Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 98 votes)
5 stars
38(39%)
4 stars
27(28%)
3 stars
33(34%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
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98 reviews
April 16,2025
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‘Saatler’ okumadan önce, hakkında çok az şey bildiğim bir romandı. Kitapta birbirine paralel üç kadının öyküsü anlatıldığını ve bu kadınlardan birinin Virgina Woolf olduğunu biliyordum. Romanın yazarına Pen ve Pulitzer gibi iki ödülü kazandırdığını biliyordum ve bir de Stephen Daldry tarafından çekilmiş uyarlama bir filmi olduğundan haberdardım. Bütün hâkimiyetim bu kadardı ve hiç daha fazlasını merak etmemiştim. Filmi defalarca önüme gelmiş olmasına ve bünyesinde çok sevdiğim iki oyuncuyu (Nicole Kidman ve Merly Streep) barındırmasına rağmen izlememiş olmam da, bir sebeple ‘Saatler’e sebepsiz bir gıcıklık beslediğimi gösteriyor :) O yüzden bu beklenmedik okuma, bana başlangıçta külfet gibi gelse de; ülfetle birlikte memnun olduğumu söyleyebilirim. Şimdi gönül rahatlığıyla filmini izleyebilirim.

Diğer yandan bu kitabı henüz okumamış olanlar için bir şeyi belirtmek istiyorum: Henüz Virginia Woolf’un “Mrs. Dolloway” isimli romanını okumadıysanız; bu romanı okumanızı tavsiye etmem. Zira eser, Virginia Woolf’u kitabının ana karakterlerinden bir tanesi yapmakla kalmıyor, onun en önemli eserlerinden bir tanesi olan “Mrs. Dolloway”in örgüsünü, kitapta anlatılan hikâyenin zemini olarak kullanıyor. Hatta kitabı okuyacaklara spoiler olmasını istemem ama Cunningham, yarattığı karakterlerle Woolf’un eserindeki karakterlerin bir yansımasını ortaya koyuyor. Ve bu öyle bir yansıma ki kaderleri ve yaşamlarını da Woolf’un karakteriyle neredeyse birebir sonlanıyor. O yüzden öncelikle “Mrs.Dolloway” okuması yapmanız, eserden alacaklarınızı kat be kat arttıracaktır, söylemek isterim. Diğer yandan ben bu bilgiden mahrum yaptım okumamı. Ancak seneler önce, lise çağlarındayken “Mrs. Dolloway”i gençliğimin huzurunda özensizce okuyup, ezmiştim. O senelerden gelen Dolloway, Bradshaw, Evans, Septimus anımsamaları bana oldukça yardımcı oldu. Keşke o kitabı daha yakın bir zamanda okusaydım diye hayıflanmadım da değil elbette.

Romanda üç tane kadın karakter var: Virginia, Laura ve Clarissa. Bu kadınlar ayrı zamanlarda ve farklı koşullarda yaşamaya çalışan kadınlar. Bu yaşama uğraşını çok kavgalı şekilde veren üç kadının belli ortak özellikleri var tabi. İç çatışmaları zaman zaman birbirlerine çok yaklaşıyor ve hikâye gücünü buradan alıyor. Onların beyinlerindeki çelişkiler –tıpkı Virginia Woolf’un ustası olduğu- bilinç akışı tekniğiyle okuyucuya gösteriliyor. Yazarın gösterme biçiminde hep bir sır perdesi var ama. Hayatlar arasında bir bağın nasıl kurulacağına dair özellikle tasarlanmış bir gizlilik durumu. Nedense ben hikâyelerin hiçbir şekilde birbirine bağlanmayacağını düşündüğümden böyle bir beklenti içinde okumadım. Benim için Virginia Woolf’un öyküsü dışındaki diğer iki öykü, Woolf’un hayaletinin dokunduğu kadınları barındıran, tek ortak noktasının bu olduğuna inandığım hayatlara aitti. O yüzden hikâyeler Mrs. Dolloway nezdinde düğümlenip yek olunca, ekstra etkilendim. Kitabın son elli sayfası su gibi aktı gitti ve beni “Mrs.Dolloway”i okuduğum zamanlara götürdü. Hatta bir ara internete girip, aceleyle “Mrs.Dolloway” ile ilgili hatırlama yapmamı sağlayacak sayfalara yöneltti.

