916. The Hours

The Hours
Michael Cunningham
1998
Around 230 pages

We are on a seriously good run of novels lately, even if we have to take a hit every so often with a Pynchon or Self read. Virginia Woolf is one of my favorite authors, so I was excited to read a novel that was so obviously written in reverence of her.

The Hours focuses on three main characters, and switches between their perspectives. In 1923, Virginia Woolf writes Mrs. Dalloway and struggles with her mental illness. In 1949, Laura Brown is reading Mrs. Dalloway while planning a birthday party for her husband. And in 1999, Clarissa Vaughan plans a party to celebrate a major literary award received by her good friend and former lover, the poet Richard, who is dying of an AIDS-related illness.

The entire novel is sweet homage to Mrs. Dalloway, and I just personally love stories that unfold over the course of one day. The three perspectives were brilliant and represented the three figures of literature: the writer, the reader, and the character.  Even if you are not a Woolf fan, each storyline is captivating and I didn't want to leave the characters I was with every time the chapter would end.

And the movie is brilliant too, how could it not be with that cast?

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize.

Adapted to film in 2002.

The Hours was Mrs Dalloway's working title. 

UP NEXT: Another World by Pat Barker

819. A Home at the End of the World

A Home at the End of the World
Michael Cunningham
1990
Around 345 pages

Having enjoyed The Hours, I was interested in checking out the rest of Michael Cunningham's work. He reminds me of John Irving, with his talent for creating rich characters who experience really strange turns in life. Although if I had to choose between the two, Irving still comes out on top. 

Bobby and Jonathan become friends and experiment sexually when they are younger. This List is really leading me to believe that every man's adolescence was peppered with homoerotic experiences, whether or not they choose to pursue those encounters in their adult life. My formative years were not nearly that interesting. In any case, Bobby lost his family, so Jonathan's parents take him in, and we get point of view chapters from the boys, Jonathan's mother, and Clare, the woman they both become involved with.

Jonathan's mother points out that every generation thinks the world is going to end, but it never does. These characters really did seem to make decisions based on some unnamed dread, and I enjoyed exploring their complexities. This was also an interesting time in history to examine. I really liked Clare's disappointed retelling of her experience in Woodstock. It was just a music festival after all.

So a really good novel. I felt like the ending was a bit cliche, but still worth a read.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

An excerpt was published in The New Yorker, chosen for Best American Short Stories 1989.

UP NEXT: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi