Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't get through it
Review: I really don't know what all the hype was surrounding this book, I guess it's a matter of preference, but I found it so excruciatingly dull, I eventually had to give up on it (something that I never do - I love reading!). Maybe it needs a different environment to read (like lying on a beach, rather than on the #5 subway downtown!), so I'll keep it and hope to return to it someday, but for now, it just didn't grab me....
Rating: 
Summary: a small, moving story
Review: forget for amoment the hype and movies and oscars and so on. at the end we are left with a real beautiful novel. it's not one of those books that has tons of actions and event in them, and it's best points are focusing on the small tiny barely noticable parts of life.a day in a life of 3 woman all in connection to verginia wolf's novel, one's the autor, one a reader and another is sort of a modern vertion of mrs. dalloway, all of them experiencing one day in their life who effects or conclude a lifetime. there's no big special effects here, nothing but emotions, thoughts andreflection of the few people who are the charecters in this book. for me, reading today a story about the simple moment in life was a moving and very intence experience. the way the smallest things in our life, like flowers, a cake, a dead bird manage to express so vivdly huge consepts as art, medness and death, that, for me, is a great experience, both mentaly and artisticly. at times the reading got so intrnce, so close to my own life and thoughts that i had to stop. and that's just about all i look for in a book.
Rating:
Summary: Characters one can identify with
Review: At first I didn't really understand why this book won the Pulitzer, but at second glance it became crystal clear. The characters in the novel were not just characters, they could have been real people, complete with idiosyncracies and random, straying thoughts. Their emotions were fantastically real. I understood exactly how their felt because I have felt the same way. Aside from Cunningham's precise knowledge of the behavior and feelings of people, and of women (quite an extraordinary gift for a man), his prose is seemless and his plot development is unexpected and perfectly timed. I would recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: A sheer waste of time
Review: I got this book just for the hype. Remind me not to do that again. What were these characters? You don't even feel them and the book ends. Wow!! You need to be a real genius to fit the lives (and supposedly sorrows) of three women in a mere 240 pages. Unfortunately Michael Cunningham is not that genius. Very disappointing. I like to feel the characters in a book, this one failed in that completely.
Rating:
Summary: Profound
Review: I felt a passionate love for humanity when I was done reading this book. One reader felt like everyone in this book was unhappy without reason, but I don't think they were truly unhappy. Even Richard was more sick than unhappy. They just lived and made choices and wondered if those were the right choices. Laura Brown chose to leave her husband and two children. To me this was not a particularly admirable choice, but the consequence to that choice was a different path for several lives. Cunningham emphasizes the unchangability of the past and embraces it. While his characters wonder if they made the right decisions, they still are able to create lives that influence the people around them. I definitely think a reader would benefit from reading Mrs. Dalloway and at least some history of Virginia Woolf before reading this book, though it is not absolutely necessary for understanding.
Rating:
Summary: Prize winning novel
Review: THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham After I struggled through MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf, I decided to tackle Michael Cunningham's THE HOURS. Despite the fact that I did not enjoy MRS. DALLOWAY as much as I'd hoped to, I thoroughly enjoyed THE HOURS. Michael Cunningham twists the original book by Woolf into a modern day version of the same, but he adds the story of Virginia Woolf herself, writing the original book MRS. DALLOWAY. By changing the original characters slightly, and using a different series of crises, he creates an original story that totally threw me at the end of the book. I am not going to go into the details, but wanted to comment that while reading the book I first found it only ordinary, and did not understand why it won the Pulitzer in the first place. By the end of the novel, I clearly understood why it was such a brilliant piece of writing. I highly recommend this book, but with a warning: please be patient and do not criticize too highly the fact that he took an original classic and twisted it around.
Rating: 
Summary: A surprisingly well-paced novel
Review: As someone who did not read Virginia Woolf voluntarily, I was surprised at how much I liked this novel. I've always enjoyed Virginia Woolf's language, but her pace was too slow for my taste. I did not have the same problem with 'The Hours'. Michael Cunningham maintains a good momentum as he depicts a day in the life of his three heroines without sacrificing the rich textured language. And with realistic modern day side characters, like Clarissa's straight yet uber liberal daughter, Julia, Cunningham make his novel interesting to me in a way that Mrs. Dalloway never was.
Rating:
Summary: The Plot??
Review: I just finished reading The Hours and I found it very depressing.
Also, What was the PLOT?? Women are depressed and they sometimes commit suicide? I am sorry but I did not like this book.I admit it is beautifully written, but it fails to entertain. A really gook book, not as well written, but one I liked more was "Sing Me A Bawdy Song."
Rating:
Summary: A novel which will change your life....
Review: At least for me, it made me see my everyday life in a different perspective. This is a great novel for everyone, any age, different stage in life...There's not a lot of action, it's very drama but it keep you read every pages till the very end.
I find there's bit of dark and depression in this novel though,
but on the otherside, you will see how some people waste their time of something that not really matter(specially Laura)
that lead you to cherish your everyday life with joy. But if you look at this novel as their perspective, then it is kind of depress....Afterall, this novel is a meaningful work.
Rating:
Summary: Positively Magnificent
Review: One review of this book (it appears on the back cover) states: "a smashing literary tour de force and an utterly invigorating reading experience." I couldn't possibly agree more. "The Hours" is an astonishingly and exquisitely written novel, exploring many personal themes of happiness and depression. Aside from the wonderful story and themes, Cunningham's prose is beautiful, proving that even words can be a genuine work of art. There were several times where I had to pause and think about the paragraph I just read...the novel has that effect on you. The story appears depressing at first, but it is actually uplifting in it's provocation of the themes. The reader can empathize with the feelings of the characters, for I'm sure we have all had our times of dissatisfaction and longing. I strongly reccoment this book.
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