Kitabın ismi ise hoş bir oyuna gönderme: Saatlerin prangaladığı insan. Özellikle Laura’nın evdeki banyo dolabını açıp, rutin ilacını aldıktan sonra, bütün kutuyu içme arzusuyla savaşımı beni çok etkiledi. Hayatın monotonluğunda bizi ölüme yaklaştıran da, bizi o yaklaşma içindeyken bir bıçak gibi en uzağa savuran da bir sürü ayrıntı var. Yazar bunların hepsinin altını çizmemiş ama birkaç örnekle o anların hepsine bir selam vermiş. Kitabın sonuna geldiğimizde, aynı Laura’nın bambaşka bir amaçla hazırlanmış olmasına rağmen; yine de o sofraya o şekilde konuk olabilmesi de ancak hayatın kendi munzur ve zalim oyununu gösteriyor. Bu tarz bağlantılar beni çok etkiledi işte. Büyük spoilerlar vererek, kitabı okumadan, bu yorumu okuyanları bozguna uğratmak istemediğimden konusuyla ilgili daha fazla bir şey söylemek istemiyorum.

Onun dışında kitapla ilgili en dikkat çekici özelliklerden bir tanesi ise; cinsel rollerin birbiri içine geçmiş bir şekilde ele alınmış olması ve asla marjinal ya da aktivist bir söylem oluşturulmamış olması. Tıpkı Virginia’nın hayatındaki ve romanlarındaki gibi. Bunun bilinçli bir çaba olduğunu zannettiğimden, bu da çok hoşuma gitti.

Özetle ben beğendim. Şimdi sıra filminde. Merak edenlere tavsiye ederim.
April 16,2025
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There is no doubt that with this book, Michael Cunningham has done a beautiful job at interweaving the lives of Virginia Wolff, the author, and Clarissa Dalloway, one of his most famous fictional characters. I was constantly surprised when reading through the 180 pages because I kept finding relations and connections that I hadn't seen before. Even though I have watched the movie starring three of my favourite actresses, I think that the books gives you SO much more of an insight into these hidden gems and connections, and because of that I wasn't bored at any point despite already knowing the overall story.
I think that you have to have read "Mrs Dalloway" in order to fully understand and appreciate this story. However, I also think it's possible to read it without having read "Mrs Dalloway", but to me personally, it was such a joy to be able to see the heavy intertextuality. I found it beautiful the way that Michael Cunningham not only interweaves the lives of fictional characters, but also the lives of real characters, and somehow it all made sense after all.
I had some minor problems with the writing style. I didn't like that most of the dialogue was written à la "he said", "she said", because I felt like it ruined the beautiful flow of the overall story. But when it comes down to it, I'm very pleased with this impeccable piece of work, and I highly recommend it.
April 16,2025
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[ON MY TURNTABLE - AGAIN - TONITE: THE HOURS SOUNDTRACK, BY PHILIP GLASS....]

This novel buoyed me up at first, like the young author of Mrs Dalloway, then then DROPPED me like a hot potato.

I was sucked right in, I regret to say - along with its characters - to its depressive vortex.

I was led, as I say, to the soundtrack.

Mistake.

BIG mistake.

I've declared tomorrow my very own Mental Health Day.
***

There, it’s now tomorrow, or at least that’s what my nuit blanche's clock must say - as if a merry cuckoo somehow had gaily chimed MIDNIGHT.

Did you ever get one of those spiffy mp4 attachments to a friend’s or a sentimental LinkedIn email?

You open it, follow its inside jokes with barely-concealed amusement till you get to the punch line, and…

It’s just another chicken soupy reductio ad absurdem.

You’ve been had!

Well, this book’s the same.

It leads you by folding over your half-remembered childhood’s golden moments - those “timeless moments” so prized by Bloomsburian authors - and then hits you with kitchen-sink reality with its wollop of “same old, same old” hard, cold reality.

You just fell, hook, line and sinker, my friends.

And they call it the Birth of the Blues.

This is not stuff for old Bipolar Vets like me.

I’m happy the FDA hasn’t yet banned certain books, being a civil libertarian - but at the same time, I’m not.

Go figure that one out.

Anyway, in The Order of Time, Carlo Rovelli says timeless moments don’t exist in the first place… and that’s a classic conundrum of relativity, very much like “what if you, and everything around you, were ten times bigger tomorrow - would you notice?”

The answer, of course, according to Albert Einstein is NO.

YOU’re ten times bigger too.

Haha...

Timelessness is a fact, which Rovelli patiently knocks into our dumb numbskulls.

