Virginia Woolf Books

This is a good but not a brilliant novel, and it rates 4 or 5 stars.

I have read about five of Woolf's novels, roughly her first six in chronological order but skipping her second novel which is considered to be a flop. This is her only simple and straightforward work. After her second novel she decided to be more risky and creative, and we see that change in the works such as "Jacob's Room" and "To The Lighthouse," and virtually all her other novels that followed. Woolf is equally famous for her non-fiction polemics on the state of women in literature.

This was Woolf's first major work; it took years to write, and she took few chances; her brother's company was the publisher; and, it has been mostly forgotten with the passage of time. From this point going forward she would spend less time on each novel and would publish through her own company, the Bloomsbury Publishing Company.

It took her eight years to write this first novel, and she uses the same theme made famous by Jane Austen, i.e.: a young woman meets a man and becomes engaged. She uses a sea trip as the vehicle or theme, followed by a stay at a remote hotel in the tropics. The story is a bit more complicated than that, but that is the basic theme.

We see a small group of characters including Mrs. Dalloway who is featured later in her own novel by Woolf. This is a straight-forward novel. There are no streams of consciousness nor are there other unusual literary techniques. It is all very realistic and down to earth.

Without revealing the plot to the reader, one can say that there are a few twists and turns here and there is a surprise ending. This is a four or five star novel. It is not a quick read and I found that some effort was required to stick with the slow read.

Overall, it is good but not great novel. It is over 400 pages with notes.

Well, she wrote at least this one. It's a brief, gentle fairy tale about, you guessed it, an old woman and a parrot. It's a quiet story with a happy ending - she dies, but dies happy - and morals about trust and kindness.

This little-known work by a well-known author was actually done as a commission. Her nephews Quentin and Julian Bell, small boys at the time, had a family newsletter. They figured they could do worse than ask auntie, the writer, for a contribution. Frankly, they were a bit disappointed, but too gracious to say so at the time. Years later, as near as I can tell, it resurfaced among adult Quentin's family papers, and he recognized it for the gem it in fact is. Then, to keep it a family matter, it was illustrated by a next-generation Bell also named Juian.

It's an interesting literary oddity as well as a charming story.

//wiredweird

Scribner has created a beautiful book in this edition. The illustrations are on heavy glossy paper and are magnificent. There are very nice, free readings of this work online, and so I purchased the book for my young children to enjoy - to read while listening to the narrator. My only complaint is the book is abridged. This is not evident from the description. I think most editions of this work are abridged. When the book ended, I was left wondering what became of Friday, as he is not mentioned again after the final battle. The author did not seem like one who would leave out that detail, and so I discovered the unabridged story is longer. Still, the quality of the book and the beauty of the illustrations are so very nice that I cannot knock a star off my review.

"I came on shore here on the 30th of September, 1639." These words, these few words signified the beginning of a new life for Robinson Crusoe. In the timely classic Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, a young boy becomes a man, after living alone on an island for 35 years. Set in the 1600's, our protagonist, Robinson Crusoe, is stranded on an isolated island after being shipwreck by a terrible storm. He has to learn anything and everything in order to survive on the island. At first, Robinson Crusoe struggles with the need of food, shelter, and protection. But most of all, Robinson Crusoe battles against the desperate need of company. Slowly, Crusoe starts to fall into a pattern: he built a sturdy fortress, raised up a good crop, managed to satisfy all his need with his own to hands, and took the Bible to his heart. Defoe wonderfully creates a realistic mental scene of all Robinson Crusoe dealt with while, the illustrator, N.C. Wyeth, visually portrays the moments of Crusoe's life vividly. The style of Robinson Crusoe switches between first person narrative and dairy format. The book is fast-paced, skimming years, while writes in detail on only the most important parts of his island survival. Defoe neatly described all aspects of Robinson Crusoe's life from religion to family. Finally, Defoe puts in, in my opinion, a theme of never giving up, no matter what the circumstances, for if you stack up the good against the battle, you will find the good shall always outweigh the bad.

Note: Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.

