Rating: 
Summary: Streams Ahead
Review: The Hours is a beautifully written novel, inspired not only by the work of Virginia Woolf, but also by events in her life. Michael Cunningham has constructed a tripartite piece that simultaneously snapshots events in the lives of three very different women, Virginia Woolf among them. Cunningham eloquently intersects Virginia Woolf, the author, with her creation, Mrs Dalloway, and then parallels this with the lives of two readers who are heavily influenced by Woolf's work. With careful attention to detail, and beautiful prose, Cunningham creates an echo of "stream of consciouness" writing that successfully celebrates Woolf's own style and pace. This book was an unusual choice for our bookclub, and we were impressed with it's simplicity, depth and beauty. However, apart from one enthusiastic reader, we were somewhat bemused by this work. We wondered where the inspiration for this piece came from? And, how many books on and by Virginia Woolf you would have to read to get to this place? And, would it have helped if we had read "Mrs Dalloway"? One of our readers summed it up best: "This book takes our club to a new level..."
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully Written
Review: Beautifully written! If not for his prose I may not have enjoyed the book as much. While I was not neccessarily smitten by the storyline I was hooked. His lyrical tone kept the book in such a beautiful rythm.
Rating:
Summary: EMPATHY IS THE SECRET
Review: A split-level narrative is hard to control, especially when two dimensions of time interlace in as short a novel as this. But the author accomplishes his task in an excellent manner, giving the reader the satisfaction of entering the realm of Woolf's writing personality, while tasting the dramatic feelings of Cunningham's own characters. Not an easy book, if you read it with the critical knowledge of Mrs Dalloway's masterpiece, yet an enthralling emotional path if you tread it with your soul bared.
Rating: 
Summary: The Hours--A Work of Genius
Review: After reading the prologue, wherein Virginia Woolf drowns herself, I became hooked, nearly possessed with this short little novel. I read it in the morning, during lunch breaks, at night, whenever I got the chance. For those four days I was completely at the mercy of The Hours. Why? Because its prose is lyrical and expertly crafted; my brain thrived on it. There is not one superfluous word. Every one counts and adds to the total effect. What I liked most was how Cunningham tied together three seemingly separate stories with grace; and I thought they WERE separate until the end of the book. I was surprised by the ending, and I enjoyed the strong feelings that the book, in its totality, invoked. Afterward, I went out and bought all of Michael Cunningham's books. This is fine, fine writing and anybody who enjoys such writing will be rewarded.
Rating: 
Summary: Parody?
Review: The Emperor's New Book A book you are expected to like. Which is odd considering it is out and out drivel. There were several phrases that were so irrelevant, phony, contrived, flowery and inflated that I was insulted. The Pulitzer committee must consist of suicidal self absorbed lesbians (I mention this because these are the main defining attributes of the characters in the book and if you despise life and want to die because you are homosexual, you might relate to these characters. But you still won't like them). It's simply the only way I can explain how this sophomoric [book] was awarded anything. I don't mean that as an insult to the committee or to lesbians. Suicidal self absorbed lesbians have enough problems, many of which you can experience firsthand in this book in excruciatingly overblown prose until you are unable to muster much sympathy for them or anyone who resembles them ever again. If you had read the book you would understand. However, please don't buy this book it will just encourage more like it. I want my money back but mostly I want the hours I wasted on this patter back. Unless it's supposed to be a parody in which case it's the work of a comic genius.
Rating:
Summary: Virginia Woolf is rolling in her grave
Review: The first reference that came to mind on reading this book was NOT Mrs. Dalloway, but William H. Gass's scathing essay on the Pulitzer Prize (in Finding the Form). He holds the prize responsible for awarding and preserving for posterity the work of mediocre writers, with Edith Wharton as the sole exception to this rule. Cunningham's "reworking" of Mrs. Dalloway is the perfect example of Gass's theory; it is brain candy at best, a complete insult to Woolf's masterpiece at worst. I don't know who wrote the blurb on the back cover which claimed that Cunningham wrote in "Woolfian prose," but I think the reviewer should return to Woolf's work and do some serious rethinking. It is such a shallow world Cunningham has created in this piece; the characters are flimsy, their streams-of-consciousness are entirely unsurprising, and the interweaving and culmination of the different plot strains is worthy of talk show exposure, not publication and a Pulitzer Prize. At the very least, perhaps the book will prompt some of Cunningham's readers to read Mrs. Dalloway; and maybe a handful of those will read more than ten pages of it and think it's pretty good.
Rating:
Summary: Tasty, yet unsatifying
Review: The prose is good. The descriptions border on excellent. But is it a steady framework on which to build engaging plot and believable characters? I think not. In the inscription, Cunningham discloses his intentions of writing the story in the image of a cave, with 3 diverging paths which converge within the depths of the mountain. Yeah,but the cave is about 3 feet deep, maybe. I found no depth to any of the characters, nor did I really care what happened to any of them. My emotional reaction to Richard's suicide was that of "thank GOD, some action, finally!" Before I read the book, I was intrigued by the so-called "surprise ending" but found myself totally unsatisfied and unsurprised in the final chapter. It's a good read sheerly for the word candy, but if you are looking for a committment rather that a one night stand, this book isn't for you.
Rating:
Summary: Tackles the big themes of love & death in a haunting way
Review: I read Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway right before this book, in order not to miss a nuance. Cunningham did such a grand job of reiterating Woolf's theme -- to be or not to be, in essence -- but in his own postmodern way. I loved the way he explored identity by taking Woolf's plot points and giving them to totally other people, and doing so in a way that turned out not to be unduly self-conscious. Yes, this felt experimental, but also a rousing success. I especially love the way Cunningham doesn't sugarcoat the big issues, what I might call the "shall I kill myself today or should I watch this cloud, this car, this flower, and let it be enough," quandary. Quietly unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Great Literature
Review: I wish I could thank Michael personally for writing this book. He deserved the pulitzer for this! Wonderful! True art and Literature at it's best! This man can turn a phrase with the best of them. He really blends the three perspectives well, what harmonious music. This book sings. This is not only an interesting story, but well written as well.
Rating:
Summary: Woe is Me
Review: Okay, I get the Virginia Woolf homage, but for crying out frickin' loud, the three women illustrated in this novel are poster girls for a Woe is Me sobfest. For me, this was distracting. On the bright side, Mr. Cunningham's flair for the adjective was worth the read.
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