Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Time for our first Companion Group Read! Use both book threads to discuss the relationship between the two group reads.

I read both Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours back-to-back and for the first time for this read. I hadn't previously seen the movie, either.

To me, The Hours really missed the mark. It seems like Cunningham and I got completely different things out of Woolf. Overall, I felt like he tried way too hard to make aspects of his book match with things that happened in Mrs. Dalloway, which ended up sacrificing meaning and cheapening these scenes or events.

Here are just a few of them that I can remember so far:
1. "The kiss": This scene between Clarissa and Sally was replicated in the kiss between Mrs. Brown and her neighbor, Kitty. Kitty was an extraordinarily underdeveloped character who seemed to be very literally just tossed into the story to make it "match" with Mrs. Dalloway. Whereas Mrs. Dalloway's kiss with Sally seemed to her a beautiful and almost religious experience, this kiss felt cheap, messy and unnecessary. This kiss is also replicated with Mrs. Woolf, as she leans in to kiss her sister, then spends time contemplating the chasteness or lack thereof of this gesture. This scene also felt unnecessary and cheap. I am not sure, but was wondering if this was then to be replicated with Clarissa in a relationship with a woman having an affair with Richard.

Regardless, this moment that seemed beautiful and touching to me in Mrs. Dalloway ended up feeling cheap and dirty in The Hours.

2. The suicide: Woolf did an incredible job describing PTSD and the effects it has on a person and their family. The suicide of Richard felt flimsy and forced, by comparison. It seemed to me that Cunningham knew he needed a suicide in his book in order to "match" Mrs. Dalloway, but I just can't have the same sympathy for Richard (especially as written) as I did for Septimus.

Overall, the comparisons that Cunningham tried to make between his novel and Woolf's have an appearance of depth, but just seem so fake when I think about pretty much any scene in the novel. Whereas the characters in Woolf's novel actually felt real to me, I was hideously aware that I was reading about fake, created characters when I read The Hours.

BTW, I do LOVE the companion reads, and would really like to do this type of read again!

I'm going to start this today - I'm hoping I'll enjoy it more than Mrs. Dalloway and maybe it would help me appreciate that one better.

Sorry if my post is spoilers. I can put it in spoiler tags. I just thought we were supposed to have it read by the 15th. Is this wrong, and I read these books way too early?

Kaycie wrote: "Sorry if my post is spoilers. I can put it in spoiler tags. I just thought we were supposed to have it read by the 15th. Is this wrong, and I read these books way too early?"

No, that is the idea, but the discussion is scheduled all month so the books can be read at any time.

Ok great. I'll leave my post as is, then. Thanks!

Kaycie wrote: "Sorry if my post is spoilers. I can put it in spoiler tags. I just thought we were supposed to have it read by the 15th. Is this wrong, and I read these books way too early?"

No, no, spoiler away. It's pretty clear from the start that it is going to contain them so it's easy to skip over your comments. I'll come back and read them once I've read The Hours.

I'm almost halfway through, and liking it so far. I didn't really enjoy Mrs Dalloway when I read it last year.

Just realised I haven’t commented on this yet.

There are constant parallels and distorted mirroring of Mrs Dalloway of course, I think perhaps a little too many, that the book tried too hard in certain situations and didn’t quite live up to the delicate touch of the ‘original’. This I found most obvious in the suicide. Overall though I greatly enjoyed the interweaving threads especially as I’d just read Mrs. Dalloway.

Although The Hours used the Stream of Consciousness style I found so difficult to follow previously it wasn’t so flittery here. Or I didn’t think so at least. I found it easy to follow the plot, didn’t lose myself between different characters thoughts and, generally, found it much less of a brain strain.

As far as plain old readability goes, The Hours wins out. I liked the book. But, still, even though I liked The Hours and didn’t much like Mrs. Dalloway, I still feel like Mrs. Dalloway was a work of literary art and The Hours a bit of a pale copy. Almost a cheat in a way, riding on the coattails of a very famous book.

I realise this is quite hard to explain so I'm not going to try. I'll just say 'it gave me that feeling' and leave it at that :-)

Nice to read your thoughts Nicola. I feel pretty much the same way.

I don't recall much detail from Mrs Dalloway, so I really can't make comparisons. What I did enjoy though were the connections between Mrs Dalloway the book, Virginia Woolf and the other characters. I missed the fact that Laura's son Richie was also Richard, until the end when the elderly Laura arrives. I thought Laura was an interesting character, and would have liked to know her thoughts Virginia Woolf in those between years when I think she loses another child (?) and leaves her family.

I thought was an easy and engaging read and gave it four stars. I hope to get hold of a copy of the movie sometime soon.

Nicola wrote: "lthough The Hours used the Stream of Consciousness style I found so difficult to follow previously it wasn’t so flittery here. Or I didn’t think so at least. I found it easy to follow the plot, didn’t lose myself between different characters thoughts and, generally, found it much less of a brain strain."

Yes I agree. I found that Mrs. Dalloway was far more challenging and difficult to follow at times. The Hours did read a lot easier for me, and I felt that Cunningham's writing was quite beautiful and lyrical.

While I very much like Virgina Woolf I did enjoy reading The Hours more than I did so Mrs. Dalloway.