There are a lot of psychological and social theories about "Robinson Crusoe," but I just take it as a grand adventure. I loved all the details of how he survived after being shipwrecked on that island. Just remember that it was written in the seventeenth century so you have to get used to writing.

I have a warm place in my heart for Robinson Crusoe. Some fifty years ago in the second grade, my teacher read it to our class. Decades later, I told my wife about it, but she said that it was impossible. Robinson Crusoe is too difficult for a teacher to read to second graders.

Well, several years went by, and I was proved right. In a used bookstore, I bought a copy of "The Story of Robinson Crusoe in words of One Syllable," with "Colored Illustrations." The book was published in about 1900, and when my teacher read it to her class, the book was over fifty years old.

Since then I have collected paperback editions of "Robinson Crusoe" for their neat covers, and this one is really nice.

If you like shipwrecked-on-an-island stories, read Richard Laymon's "Island." It's a page-turner of a modern murder mystery.
Island

Everyone knows the story...so the issue is who can read the
literature in a compelling way. Clearly, Martin Shaw has the touch. My only criticism is that this audio Cassette should be made into an audio CD for most modern listeners.

The century in which Robinson Crusoe had his adventures was a time of exploration and colonialism. Daniel Defoe's story is famous for many reasons. For one thing, it is one of the first books to be written in modern English. Secondly, the adventuristic appeal has won the hearts and interests of generations of readers. And thirdly, it is an affirmation of the culture and society of the times (in comparison with Gulliver's Travels, a book that was more a satire of the times).

The book is set up in three parts, those being Crusoe's exploration of the world, being cast away on the island, and the providential return to society. The three parts are used to establish the world he exists in, to defend the world he exists in, and then to return to it after he's been able to properly exist outside of it.

Many readers may find a lot of comfort in his story. His ingenuity, perseverence, and industry combine somewhat melodramatically with his humbleness and self-discovery of God, which he defends mightily throughout. The story on a whole is hopeful and endearing: work hard, respect God, and even the most unlucky of man will abide.

Unfortunately, his tale hasn't aged well. The use of cannibal savages, slaves, and the like throughout the novel might offend some people. The constant care for divinity is at first really refreshing, but becomes tedious as the book starts to fall into a pattern of comfort-discomfort-speculation-God-comfort which may have been very enriching on the time, but today gets tedious. I don't want to intone that piety and response to the Bible is bad, I'm just saying it's out of place in modern vernacular.

Defoe himself shows a comprehensive understanding of the language, the characters, and the times. It is, really, a remarkable piece of writing structurally. However, its themes have aged, making it less than Universal, and for that matter somewhat misunderstood with modern-day audiences.

I'd say get this, the Dover Thrift edition. It's cheap, unabridged, and includes a quick introduction that makes the reading experience vastly more enriching. Otherwise it may be time to set this story to rest.

--PolarisDiB

This classic of the life of a down and out woman in seventeenth century England is very different from DeFoe's other classic, Robinson Caruso. Moll Flanders is a bleak read. Everyone in it is pretty awful. Moll herself can be read in numerous ways. She is a conniving, evil women, brought low by her sins (this is arguably the way Defoe meant to portray her) or, she is a strong women, who uses the resources at her disposal to survive in a world that consistently abuses her. I prefer the second reading. Either way, the ending where Moll finds a sort of spiritual redemption seemed contrived to my sensibilities, even if that possibility of redemption is likely the reason Defoe wrote the book in the first place.

Obviously, this novel is about a prostitute. The writing accompanies this woman's journey without being dry or repetitive. I enjoyed it for it's inspection of femininity of the time as well as the clashing deviousness and classic redemption thrown together in the character of Moll Flanders.

I particularly loved this book. I thought it was very cleverly written. I was able to get into the character's life situations and I always wanted to see what would happen to the woman next.

