The Hours in Retro Chapter Chicks

May 08, 2020 Candi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, book-i-own, historical-fiction

“Still, she loves the world for being rude and indestructible, and she knows other people must love it too, poor as well as rich, though no one speaks specifically of the reasons. Why else do we struggle to go on living, no matter how compromised, no matter how harmed?”

I’m actually quite glad that I didn’t have time to go to the movies in the early 2000s. My first child was newly born, and I was more likely to be seen pacing a room with a cranky baby, changing a diaper, or passed out on the couc “Still, she loves the world for being rude and indestructible, and she knows other people must love it too, poor as well as rich, though no one speaks specifically of the reasons. Why else do we struggle to go on living, no matter how compromised, no matter how harmed?”

I’m actually quite glad that I didn’t have time to go to the movies in the early 2000s. My first child was newly born, and I was more likely to be seen pacing a room with a cranky baby, changing a diaper, or passed out on the couch from exhaustion. Hell, I had even given up trying to read at that point in my life! What I’m trying to say is that I somehow missed seeing the film adaptation of The Hours when it was released. Therefore, I went into this book with minimal knowledge of the plot. It was an absolute joy to read this; Michael Cunningham swept me off my feet.

“She could, she thinks, have entered another world. She could have had a life as potent and dangerous as literature itself.”

I loved everything about this book – truly, every single thing! First and foremost is the sublime prose. The inter-connectedness of the stories between three women (Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown and Clarissa Vaughan -affectionately nicknamed Mrs. Dalloway by a dear friend) and across three timelines (1920s, late 1940s and early 2000s) is extremely effective. There is an overwhelming feeling that despite where and when you are born, our struggles are timeless and cross all boundaries. Virginia Woolf and her book, Mrs. Dalloway, provide the link between all three story lines. I have in fact read this slim novel by Woolf. It’s not necessary to have done so in order to appreciate The Hours. The only advantage I had was understanding the relationship between Woolf’s characters and those of Cunningham. However, Cunningham seamlessly weaves the writing of the book Mrs. Dalloway into the context of Mrs. Woolf’s section of this novel in such a way that you will do just fine without that prior knowledge.

“… she is again possessed (it seems to be getting worse) by a dreamlike feeling, as if she is standing in the wings, about to go onstage and perform in a play for which she is not appropriately dressed, and for which she has not adequately rehearsed.”

I don’t know how so much depth was packed into little over 200 pages. It’s pure genius. I know these women intimately. I shared their deepest sorrows and desperate longings. I ‘get’ them. This is not a cheery sort of book, no. We read about terminal disease, depression and suicide. There is the constant search for identity, love and happiness. Sometimes these things seem just out of reach. Often they are impossible to hold onto when we are lucky enough to finally grasp them. How does any one person make it through his or her day then? What do we do with what we have? Do we plow through and delight in those few moments that sustain us? Do we take extreme action and do the unthinkable? It’s remarkable really that we are still here and we still thrive. Life is a gift. If we hold those few extraordinary hours in a lifetime of ordinary days in our hands like a fragile bubble that could burst at any moment, then we are doing our best, aren’t we?!

I’m not ready to return this book to my shelf yet. I need it by my side right now, to serve as a reminder when I have too much time on my hands to reflect on where I’ve been and where I’m going. It’s a punch in the gut and a divine blessing snugly wrapped up in one little package.

"There is still that singular perfection, and it’s perfect in part because it seemed, at the time, so clearly to promise more. Now she knows: That was the moment, right then. There has been no other." ...more

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Jun 05, 2019 Celia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction-read, pulitzer, 2019-read, 1001-challenge, ten-year-challenge, book-shelf-former, voracious, 2019-rsc

"The ripples of influence wash forward in time. From the ravaged, brilliant mind of Virginia Woolf, to a 1950's California housewife, to a thoroughly modern New York City businesswoman."

Three Women Linked by a Book. The book : Mrs Dalloway... Clarissa Dalloway.

Clarissa Vaughn - she shares Mrs Dalloway's first name. Her beloved friend, Richard, calls her Mrs. Dalloway.

Virginia Wolff - she wrote the book. She contemplates death.

Laura Brown - she is reading the book. She feels trapped in her life. ...more

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Jan 24, 2010 Phair rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, audio-books

Not the greatest reader on this audiobook. Writing definitely did not draw me in at all. Didn't like the first person style, hated the jumping around in time and back and forth between various characters. Utterly confusing. Person who suggested this for our f2f discussion just raved about it but I can't imagine what she sees in it. Nothing happens really. Not sure what the whole point was. It's all just a few hours in the life of each group of characters. Is that it- that our lives are just mad ...more

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Jul 17, 2014 Kris (My Novelesque Life) rated it it was amazing

5 STARS

"Exiled in Richmond in the 1920s, Virginia Woolf struggles to tame her rebellious mind and make a start on her new novel. In 1990s New York, Clarissa Vaughan goes shopping for flowers for a party for her AIDS-suffering poet-friend. This novel meditates on artistic behaviour, love and madness." (From Amazon)

If you like Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway you will love this novel. It is slow and lyrical so not for everyone. (Writing style is like Michael Ondaatje) It is worth the read as you f ...more

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