The Hours, by Michael Cunningham
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998
The Hours by Michael Cunningham is perhaps one of the best contemporary novels that I've read, and it is certainly easy to see why it won a Pulitzer Prize. The novel follows three women -- one, an editor in present-day Greenwich Village, one a post-WWII housewife, and Virginia Woolf, who is the thread that binds this story together.
Cunningham has done a fantastic job of writing from a woman's perspective; he has really gotten into the psyche of these two women and has thoughtfully speculated a dialogue for Woolf as she is writing her novel Mrs. Dalloway.
Cleverly utilizing names and plot devices from Woolf's stories Mrs. Dalloway and her concept of "a-room-of-one's-own," Cunningham has created a truly unique story with well-crafted parallels. Present-day Clarissa Vaughan is planning a party for her ailing friend Richard, who has just won a major literary award for his poetry. Laura Brown is the housewife struggling to find a sense of herself outside of the role of mother and wife. Cross-cutting glimpses or each life, along with Woolf's, Cunningham manages to pull these three women's lives together in a climax that is sure to leave you goose-pimpled and applauding.
Reading The Hours is made easier if you are already familiar with Woolf's work -- especially Mrs. Dalloway. There are also many striking images that appear and reappear through each woman's life, most notably the yellow rose. I would like to sit down with Cunningham and ask about the significance of all the yellow roses throughout this novel.
It is rumored that a movie based on The Hours is in the works. I would be very interested in seeing how they handle the episodical feel of Cunningham's work. But, as the saying goes, I suggest you read the book -- don't wait for the movie. You'll be glad you did.