"Who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu'd Variety for threescore years, besides her childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (Whereof once to her own Brother) Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and died a Penitent" (original title page), this is the beginning of an exciting book, Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe. It is written in elevated language making it a difficult, but rewarding read. The novel is an accounting of the narrator, Moll's life. The focus is on how Moll deals with the hardships of her life and with being a woman in the seventeenth century. Defoe does an excellent job of showing how Moll's experiences change her outlook.
Moll Flanders was written in 1683, during a time in which women were considered subservient to men. Women were expected to get married and be content with the household affairs. However, money was the key, without it one would be unable to find a husband of position that would be a good provider. If a woman, like Moll, found herself alone and herself to rely upon, she discovered that there were not many options available, "I found by experience, that to be Friendless is the worst Condition, next to being in want, that a Woman can be reduc'd to: I say a Women, because `tis evident Men can be their own Advisers, and their own Directors, and know how to work themselves out of Difficulties and into Business better than women; but if a Woman has no Friend to Communicate her Affairs to, and to advise and assist her, tis' ten to one but she is undone" (121). Men dominated the business world and women were never taught to manage their own affairs or given the skills to enable them to make it in the business world. In fact, it was illegal for most women to do so. Without any acquaintances or contacts, a woman of this time was put at the mercy of strangers and fate. A woman that managed to be on her own was often suspected to be of ill reputation, and if she was labeled as such then life would be much harder.
Moll had a hard life from the beginning. She was born in Newgate prison, then taken in by a woman she dubbed Mistress Nurse. From an early age she wanted to become a gentlewoman, "...what I meant by being a Gentlewomen; and that I understood by it to be nothing more, than to be able to get my Bread by my own Work" (15). Upon her Mistress Nurse's death she was hired a servant in a high-class home. She became the lover to the eldest son, but the younger son fell in love with her and Moll was forced to marry him. He soon died and Moll married a "Gentleman-Tradesman" who spent all of their money, and had to leave the country to escape his creditors. Being very much desolate Moll realized, "Beauty, Wit, Manners, Sense, good Humour, good Behaviour, Education, Virtue, Piety, or any other Qualification, whether of Body or Mind, had no power to recommend: that Money only made a Women agreeable" (64). So Moll passed herself off as a woman of fortune, and married again. She moved with her husband to Virginia, and there realized that he was her brother. Upon that realization, Moll moved back to England. Upon her return she met another man, and over time became his mistress. After a terrible illness he decided that he could not live in sin with Moll any longer and turned her out. Moll then was tricked into marrying a man she believed to be very rich, and he was also deceived into believing she is a fortune. Having no money, they parted ways. Moll then married her accountant. After his death she was very poor, and out of desperation she became a thief. "The thoughts of this Booty put out all the thoughts of the first, and the Reflections I had made wore quickly off; Poverty, as I have said, harden'd my Heart, and my own Necessities made me regardless of any thing" (182). After a successful career as a thief, Moll was finally arrested and sent to Newgate. There she meets up with her fourth husband who was discovered to be a highwayman. They are both transported to Virginia where they buy a plantation together and eventually grow rich. Moll thus became a Gentlewoman.
In the male dominated society of the seventeenth century it was extremely difficult for a woman to make it on her own. Through Moll's experiences Defoe shows the difficult position a woman was faced with the lack of social liberty. Every plot development changes Moll slightly. Her Character almost completely changes as she becomes manipulative to get what she wants and needs to survive. This is apparent through her comments about her fifth husband before she married him, "I play'd with this Lover, as an Angler does with a Trout: I found I had him fast on the Hook, so I jested with his new Proposal" (133). The change in Moll's personality occurs slowly, but it makes her a more convincing character as well as highlights the effects of the hardships she endures. In the depiction of Moll's life, Defoe succeeds in questioning the subservient position that society forced women into in the seventeenth century.
The elevated language in Moll Flanders makes it a complicated read, however, if one is able to get past that obstacle the reader is rewarded with an outstanding story. Moll's life was a true adventure. Defoe's focus on Moll gives the reader insight into the hardships of the life of a woman in the seventeenth century, as well as shows the difficulty of getting ahead in those times. In a period where women were considered to be subservient to men, Moll was an assertive woman whose life was a great adventure.

