The Hours
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Community Reviews
Infrequently is a movie better than the book. This was one of those occasions. Now, I know what you might say. . .you saw the movie first, it hardly counts. Well, okay, that is true. But, if memory serves, I read Mrs. Dalloway first and I really enjoyed it.
What I love about Mrs. Dalloway: The beautiful prose, the compactness of what seems to be an ever-expanding story, the magical connections between characters and plotlines, and the overall message of hope and joy.
What I love about the movie The Hours: A gorgeously filmed movie which so vividly represents the most human emotions of loneliness, sadness, and despair through three different women in three different situations and time periods, lovingly acted by such wonderful people as Meryl Streep, Ed Harris, and Nicole Kidman. At the end of the movie, which washes over you, you feel like your life is meaningless. But that's why you watch it again and again, because it helps you come to grips with your own sense of purpose.
Did I get ANY of that from this book? Nope. I think I was horribly disappointed in this book because I so highly esteemed the book it was based on and the movie they made it into. The book itself fell so flat. The profundity in the other two and their inherent philosophical nature was noticeably absent, to the detriment of the novel. It felt forced, shallow, and pompous. It was as though the author was trying so hard to be thoughtful and meaningful that both easily evaded his grasp.
I wish this was a good book. I really do. But it's not. And I will go back to Virginia Woolf.
What I love about Mrs. Dalloway: The beautiful prose, the compactness of what seems to be an ever-expanding story, the magical connections between characters and plotlines, and the overall message of hope and joy.
What I love about the movie The Hours: A gorgeously filmed movie which so vividly represents the most human emotions of loneliness, sadness, and despair through three different women in three different situations and time periods, lovingly acted by such wonderful people as Meryl Streep, Ed Harris, and Nicole Kidman. At the end of the movie, which washes over you, you feel like your life is meaningless. But that's why you watch it again and again, because it helps you come to grips with your own sense of purpose.
Did I get ANY of that from this book? Nope. I think I was horribly disappointed in this book because I so highly esteemed the book it was based on and the movie they made it into. The book itself fell so flat. The profundity in the other two and their inherent philosophical nature was noticeably absent, to the detriment of the novel. It felt forced, shallow, and pompous. It was as though the author was trying so hard to be thoughtful and meaningful that both easily evaded his grasp.
I wish this was a good book. I really do. But it's not. And I will go back to Virginia Woolf.
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