The Hours

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RNJ, January 11, 2010 (view all comments by RNJ)
Michael Cunningham takes the life of the literary icon, Virginia Woolf, and juxtaposes it with Mrs. Dalloway, a Woolf character, as well as a contemporary American woman, Laura. He derives even the title, in part, from Woolf's own work (see epigram). He seems to be a master at balancing or exploring themes in threes, subtly linking the three characters through alternating chapters. The Hours brings to fruition topics or motifs he has explored in his first two novels--a sign that Cunningham has so much to say, he can't do it all in one work. The image of a woman working toward the baking of "perfect" cake is used in his second novel, Flesh and Blood, but in the Hours its use may be more poignant. Mrs. Brown "wants to have produced a cake that banishes sorrow, even if only for a little while. She wants to have produced something marvelous, something that would be marvelous even to those who do not love her." In this passage and throughout the novel, Cunningham's prose rivals that of his subject: strong yet delicate. The Hours is a novel that will resonate with the reader for a long time, begging to be read again and again, and the reader will comply, happily.

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CreamyPeach08, May 2, 2008 (view all comments by CreamyPeach08)
"Many Angles to a Universal Struggle"
Many people struggle to find their places within society, and a plethora of literature explains the concept of one's duty within it. Michael Cunningham takes a new angle in The Hours as three women navigate a day in each of their lives and struggle with their roles in society. Virginia Woolf struggles with mental sanity and depression in the England of 1923. One day in 1949, Laura Brown questions her patriotic marriage to a veteran and duty to create the perfect home in Los Angeles. Finally, Clarissa Vaughan faces alienation as a homosexual “society wife” in the late twentieth-century New York City and wrestles with a lost heterosexual romance. First published in the United States in 1998, The Hours received the Pulitzer Prize as Cunningham effectively portrays the struggle women face when finding their places in society. He writes about the feminine thought process with surprising detail and accuracy, and he thus provides a portrait of a common female dilemma.
The structure of The Hours highlights the pressure women face. After the prologue, it is divided into sections rotating between “Mrs. Dalloway”, “Mrs. Woolf”, and “Mrs. Brown.” The designation of the characters as Mrs. Someone highlights their “proper” place in their lives. This contrasts Laura and Virginia's desires and brings irony to Clarissa's homosexual lifestyle. Before the women handle the pressure in varying ways, the reader learns that Virginia Woolf commits suicide in the revealing prologue. This revelation is not discussed in one of Mrs. Woolf's sections in The Hours, but the novel’s conclusion relates to the prologue. The prologue ends with a mother, child, truck, and soldiers crossing the bridge above Virginia's body in the bottom of a riverbed, as “[Virginia's] face, pressed sideways to the piling, absorbs it all: the truck and the soldiers, the mother and the child” (8). The continuation of life, even after a tragic event, ties the beginning of The Hours to the end of the novel in a seamless, thematic, and unique fashion.
Cunningham's use of three distinct situations provides varying perspectives of the female battle between duty and individuality, and this brings universality to the concept of belonging. As the women's reactions to social pressure range from defeat, endurance, and defiance, the reader sees that women have “another hour before [them]” (226). Thus, life continues in a forward direction, and each hour is important in that motion. Cunningham's ability to develop each story independently while universally tying them together is truly beautiful. More astounding is his ability to capture how the women feel and act in a third person narration without hinting as to what each one should do. Instead, the narrator objectively reveals the internal struggle in the woman who is the focal point. The omission of direct instruction provides the narrator with credibility in relating the thoughts of each woman.
A variety of sentence structures and symbols create a personal, revealing nature in The Hours. Complex-compound sentences, simple sentences, and everything in between are used to follow the character's thoughts. Informal diction allows the average person to follow conversations and garner meaning from his work. Although Cunningham writes in third person, the protagonists' thoughts and emotions drive the narration. Similarly, the women give value to certain items in their lives, and these items become Cunningham's symbols. In this manner, regardless of Cunningham's third person narrative, the reader is lost in the women's minds, and Cunningham brings uncommon feeling of stream-of-consciousness narration into The Hours.
Michael Cunningham's The Hours beautifully addresses three women's struggle between duty and independence, between societal obligations and desires. Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown, and Clarissa Vaughan confront this conflict from different positions, and they each have different responses. As the variety allows readers to connect with the novel, each story creatively intertwines, and one sees the continuation of life. The use of narration, symbols and diction also bring the novel to life. The Hours describes one day in the lives of three women, but countless people also struggle to find a place in society. Cunningham's portrait of a universal theme provides originality to a topic often covered in literature.

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minerva_86, April 26, 2006 (view all comments by minerva_86)
I cannot believe this novel hasn't been commented on yet. I read the book after seeing the film and have to say that i found the novel so much more personal. It's so beautifully written and so deserving of its many accolades. The idea of it is so simple, but would have been tricky to execute well. Michael Cunningham however has pulled it off wonderfully.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780312305062

Subtitle:

A Novel

Author:

Cunningham, Michael

Publisher:

Picador

Subject:

General

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Women

Subject:

Man-woman relationships

Subject:

Domestic fiction

Subject:

Psychological fiction

Copyright:

2002

Edition Number:

Reprint ed.

Edition Description:

Trade Paper

Series:

Recent Picador Highlights

Publication Date:

November 2002

Binding:

Electronic book text in proprietary or open standard format

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Pages:

240

Dimensions:

8.25 x 5.50 in