The Hours

Rating:
Summary: Recommended to me, but not by me
Review: It is easy to see why some may find this style of writing to be pleasing or appeasing, but I found it to be neither. There are problems with this book, although it is not wholly awful.
It is not an unenjoyable read, in fact it is quite 'easy' reading, but I was looking for more, considering the praise this book has accrued.
The Hours reads like the product of a creative writing class, it is stacked full of stock technique and observation. He has attempted to emulate the style of Virginia Woolf, and has succeeded to a certain extent, but while that may have been avant-garde in 1923, eight decades later, it is rather twee.
The author uses many clichéd writerly tricks, and uses them too often; the "Here is ..." line just seemed to keep popping up in every chapter, over and over, sometimes twice on the same page. This was popular with Eliot in the twenties, and probably Woolf, too, but his endless repetition of this, and other stylistics, felt contrived, distracting and self-conscious.
I am sure this was a difficult book to write (yet the echoes of Mrs.D seem rather formulaic), but it does not pull off, in any complete sense, an evocation of Virginia Woolf's life or work, and perhaps is not meant to. Perhaps it is meant solely as a glance, as if her shadow were to pass briefly over our faces, but, why then be so date-specific? Why then choose Woolf at all?
Another problem. The Clarissa characterisation was thin and her sections were, oddly, filled with digressions into queer theory. This is fine, but the novel is not presented as a gay one, and it does not fit; these parts feels forced in. He should have saved this stuff for another book.
I fail also to see why he chose Dalloway as the theme. It was a failed novel, we all know Woolf was unhappy with it, I'd rather have seen over her shoulder as she wrote Lighthouse or Waves, which were, as she knew, truly great works. Why focus on the morbid aspects of her life? Delight us instead with her brilliance!
It has won awards and been made into a film, but the first two hundred pages of The Hours felt flat and unengaging. In the last twenty we are introduced to the simple, and Hollywoodesque, plot contrivance, the twist which he foreshadows and unfurls toward. It is admittedly gripping, but ultimately, left me with nothing and, writing this a couple of weeks after reading the novel, I really feel Cunningham has given very little of any substance with The Hours.
The most thought-provoking element of this text is the echo of author to character and character to reader, which then plays back against the author: this all set up a clever Russian doll effect, as it were, but the characters could have been more real, had they not been confined by their plot constrictions. Interesting to read as it is so talked about, and better than most bestsellers . . . but The Hours takes itself, and asks to be taken, too seriously, and for this reason, fails.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly effective
Review: I couldn't get into it at first, but I kept plugging along because I had plans to see the film and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The first 100 pages eventually had me intrigued enough to keep going, but the last 100 pages packed a wallop that made me want more and miss the characters once it was over. Parts of the book get a bit redundant (redundancies that the film version manages to fix quite well) and there are times when Cunningham seems to think what he's doing is more brilliant than it really is, but overall it's surprisingly effective, thought-provoking and very unusual.

Rating:
Summary: Much Overated!
Review: This book was a selection of my book club of university women about a year and a half ago. The reaction was overwhelmingly negative. A couple of women of 20 liked it. The major complaint were the flashbacks from one generation to the next. I finally read all of the first, all of the second and all of third separately. The writing was good but my feeling for the characters was non-existent. I'm sorry I bought the book. I hope the movie redeems it. Gloria S. Hampton

Rating:
Summary: best new novel I've read in years
Review: I'm stunned to discover that there are people who had trouble reading this book or thought it was only for snobbish literary types. I read it while sick and feverish just after reading a wild thriller by Carl Hiason ("Native Tongue") and had no trouble at all figuring it out: it swept me forward, though at times the languare was so stunning I wanted to reread and savor a paragraph here and there. Though I agree that the '40s bored housewife wasn't as well drawn as the other two women, over all I was amazed that a man could depict the inner life of women so well. So many lauded, prize-winning new novels just leave me cold and I mostly read "classics," but this book just blew me away.

Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: I kept considering purchasing this book, but since I never read anything by virginia wolfe, i kind of strayed away. finally, i got it, and i am so glad. the book kinda grew on me...it was very well written, and had a lot of common themes. if i was a student of literature, i'd write how each story line had many, many, common threads. i really enjoyed the themes in the book. i highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: You may want the companion book
Review: Cunningham's book reminds us that we should take the time to appreciate the time that we have. Life is a beautiful thing and should be cherished.

His story is well written and is framed within Virginia Woolf's book "Mrs. Dalloway." Within this book, three women's lives are being discussed in parallel. The writing is engaging, so the book can be understood on its own. However, character names and events parallel the life of Virginia Woolf and the heroine of her book. By reading this first, like a companion text, characters, situations, and ideas become more apparent and lasting.

Even if the story was not interesting, watching the way Cunningham weaves his book with Woolf's is worth the reading. I would recommend reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: A beautifully written book...
Review: I had to choose a book to read for a book report for my high school english class. I went to Borders and started to look around. The Hours soon caught my eye, and I decided that it seemed like a good choice. I first heard about this story the first time anything was said about the upcoming movie in Entertainment Weekly, me being an entertainment fan and all. I was familiar with the story, so I had a slight idea of what it was about. At first it was just something to get through, to finish for my book report. A few pages into it, I realized what an outstanding book it was and actually wanted to read it. It is an amazingly descriptive book filled with beautiful writing, and I soon found it impossible to put down. I kept imagining Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman as the main characters, being that they play them in the movie. They connect so well with these characters that you can't really help but admire their characters in a way. When I did my book report for the class, people seemed interested in what I had to say, and I got a lot of questions afterwards. The movie just opened, and I plan to go see it. It looks just as amazing as the book was. I can honestly say that this was probably the best book I have ever read. If anybody asked me what a good book to read was, I would immediately tell them to read The Hours.

Rating:
Summary: If it was there, I missed it.
Review: Well, needless to say I was not too impressed with this novel. I understand it won the Pulitzer, and has been raved about from here to Timbucktu. However I just didn't find "THE HOURS" that entertaining. As a novel it was slow and laboring reading. However like all reviews I try to find the silver lining and here is this novels saving grace(TO ME). M.C. the author was able to show the inner feelings of depression, the internal silent screams so to speak,that we each feel each day. He instilles in he characters those thoughts of shear bleakness of which we call life. Yet many of these characters like the rest of us face our demons day in and day out, till we are withered with age. It is at this point that we reflect on our years and wonder was it all worth it? Thats what the Hours relized for me.
Now, "The Hours" is not a clear cut novel, it doesn't answer all of it's questions cut and dry, it is actually left up to the reader's interpretation on how they should deal with them. Kind of like life, where we don't know why other people behave the way they do, as well as ourselves for that matter. Enough of that topic.
Don't let my thoughts on this novel ruin your wanting to pick it up to read, I think that this novel has alot to say, but I guess I wasn't the right audience for it's words

Rating:
Summary: Boy I'm glad I'm finished reading this book
Review: No fancy verbiage here, only helpful info for other average, avid readers, that don't have bachelors, masters or PhDs in English or Literature, who read to relax and enjoy. Probably the majority of us.

This book was extremely confusing and totally lacked continuity until the last dozen or so pages. Have you ever dropped your book and lost the page you were on, then picked it up and started reading in the wrong place? That's what it was like reading this book!

So much space was wasted by the author displaying his vocabulary, and supersaturating the reader with descriptions that added little to the story.

I am surprised by the high ratings by other reviewers.

Rating:
Summary: An Existential Delight...
Review: I found this novel to be haunting and beautifully written. Mr. Cunningham clearly loves his characters. Some of the passages were so moving, so searingly true they took my breath away. One of the best books I've ever read, one that will stay with me for many hours to come...