Rating: 
Summary: The Finest Hours
Review: I had some trepidation about reading this novel. First, it was a Pulitzer Prize winner. And while that is supposed to be a badge of honor, often it only seems to work against a novel by setting up overly high expectations. Second, knowing "The Hours" was a homage to Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" I read that classic work beforehand but found it nearly unbearable. Despite having these two early strikes, Michael Cunningham's novel hits one out of the proverbial literary ballpark. It flawlessly weaves three narratives - Clarissa Vaughn (nicknamed Mrs. Dalloway), a 50-something editor living in present day New York City - Laura Brown, a troubled housewife reading "Mrs. Dalloway" in 1950s Los Angeles - and a fictionalized account of Virgina Woolf herself as she prepares to write "Mrs. Dalloway."One review blurb on the book's cover says this is a "tour de force" and it is certainly a fitting description. The allusions between the fictional character of Mrs. Dalloway and the three women (as well as amongst the three themselves) are truly wonderful. Perhaps, the only complaint is that the book is TOO well-crafted or gimmicky. Despite not very much liking it, I must reluctantly recommend that one reads (or attempts to read!) "Mrs. Dalloway" before reading this novel as it will make for a much complete and rich reading experience. I can not imagine I would have "got" this novel having not worked my way through Woolf's work (which, by the way, is relatively short). On the heels of this book's transition to the silver screen, there is no better time to read "The Hours." It is certainly a daunting task as much of the book explores the fragile (and often unspoken) emotional state of the three women. But in the hands of its stellar cast (including Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Julianne Moore) at least the chances of success appear to be good. By far this was one of my best reads of the year.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice enough
Review: An impressive exercise, but an exercise nonetheless, this short novel never quite manages to stake its own artistic territory. Cunningham has beautifully pared his prose, but the effect remains one of effort rather than inspiration. Stylistically, it's intense but rather sterile, and the characters' alienation, without compelling narrative as its backdrop, lacks larger resonance--the story which Cunningham does supply, of lost love and longing, is anodyne in the extreme, and ultimately unnecessary.
Rating:
Summary: The Hours has Much to Say
Review: "The Hours" is aptly named, as one would expect from a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Like an hour, it can be singularly beautiful, a momentary flash and very long indeed. Like the hours of our lives, it can feel fragmented, full, and intact--in increments or all at once.
Michael Cunningham has written a literary novel firmly revisiting the 1920s, Virginia Woolf and her novel, "Mrs. Dalloway." I thought I would remember enough about Woolf's work to do justice to "The Hours." I was wrong. You, too, may want to reread the book to which "The Hours" pays tribute, if you are determined to get the most from it, hear the lingering whispers, find the subtle innuendoes, recognize the implications.
The story is told primarily from the viewpoint of three women whose lives we find are inexplicably intertwined. A reader must be prepared that Cunningham-who has paid his dues-randomly breaks the rules that we, as new millennium readers, have come to expect. Most of us are not accustomed to a story told in first person, present tense. Many of us have not read a work that uses stream of consciousness since we read Faulkner in college. Cunningham jumps-effectively but unfamiliarly-from point of view to point of view.
Perhaps it is time that those of us who have gotten rusty extend ourselves a bit, both to improve our skills and our understanding. This is a story about death and resurrection. It seems an affirmation of lives that we may find trifling, insignificant. Somehow, gently-very gently-Cunningham makes us see that existence is, after all, promising. Even if you plan to wait for the movie, you may wish you had "read the book first" and "Mrs. Dalloway" before that. Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"
Rating:
Summary: Winner of the WordWeaving Award for Excellence
Review: THE HOURS begins with the gifted author, poet and visionary Virginia Woolf drowning herself rather than facing another period of madness. The subsequent text entwines three narrative paths: Virginia Woolf as she writes MRS DALLOWAY during the 1920s; California housewife Mrs. Laura Brown whose favorite book is MRS DALLOWAY during the 1940s; and book editor Mrs. Clarissa Vaughan, nicknamed "Mrs. Dalloway" in the 1950s. Three women, three different timeframes, all bound together in a shimmering conclusion that is destined to haunt the reader long after the last page is turned. Clarissa Vaughan plans a party for her friend Richard, who has just won a major literary award for his poetry. Housewife Laura Brown struggles to find more meaning to her life than a simple existence than just as a wife and as a mother. The text brilliantly exposes their psyches, capturing the subtle nuances and flavors with a graceful pen; thereby exploring the contradictions and compromises that create our existence; deftly detailing fluidity of time and existence. While mass-market readers may be a bit baffled by THE HOURS, literary scholars and classics lovers will adore it. Readers who bring a through knowledge of Virginia Woolf, a love of her novel MRS DALLOWAY, and an appreciation of the poetry of language will discover an amazing gift of beauty within this finely woven novel. Indeed, Virginia Woolf scholars will recognize the influence of ORLANDO, THE WAVES and A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN, as well as MRS DALLOWAY. In addition, admirers of the beauty of language will be stunned by Cunningham's ability to capture Woolf's voice and style in her sections, to flavor it with his own voice in the Clarissa Dalloway's sections, and then to exhibit his own unique voice and style in the Laura Brown's sections. A memorable novel to treasure, THE HOURS earns the WordWeaving Award for Excellence.
