The Hours

“There’s 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.” -- Michael Cunningham, The Hours

Michael Cunningham’s The Hours is an inspired creative work of art that uses Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway as a starting point. The author braids together three different stories of three different days in the lives of three female protagonists: Mrs. Woolf, Mrs. Brown, and “Mrs. Dalloway.” Mrs. Woolf show more is an imagined version of Virginia Woolf herself, in June 1923, as she is in the process of creating her book and envisioning how it will unfold. Mrs. Brown is Laura Brown, a wife and mother in 1949, who is suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts. “Mrs. Dalloway” is Clarissa Vaughan, nicknamed by her gay friend and noted poet, Richard, due to her first name and personality. She buys flowers for a party she is hosting later that evening for Richard, who is about to receive a literary award. The exact date is not given, but implied to be in the 1990’s. It is hard to do justice to this novel through a plot summary. Suffice it to say it is character-driven and plot is secondary.

Poignant and sad, though not without a thread of hope, this novel explores the difficulties of living with depression, surviving day-to-day in the face of mortality, and fighting against perfectionistic tendencies. The reader will notice many parallels to Woolf’s work in style, themes, and scenes. Cunningham’s prose is lyrical, and he successfully simulates Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness writing style, replete with parentheses, semi-colons, detailed descriptions, and asides. Themes include time, mortality, gender, creativity, and finding meaning in life. The perspective is omniscient third person, so the reader is privy to the thoughts of both the main and secondary characters. This work evokes questions in the mind of the reader and invites meaningful introspection. Be aware going in that the content includes suicide.

The Hours is a brilliant and moving tribute to the hopes and fears of everyday life. Cunningham turns the seemingly mundane into the sublime. Recommended to anyone that has read and had a positive reaction to Mrs. Dalloway. show less

I first read this book back in the early 2000s, but I remembered very little beyond the broad outline (3 women, 3 timelines, inspired by [Mrs. Dalloway]...). I think I missed a lot when I first read it. I also hadn't yet read Mrs. D so all of that was a bit lost on me. This time, however, I couldn't put the book down. The prose was gorgeous, and I loved the connections and shared threads between the three lives Cunningham gives us. I also thought Cunningham did a wonderful job with the interiority of three very different women, especially considering he's a guy ;-) In the end, the considerations of the place and role and aspirations of women were what I took away most - and the fact that those questions are so little changed over time show more and circumstance.

4.5 stars show less

It was timely to read this book right after Mrs Dalloway, where even the title might have been the same. Michael Cunningham plays a game of hide and seek with Virginia Woolf. It might be annoying at first, the events set in New York seem like a caricature of a greater book. But then the lesser book grows out of the greater's shade and twists its own tale.
I am glad I have forgotten the movie except for a few memorable scenes, I am glad I have persevered beyond the initial allergic reaction to the book, I am glad that Michael takes Virginia along or rather takes us along for her last walk.
What is literature after all if not a retelling of great stories previously told! Can we demand more than a twist, a variation on a theme, a smile of show more recognition on reader's lips? show less

I think the highest praise I can give this novel is that it was worth suffering through Mrs Dalloway to get the most out of it. The Hours, you see, could be described as a "derivative work" ie fan fiction. One thread is about Virginia Woolf, the author of Mrs Dalloway, another about a woman reading Mrs Dalloway and a third about a woman nicknamed Mrs Dalloway by a friend. It's this last thread where first reading Woolf's novel pays off since it's a riff on the characters and events of that novel only set in contemporary New York City, and translated beautifully and movingly. One of the pleasures for me in the book was recognizing the references. Eventually the three narrative threads connect up.

I loved this book a lot more than the show more source. For one a central event in first novel has a lot more resonance in the second where it has a real effect on the other characters. The narrative of The Hours, although lyrical and interior is far more coherent than Woolf's almost mad stream of consciousness narrative--and certainly, present-day New York City is far more accessible to me than 1923 London and the way of its upper classes. I also found the characters of The Hours much more sympathetic and easier to identify with than Woolf's characters. (That's not the distance of time or country--Austen, Forster, Shakespeare--Gilgamesh have characters far more accessible and sympathetic to me than Woolf's in Mrs Dalloway) I felt the second novel illuminated and used the first well, while standing on its own with its themes of the terrors of middle age, insanity and loss. show less

She will do all that’s required, and more.

So many women, doing what other people need/want them to do. There’s Virginia Woolf in 1923, obliging to her husband’s request that she recover her mental health in the suburbs, when the only place she wants to be is London. There’s Laura Brown, performing the duties of wife and mother in conformity-laden 1949 Los Angeles. And there’s Clarissa Vaughan in late-20th-century New York City, organizing a party to honor her longtime friend/former lover who’s been ravaged by AIDS. Each of them enduring the hours of a single day, and then the hours after those.

I first read this in 2014 -- a fascinating riff on [Mrs. Dalloway], where the original novel’s author (Virginia), its main show more character (Clarissa), and a reader (Laura) are imagined in their own storylines. I watched the film again yesterday after I’d finished my re-read. The novel is a beautiful and melancholic tragedy; the film is devastating. show less

Beautifully written and fully realized, a very satisfying novel. The author follows a thread, not linear but in needlepoint, uniting three different eras, places and women. While it certainly helps to have read Virginia Woolf, it’s not a prerequisite to enjoy this moving and compassionate work, a shimmering reflection of Woolf’s love of ‘life, London, this moment of June.’ Joy and sorrows, triumphs and failures that make up the hours of our day to day lives. Won the 1999 Pulitzer.

The Hours focuses on three women: Virginia Woolf, the author of Mrs. Dalloway, which this book plays with; Laura Brown, a young housewife who is reading Mrs Dalloway and struggling with her too-perfect and not-perfect-enough home life; and Clarissa Vaughan, who is living a sort of 20th century version of Clarissa Dalloway’s life. Cunningham switches between chapters and at the end, manages to make them all come together in this dream of a literary novel.

Okay, I’ll also be honest that I’m a little prejudiced here. I love Mrs. Dalloway. I’ve read it twice and I plan on reading it many more times. I love the way Virginia Woolf reflects the human consciousness, how everyone gets distracted by certain things, and how she can flit show more from person to person, all while maintaining a beautiful prose style and never getting the reader confused. I love that the entire novel fits in one day, but reflects on the enormity that can happen in just that one day, in so many people’s lives.

So, how could I not love The Hours? The answer is, there is no way, because I did love this novel. Cunningham plays with the storylines in a way that makes them richer, impossible as that is to imagine. He takes Woolf’s style and spreads it over several lives, paying homage to her work and making something entirely new of his own out of it. We can experience Woolf’s struggle between depression and genius, then flip a page and read his 20th century interpretation of the story, and then flip another page and experience how a book can change lives forever (albeit an extreme example). And then I adored the way the storylines came together at the end. I thought this book was pure brilliance. Moreover, not only does he do all this, but he manages to get across essential, beautiful messages about the transitory nature of life and what we’re all about that really touched me.

This book has won at least two awards, one of which is the Pulitzer prize. It also won the PEN/Faulkner award. I’m not surprised, because it is excellent. The literature student in me adores this book. I don’t know why I waited so long to read it! I’m going to recommend it to everyone I know - but only if they’ve read and liked Mrs. Dalloway. They would miss too much otherwise.

http://chikune.com/blog/?p=150 show less