Time is a result of our feeble human attempts to over-organize and invent explanations.

Timeless moments, though?

Not in my mocking cuckoo's singing.

Only God has ‘em.

And ALL the time.
***

But of course I don't in the least mean to be sacreligiously facetious - I love this book!

But Cunningham started it.

He grabbed my heart from my sleeve, which is where in my dotage I normally keep it, and it started playing frisbee with it.

A born rube, I probably deserved it.

I'm an emoter, and so is Cunningham, but he added stealth to the mix, and tripped me up with his purple wordflow.

But I forget.

Today I'm enforcing a ban on all deep thought and reading.

An absolute ban...

I mean it, Michael.

I'm not following you again today, down your hellish River Acheron -

And I won't pick this book up again, where I left off,

Until at least tomorrow.
April 16,2025
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Tre donne diverse, tre vite e momenti storici diversi accomunati dalla medesima fragilità dinanzi alla vita. Esistenze inquiete, piene di dubbi, inverte tanto del proprio passato quanto, e soprattutto, del loro futuro. Tre donne alla ricerca del senso della propria vita, che, troppo spesso, si scoprono solo a vagare senza senso lungo strade che non portano a nulla. Virginia Woolf diviene l'unico filo conduttore di questa disperata ricerca del se e Cunningham, con una straordinaria capacità di padroneggiare lo stile introspettivo della Woolf, il suo interprete. Originale, scorrevole, intenso. Da leggere.
April 16,2025
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No me gustó. Para mi, fue una lectura muy aburrida. En este caso concreto, este premio Pulitzer me resultó de poco interés.