It is true that The Hours is more contrived because the author was intentionally trying to set up these parallels between the characters I still enjoyed seeing the way in which the lives of these various different women paralleled to each other and I did kind of like the way he set up the connections.

I also think the book highlighted the way in which though the women in The Hours lived in a time which is generally far more liberal than the ear in which Virgina Woolf grew up in, women can still sometimes go through that struggle of becoming trapped in that domestic sphere and fill torn between the responsibilities they have for their families and their desires to do something for themselves.

I think it does make Virgina Woolf more relatable to the modern woman. The thoughts and struggles of Mrs. Brown in particular I found to be very real, and believable.

The character of Clarissa (in The Hours) did feel less natural/genuine because of the way in which Cunningham was trying to really force that parallel to Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

Were these 2 books a great matchup or what? I am thoroughly enjoying The Hours and able to completely appreciate the references to Mrs. Dalloway - and appreciate Mrs. Dalloway more by how The Hours sheds light on many of the themes.

Another of my favorites, rated 5 several years ago.

I really enjoyed this! I also really appreciated reading it so close to Mrs Dalloway as I felt I got the full impact of all the parallels where the significance would have been lessened had I begun to forget the details of Mrs Dalloway. It also confirmed that I did take more out of Mrs Dalloway than I first feared after taking some time to adjust to the stream of conciousness style, which is always a good thing!

The opening scene of Virginia's suicide really sucked me in, it was so beautifully written and had such a feeling of inevitability about it... Which I know is a stupid comment given that it did actually happen in reality... But what I mean is that I was there going through it with her and that really set the scene for the rest of the novel and its theme of depression that runs through all three narratives.

I listened to the audio version narrated by the author and this is perhaps why I was so strongly sucked into the storyline. In either case I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am so glad that I read them close together. I also like the idea of more companion reads like this!

Enjoyed your comments above everyone!

I agree with Kaycie, Nicola and others that The Hours misses the mark in its attempt to tackle the same themes as Mrs. Dalloway. For me, death was the most fascinating theme in Mrs. Dalloway, and Cunningham's handling of this theme is shallow. Sentences addressing it are dull and obvious and there is little progression of the theme over the course of the novel.

I did appreciate Cunningham's handling of the relationships between characters, particularly in the cases of lesbian and gay relationships. I have to give Woolf a break - it wasn't as easy in her time to write about those issues as it was for Cunningham - but I enjoyed his permutations of the Clarissa-esque character and her love/loves. By showing this relationship in several embodiments, I definitely found a bit of new insight on Clarissa Dalloway's relationships with Peter, Sally, and Richard.

Yes I just didn't 'feel it' :-) I'm currently reading Infinite Jest and with a few paragraphs you are so close to addiction, depression and madness you can almost read out and touch it. Here, it just didn't seem real.

I've only just started this but though I would comment about the opening Prologue. I was struck by the way the suicide was presented from Virginia's point of view even when she was drowning and presumably she was still described as though she were playing an active part. I thought it added to the inevitability, as Tanya put it.

I've been putting this one off for awhile. Mrs. Dalloway was a real snooze-fest for me, and I wasn't interested in a do-over. But, I've read a lot of reviews by folks who claim that even if you didn't like Mrs. Dalloway, you could still enjoy The Hours.

So, here I go.

Nicola wrote: "Yes I just didn't 'feel it' :-) I'm currently reading Infinite Jest and with a few paragraphs you are so close to addiction, depression and madness you can almost read out and touch it. Here, it ..."

Ohhhhh, Infinite Jest, one of my favorites!

I really enjoyed this companion read. Having read Mrs. Dalloway first and then The Hours right after made me much more aware of all the references and appreciative of how Clarissa (in the Hours) would have been miffed at the nickname. I had watched the film years ago and loved it, not realizing it had been a book first, but am so glad we read these together.

Well, since it's been TEN months since I read Mrs. Dalloway, I've forgotten all of the major characters. After reading the prologue and chapter 1, I felt compelled to go read the Wikipedia summary. And of course now, all of sudden, there are all kinds of similarities that weren't there before. :)

I enjoyed The Hours more than Mrs. Dalloway. I felt that the characters were more likable in Th Hours. I was more interested in their lives and how they were connected to each other. I'm glad I read Mrs. Dalloway first though because I feel like I got more from the story than I would have if I had not read it first.

I feel the same. I was able to connect emotionally with these characters more. I wonder why?

I've read Mrs. Dalloway, but just couldn't get into it. Something about the character... I just couldn't enjoy the writing. I couldn't relate. But THIS. It's the same... but different. It's a modern rendition of the style, and it connected me to the characters in a way I didn't see coming. Oh, how I want to re-read Mrs. Dalloway now! Now that I understand.

P.S. - Although I've not seen the movie, I read the movie tie-in version of this book. How absurdly appropriate it was that Meryl Streep played the role that she did!

I just finished The Hours. I really enjoyed the story and the connection made between all characters. It only took me two days to read as I just couldn't put it down. I am now starting Mrs. Dalloway. It seems I might be in the minority here by reading The Hours first. It will be interesting to find out if I will still think highly of The Hours (gave it five stars) when I finish Mrs. Dalloway or if my opinion will change. I will try to keep you posted.