The Hours by Michael Cunningham



This is a book for the A to Z challenge as well as a Pulitzer Prize winner so I'm using it for the Book Awards Reading Challenge. I've read so much about this one on various blogs that I had to give it a read.

It is the story of three women in three different time periods; Virginia Woolf as she's writing Mrs. Dalloway (which is a book I highly recommend), Clarissa Vaughan as she's planning a party for a friend dying of AIDS, and Laura Brown, a suburban 1950s housewife. Cunningham interweaves the three stories in alternating chapters. I read Mrs. Kimble for the Book Awards Reading Challenge. It is also the story of three women yet their lives are intertwined with a shared husband, and they do interact in the book. The women in this book live in different times and places. Yet, Cunningham is able to make them seem remarkable similar.

Strengths of The Hours: The fact that he was able to make me care about these three very different women in only 200 pages is amazing. He basically told the story of one momentous day in each of their lives. For more of my review, visit my blog.

2 comments:

    On January 13, 2008 at 7:50 PM Anonymous said...

    My best friend lent me this a while ago and I keep meaning to get around to it as it has some great ireviews. I haven't seen the film, have you?

    On January 19, 2008 at 1:40 AM Anonymous said...

    Rhinoa - No, I just moved it up on my Netflix list. I wonder if it can capture the intimacy of the book.