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe is neither the best nor the worst book I have ever read. I have long been a lover of classical language. As such, I am enchanted by the engaging rhythm of Defoe's words. His dialogue is charming as he uses a tongue and accent not much different from today's but far more elegant. The plot of the story, however, disappoints me. The story is wholly comprised of events, making it nothing more than a flowery timeline of one woman's life. For me, this odd combination of excellent language and mediocre plot makes for an ultimately readable yet slightly dissatisfying novel.

Moll Flanders is the story of one woman's struggle to avoid the plight of poverty in seventeenth-century England. Moll is born in Newgate prison and orphaned by her criminal mother. From there, she is taken in by a kindly woman and raised as a "gentlewoman," and thus her story begins. Moll's childhood innocence is quickly transformed as her life turns from that of a simple servant into that of a common prostitute. She soon learns that sex and marriage are merely tools for bartering with, and love is only worth its weight in gold. Eventually, Moll turns from prostitution to stealing in order to supplement her finances, and her life goes drastically downhill from there. Her story is littered with unresolved sin and shame, until one momentous event changes her entire outlook on life and on love and teaches her what it means to be righteous.

Ultimately, what sounds like an intriguing story line results only in one continuous stream of events. Defoe's style of writing, although nicely worded, is impersonal in that he includes very little about the thoughts and feelings of Moll. Everything the reader learns about the main character is derived entirely from the events that comprise her life. Although this is supposed to be Moll's story, she has no reaction to the world around her. She simply reiterates what actions she has taken on her journey through life and what the resulting consequences are for those actions. Though hardly imagined to be a complete imbecile, Moll has absolutely no thought. The only words that I hear spoken directly from her mouth to the reader are words of dialogue to another character. The banality of this style of literature is highly disappointing in my eyes.

I am also highly disappointed with the content of the story. Only the first few pages and the last few pages are void of any criminal or adulterous behavior. Every other page contains a perfect recollection of one sin after the other. Although the story claims that this unrelenting wickedness should be useful to deter other sinners, I find that the continuous stream practically drowns me with boredom. Eventually, I lose track of Moll's numerous husbands and her countless thieving exploits. Any time a reference is made to her past history, I am forced to flip through the pages to find the mentioned sin as I have gotten it confused with some other of a similar nature. By the end of the story, every adventure sounds the same and every man has the same amount of money. I would have liked to see more variety in these pages.

I would not discourage another person from reading this book, however. I would gladly recommend it to those who love classical language, for I find Daniel Defoe was a great author for the words he could write, not necessarily for the stories he could create. The language is beautiful and enticing, for that alone I would recommend the book. Keep track of events and people while reading, though, because everything starts to sound the same after awhile.

While Nalbantian has veiled it in "neutral" academic prose and by using the particular cases of a few famous writers, her argument is just another example of memoir-hating. While I think it's an interesting exercise to try to trace author experience through fiction, doing so in a way that bashes an entire other category of writing should certainly make us suspicious. And while I agree that many readers are obsessed with memoir for all the wrong reasons, there are memoirists who do more than regurgitate facts, who actually write in literarily complex ways. The search for a pithy, simple thesis has unfortunately led S.N. astray in what might otherwise have been very interesting work.

The constant edification of authors reaches a sickening degree when their lives are marched out like so much cannon fodder. Are they interesting people? Undoubtedly. Worthy of print? Surely. Worthy of endless reams of print that never stops? You get the idea

Aesthetic Autobiography is a fascinating study of the transmutation of life fact into fiction. Nalbantian's basic premise is that one's fictionalization of one's own life reveals more about an individual than an individual's earnest attempt at self documentation by way of a "memoir." The first chapter is an analysis of autobiography proper; in the second chapter Nalbantian introduces theories of "aesthetic autobiography," and in the subsequent chapters she relates her model of a shared aesthetics to the giants of twentieth-century autobiography. For example, writers of aesthetic autobiography share a concentration on a place, a childhood memory, and a beloved family member. In additon, they each utilize a concrete element as an anchor in time. It is a very creative work, and any individual interested in the creative process, the transmuation of life fact into fiction, will find this study essential and illuminating.