I didn't like it. For me, it was a very boring read. In this particular case, I found this Pulitzer prize of little interest.
April 16,2025
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ساعت ها با سه داستان موازی روايت مي شود.زندگی وولف،لورا،کلاریسا که دوست ریچارد(پسر لورا)است. اما در واقع همه این افراد به وسیله وولف خلق شده اند و البته او نزديك ترين شخصيت به خود را كه مردی به نام ريچارد است و قرار است جايزه ادبی مهمی به او داده شود،در داستان خود مي كشد،چرا كه"با مرگ يك نفر دیگران قدر زندگي را بهتر مي دانند" و اين جمله ای است كه وولف در جواب همسرش كه در مورد ضرورت وجود مرگ در رمان می پرسد،بیان می كند.ريچارد و وولف كمبود هويت و عقده ندارند و به همین دلیل جايزه"يك عمر فعاليت هنری" را عملی كليشه ای می دانند.در حقيقت این دو نفر آنقدر رشد كرده اند كه نياز به تقدير ندارند و آنها را ارضا نمی كند.ريچارد شريك افتخار شدن را"جهالت محض"می داند..
شباهت های فراوان اين سه داستان از قصد و به دلیل يكسان و یک شدن مضمون و به تصوير كشيدن و معرفی بيشتر شخصيت ويرجينيا وولف وخودكشی اوست
فضاهای طراحی شده خانه وولف بسیار سرد و تاريك است كه نشان از روح غمگین او دارد.ريچارد كلاريسا را محكوم مي كند كه مهمانی هاي او براي پنهان كردن سكوت و افسردگی او هست.همان سكوت و غم مرموزی كه سرانجام داستان را رقم مي زند.در سكانس تشييع پرنده مرده می شنويم كه"هر كس یک زمانی مي ميرد.به نظر می رسد اکنون نوبت پرنده هست" و در زمينه تصوير وولف ايستاده هست و گویی نوبت خود را انتظار مي كشد. خوابيدن وولف کنار پرنده مرده و كلوزآپ از چهره او و پرنده در فیلم میتواند مقدمه و نشانه پر كشيدن پرنده روح او در پایان داستان باشد.
شاید وولف از زندگی خود خسته شده و در واقع می توان گفت که تلاش او برای خودكشی برای دفعه سوم به نوعی جست وجوی حيات و زندگی و معناست.او از زندگی توخالی بيزار است و ترجيح میدهد كه نباشد تا اينكه به روزمرگی،بی محتوایی،بی معنایی و پوچی تن دهد.وولف جايی سخن خود را از زبان ريچارد به نقل از كلاريسا مطرح می كند؛كلاريسا مي گويد كه ريچارد معتقد است او به زندگی معمولی خو گرفته و عادت کرده.وولف با وجودی كه زن ها را به تعبیر خود"كمرنگ تر" می داند،باز هم ترجيح میدهد كه قهرمان زن داستان او زنده بماند و ريچارد بميرد.
در پايان میخوانیم ( می بينيم) كه با وجود رضايت همسر وولف در مورد رفتن او به لندن باز هم وولف آرام و قرار ندارد و به نظر مي رسد لندن هم ديگر او را راضی نمی كند.او می خواهد به سفر دورتری برود،شاید به همان جايي كه از آن آمده ،چنان كه در پاسخ آن كودك راجع به مفهوم مرگ نيز همين پاسخ را می دهد.وولف خواهان آزادی انتخاب و تصميم گيریست و شكل گيری ماهيت انسان را در اين مسئله می داند و مي خواهد هر طور شده پوسته دور خود را پاره كند و برود.او از آن دسته آدم هايیست كه در چارچوب ها و ساختارها نمی گنجد و مطابق ميل ديگران رفتار نمیکند و می خواهد خود را بازآفرينی كند و تولدی دوباره بيابد.
خودكشي هر دو نويسنده را شايد بتوان سرانجام نبود عشق به ديگری تفسير كرد، چنان كه حس سردی،افسردگی و دل مردگی در تمام فضای فيلم حضور دارد و سنگینی می کند.مفهوم زمان در اين فيلم دگرگون می شود.هم در شیوه روايت فيلم و هم در ديالوگ های کاراکترهای داستان.
پشيمانی وولف از كشتن لورای افسرده و در عوض كشتن شوهر او كه بسيار اميد به زندگی دارد و شادمان و خوشبخت هست و همچنين پسر لورا (ريچارد) همه تناقضهایی هستند كه در زندگی واقعی نیز وجود دارند. اين مسئله مي تواند اشاره به مفهوم سرنوشت و تقدير و كنترل آن توسط نيرويی برتر نیز باشد.وولف با مرگ خود زندگی هاي پوچ را نقد میکند،زیر سوال می برد و زنده ها را تشويق به زيست و زندگی آگاهانه،با معنا و به دور از روزمرگی می كند.
ساعت ها در مورد عمر محدود، فرصت و زمان اندك و گذرايی است كه هر انسانی در اختيار دارد و چگونگی و كيفيت آن.ويرجينيا به عنوان يك انسان،یک نویسنده و در نهایت یک زن نگران است و دغدغه های بسیار دارد و مرگ را بر میگزیند اما مرگ ويرجينيا وولف پايان زندگی او نيست همان گونه که خود او نیز در آخرین جمله هایش در پایان فیلم نیز خطاب به لئونارد می گوید:
" لئونارد عزیز،همیشه به صورت زندگی نگاه کن! همیشه! به صورت زندگی نگاه کن و زمانی که آن را خوب شناختی آن را رها کن. لئونارد! همیشه میان ما لحظهها حضور دارند…همیشه…عشق…همیشه…ساعتها!"
April 16,2025
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تجربة جديدة بالنسبة لي بدأت بنفور ثم تطورت إلى إحساس بالفضول ثم انتهت اخيرا بحب غير مفهوم اسبابه لهذه الرواية.

وانا أقرأ الرواية كنت لا أرى أي شىء يربطني بأي شخصية. هم أبعد ما يكونون عن عالمي. علاقاتهم المعقدة لا تخصني في كثير أو قليل.
لم أملك إلا أن أطل بحب استطلاع على هذا العالم الغريب.

في الثلث الأخير من الرواية وجدت أخيرا بدون أن أدري الرابط الذي يربطني بشخصيات الرواية. ربما كان احساسي بمدى بؤسهم-على الرغم من التفاهة الظاهرية لأسباب هذا البؤس-هو الذي جعلني أشعر بنوع من "الإنتماء" لتلك الشخصيات. مجابهة السيدات الثلاث لرعب لا أحد منهم يستطيع أن يفهم ماهيته. ولكنهم يقررن بشجاعة تجاهله كأنه غير موجود. إلى أن يعلن إستسلامهن باشكال مختلفة لهذا المجهول المرعب.

ربما أكون مجرد منبهرة برواية صيغ عالمها بمهارة لتغطي على فكرة غير ناضجة وعالم عاجي بعيد عن عالم الإنسان العادي الذي لا يعرف سوى معاناته في الجري وراء لقمة عيشه.
ربما ما أثر في هو نهايات الأبطال الحزينة التي صيغت مشاهدها في براعة.
أضع رواية السيدة دلاواي في مقدمة قائمة قراءاتي. وربما لن أفهم منها شيئا وربما أشعر بنفس الإحساس بانها لا تنتمي لعالمي. ولكن لا يمكن أن أفوت محاولة القاء نظرة عليها على الأقل.

