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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780312243029 
|
Powells.com Staff Pick
After completing his first two books, Michael Cunningham's writing career was right on track. Both novels had received excellent reviews, and Cunningham had established a small, loyal following among readers of literary fiction. He then decided to commit artistic suicide — his third book would be a novelistic meditation on Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Cunningham, himself, admitted feeling foolish. Whatever he created would only suffer in comparison to Woolf's Modernist masterpiece. And the professionals in the Virginia Woolf industry weren't likely to appreciate his audacity. Somehow, though, Cunningham turned the trick. The three thematically-related novellas that make up The Hours pay loving tribute to Virginia Woolf and Mrs. Dalloway without ever feeling derivative or slight in comparison. And Michael Cunningham has proven that he is one of the few writers alive whose prose is lyrical, spare, and beautiful enough to withstand comparison to the "greatest prose stylist of the twentieth century." At least this appears to be the consensus. The Hours not only received both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, it has also been enormously popular with readers. Perhaps this is because, as one reviewer put it, "the gargantuan accomplishment of this small book [is that] it makes a reader believe in the possibility and depth of a communality based on great literature, literature that has shown people how to live and what to ask of life." Farley, Powells.com
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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
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theflowers, January 15, 2008 (view all comments by theflowers)
Wow, is all I can say. It is an extremely well-crafted novel. (If at all interested in the motives of the writer, and a bit of insight into Cunningham's writing process, I recommend the interview Powell's conducted; the link is on the top of this page.)
Anyways - I picked up this book shortly after reading Mrs Dalloway, my first encounter with Virginia Woolf which completely blew me away. I was a bit timid, and afraid to pick up the legendary Woolf. Once I begun, though, I zipped through Mrs Dalloway, reluctant to ever put it down. Again, I digress, The Hours manages to intertwine thought and theme about Mrs Dalloway and Woolf's life using three stories of characters. We are introduced and brought into their lives, feeling their triflings and larger pains, and believe you me, you will be immersed fully in the lives of these characters. (I'm a high school student, and I finished the last chapter in my school's library, concurrently blocking out the chattering of my contemporaries. So enthralled in the storyline, was I, that by the time I closed the covers, I was in tears, smack in the middle of the library. It was great; really.)
Again, back to business, I do tend to leap into the asides - this book is a great read for anybody looking for a well-crafted, marvelously executed storyline; no knowledge of Virginia Woolf or Mrs Dalloway required!
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ridermae, November 20, 2006 (view all comments by ridermae)
The three stories braided so expertly in this book are rich in plot, imagistic, and absolutely gorgeous, worthy of being read aloud. An incredible book!
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Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780312243029
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Picador USA
- Location:
- New York :
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Literary
- Subject:
- Fiction
- Subject:
- Women
- Subject:
- Man-woman relationships
- Subject:
- New york (n.y.)
- Subject:
- Psychological fiction
- Subject:
- Domestic fiction
- Copyright:
- 1998
- Publication Date:
- January 2000
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 230
- Dimensions:
- 834x554x68 51