Beautifully packaged book, and described almost as a poetic self-help book. I eagerly purchased it online and was very surprised to find it is in-depth literary analysis of Virginia Woolf's writings. Is this the author's PhD dissertation packaged as a book? It would be a great text for a class studying Virginia Woolf, but it's not for me.

As for its self-help properties: it begins by saying Virginia Woolf committed suicide -- but...but...this is a "guide to better living through the wisdom of Virginia Woolf! Isn't that kind of like looking for tips for sobriety from Ernest Hemingway?

In any case, it's quite academic, not really meant for casual readers like me who are looking for an engrossing novel or non-fiction read on their nightstand.

Despite the fact that I am fairly unfamiliar with Virginia Woolf's work, I really enjoyed this book. The author explains what Woolf's perspective on life is through examples of Woolf's life experiences and with comparative examples of the reality of the world we all live in today. The book is a great blend of philiosophy, physcology and literature. Its a rewarding read that will make you re-evaluate your own self-image and perspective of the world around you.

This book is a wonderful companion to Alain de Bottons's "How Proust Can Change Your Life." It's intelligent, insightful, and terrifically well-written: a delight. The afternoon I spent reading it was one of the most enjoyable I've spent in the past few months. Ilana Simons manages to succeed in what would seem to be the impossible: making as unlikely a prospect as Virigina Woolf a guide to the good life.

If you are looking for a round up of the extensive group of people that contributed to what became known as Bloomsbury, you will be disappointed. There are some players that are generously represented and others, such as Sidney Saxon-Turner, Dora Carrington and Ralph Partridge, barely or not at all. As significant a drawback is the size of many reproductions. Whole album pages have been reproduced, which in and of itself is interesting, but is reduces the size of the photos such that frequently the people are so small as to be recognizable. Many of these photos have been reproduced in larger and more satisfactory formats in other biographies and memoirs. Also strange, even within the context, the quantity of photos of nude children reproduced here. Having just reread Quentin Bell's bio of his aunt Virginia I bought hoping to fill out the visual record. No such luck.

I really enjoyed this book. I could pore over the fashions, the interior decoration - it satisfied my desire to see all the details! At the same time, I got a sense of the passage of time in Virginia and Vanessa's lives. Read as a companion to any of Woolf's novels, I think the book would also convey a sense of the writing process.

It evokes the time and place beautifully, and the text is not intrusive: the images are allowed to take centre stage as works of art in their own right.

Fine choice, Sweetpea!

Nutty yet poignant

Have we found the smoking gun here? I doubt it

Bloomsbury has a posse!

This book is very boring. It is more like reading philosophy than a novel.

I gave this book 5 stars, not because I really liked it, but because it's interesting. Three Guineas is VW second book that is an argument and not fiction (the first is a room of one's own). It's about how women can help prevent war, and it says a lot of stuff, one of the things being to link male vanity to aggression. It's controversial, and a lot less pleasant than a room of one's own. It's weird in retrospect, too, because her argument stands in another time - before the second world war - and we've all changed since the holocaust etc. It says a lot about feminism, too, and women entering the professions and getting an education. Like I say, it's more aggressive than ARoOO, and this makes her less likeable. Whether or not you like it, though, or agree with what she says, it's an argument that should be out there. It's something that should be said.

Early feminism begins to emerge in this essay written by Virginia Woolf in 1938 as a follow up to her wonderful book "A Room of One's Own."

Woolf received requests for three guineas from a women's college, from a society for promoting professional women and finally from a group requesting the prevention of war. This essay is Woolf's answer to those requests. While it is extraordinarily cumbersome to read the bottom line suggests that a society which promotes only one aspect of itself and suffocates anything else will never be advanced enough to protect its own culture and intellect from revolutions and wars. And because the idea of fighting rests in the very aspect so highly promoted (male dominated society) all of the laws and practices contain this strife and will until other parts of society are allowed a fair voice. The interesting concept is how little society has advanced from this original idea and the strife continues to be a factor today. Woolf suggests war exists as a profession and an act that offers "happiness and excitement" for the very society it falls under. In fact she goes as far to suggest that men would deteriorate without the outlet of war to contend with. Woolf discusses patriotism as a purely male act because of the fact that women simply cannot be patriots in a culture that suffocates their voices and refuses to educate them (remember this is 1938). The disturbing thought is that women are now able to vote, work and fight in wars but our culture remains basically the same with white males in domination. How slow we are to advance!