وأتمنى أن اجدها بترجمة جيدة، لأني عانيت الأمرين مع هذه الترجمة.
April 16,2025
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I think it takes courage to write about great literary figures and fictionalise bits of their lives, even when their lives have been well documented as is the case with Virginia Woolf. It also takes courage to interconnect the story and the characters with one of their most beloved masterpieces as Cunningham did.

This story revolves around three women, in three different eras of the twentieth century, all in some way affected by the book Mrs Dalloway . Virginia Woolf has began to write the book and is shaping Mrs Dalloway, Clarissa has been named Mrs. D by her friends and her life does resemble Mrs Dalloway's in its domesticity and what-could-have-beens, and Laura Brown is a suburban mom who reads the book and is captivated by and relishes in the vitality and complexities of Mrs Dalloway's life.

The women are upper middle class and married (or at least partnered as gay marriage wasn't recognised in the United States or anywhere else in that case at the end of the 20th century) but all feel a mixed sense of failure towards their lives and relationships. Virginia Woolf struggles with mental health and managing her art and household, a middle-aged Clarissa occupies a nostalgic realm where she longs for a more erratic and more passionate life and Laura Brown struggles to maintain the picture of a happy wife and mother.

It is the interconnectedness of the book, in its centrality that is most fascinating but also brittle. It is amazing that Cunningham was able to hold it somehow together through the different periods and exploring the inner lives of the different women.
April 16,2025
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Tick, Mrs. Dalloway. Tock, Mrs. Woolf. Tick, Mrs. Brown. Tock, Mrs. Dalloway…again.
Reviewing The Hours I find myself stuck somewhere in between tick and tock. Reading a novel, poem, play, screenplay, it’s often easy for me to lose touch with reality and completely absorb myself into the world of a story. I lose touch with myself. The sounds around me. The smells hovering under my nose. The world happening around me. Time elapses into nothingness.
The Hours, however, made me fully aware of my position in reality, the noises of the outside world, the stuffiness of the air, and the slowness of time. In brief, The Hours leaves me feeling strangely hollow and irked.

The book alternates between the stories of three women Tick: Mrs. Dalloway; Tock: Mrs. Woolf; and Tick: Mrs. Brown - all whom appear vaguely dissatisfied with their lives. It remains rather obscure and somewhat misleading, until the very end, as to how their narratives converge, apart from their longing and entertaining of the possibility of a life different and perhaps more meaningful than that which they find themselves trapped within.

Tick: Mrs. Dalloway.
Also known as Clarissa Vaughn, heroine of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. An exquisitely loyal friend, caretaker and avidly nostalgic observer of the writer and AIDS sufferer, Richard Brown.

Tock: Mrs. Woolf.
Despairing, yet romantically hopeful, Mrs. Woolf spends her ticks and tocks dreaming up stories and possible plot turns for the writing of her new novel. Residing in Richmond with her protective husband, Leonard, Mrs. Woolf longs for the fog, business and sweet transparency of London.

Tick: Mrs. Brown.
Dear Mrs. Brown. Beseeched in suburban Los Angeles with a loving husband, Dan and curiously observant son, Richie, Laura Brown hopes without knowing what she hopes for. She lives without knowing what she lives for. She escapes without knowing what she is escaping from.

Tick tock, tick tock go the hours.
One day; one utterly transformative and inescapable 24 hours of each of the women's lives is slowly narrated, beginning with life, and ending with the possibility of death as means of escape from a banal, yet disheartening existence. Mrs. Dalloway, Mrs. Woolf and Mrs. Brown all seem to lead banal, ordinary lives dealing with the daily hardships typical of the era in which they live, but are curiously described in a way that renders them different, yet also relatable. They have a home, health, and « happiness » yet find themselves unhappy and nostalgic for a feeling or situation that perhaps may not even exist.