Rating:
Summary: A homage to Woolf
Review: This beautiful, graceful novel skillfully weaves together the stories of three different women--Virginia Woolf in London in the 1920s, Clarissa Vaughn in present day Greenwich Village, and Laura Brown in 1940s Los Angeles. Woolf's masterpiece, "Mrs Dalloway" ties together the stories of the three women. As a Woolf fan, I enjoyed the book a great deal. The author's style is reminiscent of Woolf--no doubt deliberately so. At first, I wasn't sure exactly where the book was taking me, but the more I read, the more I wanted to read. This is the first book I've read by Cunningham. I shall try others.
Rating: 
Summary: deep character study
Review: Three women from different eras share the commonality of the female of the species. Book editor Mrs. Clarissa Vaughan, nicknamed "Mrs. Dalloway", struggles between her professional life and her personal life in modern day New York as she plans a gala event for a friend. In 1923, Mrs. Virginia Woolf begins writing her novel Mrs. Dalloway, but by 1941 the specter of war leaves her distraught and thinking suicide. A decade later, California housewife Mrs. Laura Brown reads Woolf's classic Mrs. Dalloway as she wonders is that al there is to life at least with her perfect family. These three women from different ages of the twentieth century that share much in common as they encounter a haunting tedious existence as the mainstay of their daily living. Rotating points of view, Michael Cunningham provides an interesting look at historical parallelism focusing on the more things change, the more they remain the same. The three women are clearly the keys to this tale. The two fictionalized protagonists cleverly persuade the readers to believe that they were just as real as Mrs. Woolf was. Though some passages seem winded, fans of deep character studies will feel that THE HOURS is the Holy Grail of the sub-genre with its insightful yet compassionate look at three women through their stories that interact yet stand alone as reflections on their lives. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Insight
Review: Mr. Cunningham certainly understands the inner workings of the the human psyche. He appears to be more aware of our insecurities, devotions and aspirations than we ourselves are. Irrelevant if you have read Mrs. Dalloway. Irrelevant if it lacks external dialog. Observations known but not expressed. Questions not asked. Sympathy not given. There's poignancy and meaning in what the characters choose not to say. Reading this might be one of those "hours" for me.
Rating:
Summary: Superb !
Review: To say that there is not much going on in this book is to give a certificate that you know nothing about human nature and the building blocks of relationships. This book is filled with insights about life (and death) - and that is a lot going on.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Read
Review: I thought that this was one of the most creative and well written books that I've discovered in quite some time. With the over abundance of "book club" novels that are surrounded by hype and promotions, this ingenuity of style wove complex themes, a historical foundation, and pure creativity into a fabulous work. Worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not so bad and not so good
Review: The novel, The Hours, by Michael Cunningham, opens up with an idea of Virginia Woolf's last few days before she commits suicide. It then continues on with two stories about modern American women. All three stories take place in different settings. The first story is about a woman named Virginia Woolf. Her narrative has taken place in the early 1920s, in the middle of the war. The second story is about a woman named Laura Brown, which has taken place in the 1940s. She is in her mid thirties, is married has a son, and lives in a suburban part of Los Angeles. Finally the last story is about a woman named Clarissa Vaughn. She is in her early fifties and has a long time friend named Richard who is a prominent write who is dying of the fatal illness AIDS. Also, she is a book editor who lives in the present day. The book opens up with an idea of Virginia Woolf's last few days before she commits suicide.
For me the book was, to some degree, difficult for me to understand due to extent of deep feelings that were expressed within the three stories that were collaborated. After reading page after page of everyone's feelings and deep thoughts it got really annoying that it couldn't be possessed physically within the character. There was also very little dialog, which didn't urge me to fully enjoy the book. I furthermore wanted the feelings and deep thoughts to be brought out by the character through their speech. I've been recommended to reading Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway, which I think would've helped me understand the book a little more. Though I didn't particularly like the book altogether what I did like was how Cunningham expressed his words. They flowed as perfect as a river because it was so beautifully written. Overall I wouldn't recommend this book unless you were really into poetry and material with deep powerful meanings.
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