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 graphic writer. Woolfs work of Mrs. Dalloway was read by fifteen-year-old Michael Cunningham in order to impress an older girl in school. As he stated, the admit really knocked me out. Once older, Cunningham cute to write about Mrs. Dalloway, but thought not too many people would want to read a book about reading a book. He then thought he might want to read a book about reading the right book. Hence, The Hours was written. Cunningham would incorporate Mrs. Dalloway into a book about reading a book. The Hours weaves through 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 noteworthy author. She is one of the main women in this complex story. Woolf has a troublesome life. She has multiple thoughts of self-annihilation and death. She is anorexic and cau ght in a marriage that is doomed. The first chapter by Cunningham tells of Woolfs suicide drowning in 1941. Cunningham tells of the demons within 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 work rewarding 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. passim The Hours, Laura is reading Mrs. Dalloway, which is Virginias novel. Her obvious mental illness doesnt allow her to always connect and understand her environment. Situations that seem simple to the average person, such as making 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 job of tying these three stories together into a novel about reading a book. I would super recommend this book to the advanced reader.Works CitedAxemaker, Sean. Driven to Live. Rev. of The Hours, by Michael Cunningham. Eugene Weekly 23 Jan. 2003Be Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Chronicles March 2003.Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. New York Picador USA, 1998.Doig, Will. Man of The Hours Michael Cunninghams Unlikely shoo-in Smash. Metro Weekly 23 Jan. 2003.Merriam-Webster. Websters New American Dictionary. New York Smithmark, 1995.Sipiora, Phillip. Reading and Writing about Literature. Upper Saddle River Prentice Hall, 2002.