Parallel Experiences of Three Troubled Women in Cunninghams, The Hours

parallel Experiences of Three Troubled Women in Cunninghams, The HoursAccording to Chronicles magazine, Woolf was undeniably a smart as a whip writer. Woolfs work of Mrs. Dalloway was read by fifteen-year-old Michael Cunningham in order to impress an one-time(a) girl in school. As he stated, the book really knocked me out. at a time older, Cunningham wanted to write around Mrs. Dalloway, but thought not also many people would want to read a book about knowledge a book. He past thought he office want to read a book about reading the properly book. Hence, The Hours was written. Cunningham would incorporate Mrs. Dalloway into a book about reading a book. The Hours weaves by three womans lives. As the novel unfolds, it shows that these three women are related by parallel experiences. The first narrative is Virginia Woolf, the famous author. She is one of the main women in this complex story. Woolf has a troublesome life. She has multiple thoughts of suicide and death. She is a norexic and caught in a marriage that is doomed. The first chapter by Cunningham tells of Woolfs suicide drowning in 1941. Cunningham tells of the demons indoors Woolfs head and the consequently her fatal death from listening to these voices. The novel then moves to the stories of two modern American women who are trying to make honour lives for themselves.Laura Brown is a fragile middleclass housewife and mother in 1951. She lives a miserable life trying to play the model suburban housewife. throughout The Hours, Laura is reading Mrs. Dalloway, which is Virginias novel. Her obvious mental illness doesnt allow her to always plug into and understand her environment. Situations that seem simple to the average person, such as fashioning a cake, are beyond difficu... ...fter reading the story and watching it, I still have difficulty interrupting it. Yet, by looking at the ambiguities, gaps and strategically placed metaphors I can understand it better. Cunningham does a good channe l of tying these three stories together into a novel about reading a book. I would highly recommend this book to the advanced reader. whole shebang CitedAxemaker, Sean. Driven to Live. Rev. of The Hours, by Michael Cunningham. Eugene Weekly 23 Jan. 2003Be Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Chronicles defect 2003.Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. New York Picador USA, 1998.Doig, Will. Man of The Hours Michael Cunninghams Unlikely Runaway Smash. Metro Weekly 23 Jan. 2003.Merriam-Webster. Websters New American Dictionary. New York Smithmark, 1995.Sipiora, Phillip. Reading and Writing about Literature. pep pill Saddle River Prentice Hall, 2002.