy it. Cunningham explores an incredible variety of emotions and demonstrates a unique understanding of human nature. I would recommend this book to pretty much everyone I know. ( )

In my opinion this book was just a pale shadow of Mrs. Dalloway. There really is no comparison with the Virginia Woolf novel - neither the writing or the story is particularly notable. I think it is highly overrated! ( )

Hours of uncertainty surround the characters from the past and present in this book. Mrs. Brown (Laura) is a young mother who wrestles with thoughts of suicide. She wants to fade away like Virginia Woolf, as she reads of Mrs. Dalloway. Yet she has obligations to her husband, young son Richard, and her unborn child. Cunningham swings between past and present, as far back to the days of Virginia Woolf, with insights into the characters' minds and reflections on their daily lives. Clarissa, renamed Mrs. Dalloway by her friend, Richard, lives in the present and is planning a party for Richard who has just won a literary award for his poetry. Richard is dying of AIDS and before the party jumps from the 5th floor to his death. In the end of the story, Mrs. Brown reappears as an 80 yr-old woman, Richard's mother. She has lived and survived her earlier suicidal contemplations. Her young son, now grown, has carried out what she only imagined. He has died, leaving her and the rest to cel...more Hours of uncertainty surround the characters from the past and present in this book. Mrs. Brown (Laura) is a young mother who wrestles with thoughts of suicide. She wants to fade away like Virginia Woolf, as she reads of Mrs. Dalloway. Yet she has obligations to her husband, young son Richard, and her unborn child. Cunningham swings between past and present, as far back to the days of Virginia Woolf, with insights into the characters' minds and reflections on their daily lives. Clarissa, renamed Mrs. Dalloway by her friend, Richard, lives in the present and is planning a party for Richard who has just won a literary award for his poetry. Richard is dying of AIDS and before the party jumps from the 5th floor to his death. In the end of the story, Mrs. Brown reappears as an 80 yr-old woman, Richard's mother. She has lived and survived her earlier suicidal contemplations. Her young son, now grown, has carried out what she only imagined. He has died, leaving her and the rest to celebrate his life while remaining to face the days ... hours they have left to live. ( )

The Hours is such a new and inventive novel. I originally picked it up because I am doing an extensive resarch paper on Virginia Woolf, I thought it would be some good background and it was recomended to me. The book blew me away, it was impossible to put down. It's a dazzling quilt of ideas and characters; and Cunningham captures Virginia's essence and style beautifully. The novel had me hanging on each word. ( )

This is a wonderful book. In an ambitious tour-de-force, Cunningham uses Virginia Woolf's life, and her most famous novel, Mrs. Dalloway, to write a completely different book which is, in some ghostly fun-house-mirror image, the same book. Evocative, deeply sympathetic writing combines with an extremely construction scheme to make an unforgettable book. Amazing insights into women's minds. Highly recommended for all. ( )

I dunno. This novel just didn't grip me. I actually skipped to the end, after skimming through the middle, which is something I rarely do. People have written how it all comes together at the end, but it just seemed kind of contrived to me. ( )

I was afraid to read this book for years because it's such a critically-acclaimed book, high-brow, award-winner, literary masterpiece and all, always thought it might be too dry or dense. Very glad I didn't let old prejudices stop me from finally reading Cunningham.

I wanted to read the book with a highlighter in hand, the phrases and insights were that beautiful and worth re-reading and pondering. Absolutely amazed that a male author managed to get inside the intricate and conflicted minds of three women, without pandering to cliches or doling out unjustified sympathies. ( )

Three interconnecting narratives. Very cool. Different kinds of love, different kinds of art. ( )

http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/200... ( )

Every so often, a novel comes along that reaffirms your faith in literature, in the power of reading to transcend the written page and truly impact the world at large. While others may disagree, I found The Hours to be just such a novel, a work of remarkable beauty and grace that is an incredible pleasure to read.

Telling three tales that begin as disparate but gradually and subtly weave themselves together, the novel concerns three generations of women impacted in some way by Virginia Woolf's landmark novel Mrs. Dalloway. Woolf herself struggles with her personal demons as she starts work on the novel; Laura Brown, a 1950s housewife, reads the book and seeks out the beauty and purpose in her own frustratingly staid life; and Clarissa Vaughan is a modern Dalloway-esque woman planning a celebration for her AIDS-ridden friend Richard, a renowned author.

Each narrative contains its own impressive moments, most particularly Mrs. Brown's, which is tinged with the kind of sadness and mundanity that marks the best of Woolf's work. The originality of the tale is a refreshing alternative to the sections on Mrs. Woolf (which are fictionalized but based upon Cunningham's readings of her diaries) and Mrs. Vaughan, although the latter is an impressive reimagining of the Dalloway narrative that both honors the source text and rewrites it in some surprising ways.

The thing that makes the novel so astonishing, however, is Cunningham's subtle sympathy for the women he so masterfully draws. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Vaughan, Cunningham's own wholly original creations, are both as conflicted as they are confident, and though they are faced with a number of challenges throughout the brief text, the authorial voice never appears judgmental. In fact, though Cunningham is consciously invoking Woolf, his tone is impressively even. The result is that when the strands of the novel intersect with a stunning revelation, we are as shocked by the turn as we are impressed with Cunningham's ability to keep the wool over our eyes. At all turns, his voice is confident and restrained, letting the words do the work -- and they do it well.

Affirming the power of the novel and the ability of literature to trasncend time and space, The Hours is an incredible achievement that is as hard to put down as it is to forget. Though it may have been conceived as a humble tribute to a masterwork, its near-flawless execution makes it nothing less than a masterwork itself.

This book is an intricately woven account of the parallels of three women's lives. It's beautiful and heart-wrenching, and Cunningham ties everything together with the story of Mrs. Dalloway. A great and intriguing read. ( )

Michael Cunninham The Hours is a brilliant homage to Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and a stand alone modern masterpiece. The interconnected story of three women, their lives, days and hours is endlessly compelling. Cunningham draws us into the present day story of Clarissa Vaughan and the post war story of Laura Brown and then seemingly effortlessly converges them with the life of writer Virginia Woolf. A poetic and moving novel of love, longing and great passions offers readers an intelligent multi-layered story and characters that resonate long after the final pages are closed. ( )

Passionate, profound and deeply moving, The Hours is the story of three women: Clarissa aughan, who one New York morning goes about planning a party in honor of a beloved friend; Laura Brown, who in a 1950's LA suburb slowly begins to feel the constraints of a perfect family and home; and Virginia Woolf, recupuerating with her husband in a London suburb, and beginning to write 'Mrs. Dalloway'. By the end of the novel, the stories have intertwined. ( )

I don't usually compare books and their movies, but I have to say that I enjoyed the movie more than the book. I feel the book left too many holes in the descriptive sense, so I couldn't connect with the characters, I didn't even have a true sense of who they were. I feel the movie did a better job of this. ( )

I can't say enough on the brilliance of this story. I love the interwoven rich characters. I will note that the movie version is a little different but it was really well done. ( )

Good ( )

As I enjoyed the film so much, I figured the book must be good too. And it was. Cunningham has a great, flowing style and I liked his characters. Of course having seen the film first didn't help my imagination. The Hours is a definite recommendation. ( )