2005 book 49

michael cunningham's the hours
oh my god, i know, i know. how am i only read this book now for the first time? especially when it's so good! mad props to jodi for prodding me to read it, or i might not have gotten around to it for another few years. anyway, really a brilliant intertwining of three women's stories--virginia woolf, as she begins writing mrs dalloway, laura brown, who is reading it, and clarissa, affectionately nicknamed mrs dalloway, who like her namesake is spending a day getting a party together. i had to wonder if some of the ways these characters connected would have been more prominent had i read mrs dalloway more recently than 8 years ago, but the novel holds up regardless of the reader's knowledge of woolf and her ouvre. cunningham is really a powerful writer, and i imagine all bookish girls would strongly relate to laura especially. now i can finally watch the movie, which came from netflix almost two months ago!