Time, the passing of time, the inevitability of time lies at the heart of the novel, as it is time, it’s passing, and its prevalence that causes each of the narratives to ultimately converge in the book’s final pages.
Although the plots and events of the stories prove to be difficult to piece together and disallow for a completely pleasurable « readerly » experience one CANNOT deny the beauty and artistic way in which each character, event, place is illustrated. Cunningham’s language is brilliantly seductive and offers an evocative portrayal of life and how we, as readers, lovers, feelers - humans - experience time, the passing of time, and the inevitability of time.
In therms of plot, I would not recommend The Hours (who cares if it won the Pulitzer Prize or that it’s Oprah’s favorite book or that Meryl Streep doesn’t shut up about it), but in terms of language, it’s impossible not to utterly fall in love with Michael Cunningham’s words:
We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep - it’s as simple and ordinary as that. A few jump out of windows or drown themselves or take pills; more die by accident; and most of us, the vast majority, are slowly devoured by some disease or, if we’re very fortunate, by time itself. 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…
- and I’ll leave you to ponder on that dear, dear babblers.

Yours Truly,
Delphine, the Babbler
April 16,2025
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Finally, I am done with reviewing 2023. I kept the honor of the last review of a book read in 2023 for one wonderful novel that I’ve had on my TBR since 2014. Yes, I’ve added this book 10 years ago. However, I think it was a better moment to get to it now, after I’ve read a couple of Virginia Woolfs. She managed to become one of my favorite writers so reading a novel about her surely made an impact on me.

The novel tells the story of three women, from different time periods, with no apparent connection with each other. The link is there but you have to read the novel for it. Ok, one is obvious but it is not the only one. One of the characters is Virginia Woolf, caught in one of her lowest points of her life. Well, the novel starts with her suicide but in the rest of it she is pictured in the country, bored and trying her best to get back to London, a move that might be her doom. The 2nd character, a modern day Mrs. Dalloway, is organizing a party which does not go according to plan. Lastly, the 3rd character is a housewife reading the book I mentioned before and unhappy with her life.
It is a short book but it manages to be so deep but to also flow, as time, an important theme in the book. It is also novel about love, illness, suicide.

I loved the writing and the characters bug I wish I remembered more about this book. As usual, I should have written my thoughts close to the finishing date, not now, 2 months later. Anyway, it is a masterpiece and a deserved winner of the Pulitzer prize.
April 16,2025
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The Hours by Michael Cunningham was a beautiful and lyrical story about the lives of two women all intersecting dramatically in the last chapter in unforeseen ways culminating in an explosive ending that I did not see coming. The common thread throughout the book being the writings and the life of Virginia Woolf in the lives of each of the women as they struggled with their own identity and place in contemporary society. The Prologue of this lovely novel begins with the final days of Virginia Woolf in London in 1941 leading up to her suicide. That was the backdrop as one is introduced to Clarissa Vaughn, a book editor living in Manhattan, and Laura Brown, a housewife and young mother in postwar Los Angeles.

This book was truly deserving of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as Michael Cunningham is one of our great writers with his beautiful and lyrical prose, a few of my favorite quotations:

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"It's the city's crush and heave that move you; its intricacy; its endless life. You know the story about Manhattan as a wilderness purchased for strings of beads but you find it impossible not to believe that it has always been a city; that if you dug beneath it you would find the ruins of another, older city, and then another and another."

"There is true art in it, this command of tea and dinner tables; this animating correctness. Men may congratulate themselves for writing truly and passionately about the movement of nations; they may consider war and the search for God to great literature's only subjects; but if men's standing in the world could be toppled by an ill-advised choice of hat, English literature would be dramatically changed."

"What a lark! What a plunge! It seems that she can survive, she can prosper, if she has London around her; if she disappears for a while into the enormity of it, brash and brazen now under a sky empty of threat, all the uncurtained windows (here a woman's grave profile, there the crown of a carved chair), the traffic, men and women going lightly by in evening clothes; the smells of wax and gasoline, of perfume, as someone, somewhere (on one of these broad avenues, in one of these white, porticoed houses), plays a piano; as horns bleat and dogs bay, as the whole raucous carnival turns and turns, blazing, shimmering; as Big Ben strikes the hours, which fall in leaden circles over the partygoers and the omnibuses, over stone Queen Victoria seated before the Palace on her shelves of geraniums, over the parks that lie sunken in their shadowed solemnity behind black iron fences."
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April 16,2025
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“But there are still the hours, aren't there? One and then another, and you get through that one and then, my god, there's another.”
― Michael Cunningham, The Hours




I read it AFTER seeing the film and loved it. The book and film are pretty similar. I enjoyed both the movie and the book.

I skimmed a few reviews and was shocked at some of the low ratings. As one other reviewer who loved it noted: it is a tough book to review. I am glad, honestly that I saw the movie first or I might not have given this a try. Highly recommended.
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