Virginia Woolf believed that war could only be prevented through an educational system that stopped the glamorization of it and instead taught the inhumanity of the act. She found that poor educational systems actually taught better because they allowed art and creative processes to flow rather than the pomp and circumstance of wealth and the art of dominating, killing and capital acquirements. Sadly one of Woolf's most profound ideas applies today, "There we have an embryo the creature, Dictator as we call him when he is Italian or German, who believes that he has the right, whether given by God, Nature, sex or race is immaterial, to dictate to other human beings how they shall live; what they shall do." From a society of slavery, racism and suffering emerges a great savior promoting freedom? It seems an oxymoron does it not? Woolf continues, "And what right have we, Sir, to trumpet our ideas of freedom and justice to other countries when we can shake out from our most respectable newspapers any day of the week eggs like these?" The futurism of Woolf is astounding in this book as she finally suggests that women be labeled "outside" society so that her country is the entire world and her patriotism allowed to be the same. In a visionary profoundness Woolf manages to find an answer towards true freedom outside of the fascination of a few guineas.

If you've come in search of more Virginia Woolf essays after being blown away by A Room of One's Own, be warned - Three Guineas isn't as good as that earlier, astonishing essay. Nevertheless, a second-tier Virginia Woolf essay is still a Virginia Woolf essay, which is to say, clever, funny and dangerously sharp.

In Three Guineas, Woolf discusses three letters, each requesting a donation of a guinea, one from a society seeking to prevent war, one from a society promoting the employment of professional women and one from the building fund of a women's college. All worthy goals, and anyone else might have been satisfied to send them each a guinea and be done with it. Woolf, on the other hand, uses these three requests to launch a discussion about women's role in society and the effect that educated, professional women can and should have on it.

As in A Room of One's Own, some of what Woolf says is obvious or outdated. What's staggering, however, is how many of her observations remain fresh and relevant. Even more staggering is how accurately she predicts the changes that have taken place since society began making a real place for women - changes in society, but also changes in women. Although I knew much of what Woolf was saying, I doubt that I had ever seen these thoughts so clearly and intelligently formulated. As an added bonus, Three Guineas provides a brief but fascinating glimpse into the history of the suffrage movement (and its opposition) in England.

It is easy to guess Three Guineas' flaws. It is too long, too detailed, and ultimately not as revelatory and exciting as A Room of One's Own. It is, however, important to anyone interested in thinking about women's place in society, and the affect that each has on the other. Along with A Room of One's Own, it should be required reading for young women who (like myself) take their rights and freedom for granted.

This is my third Continuum Contemporaries guide. The other two, Kazuo Ishiguro's THE REMAINS OF THE DAY by Adam Parkes and A. S. Byatt's POSSESSION by Catherine Burgass are worth every cent. Both critics place their respective novels into a recognizable historical context and provide plenty of biographical information but never lose sight of the texts as literature, teasing out dozens of hidden meanings and innuendos. All in all, most books in the Continuum series are vigorous, to-the-point, and (most importantly) fun to read.

Not so with Tory Young. She is obviously very knowledgeable about "queer" literature of the 80s-90s period, and knows Cunningham's novel like the palm of her hand, but the overall presentation, in this book, of supporting critical evidence is soporific. Young's analysis sinks under a wealth of gratuitous academic allusions; there is a reference in almost every sentence (the bibliography at the end of the book is two pages long)! There is very little of Tory Young in all this. She merely collected what everyone ever said about the book and put it, rather nicely and coherently, together.

My other complaint is that she spends too much time talking about the movie. I love Daldry's film as much as I love the novel, but I bought this guide specifically to help me understand Cunningham's artistry in all its many nuances. Burgass's guide to POSSESSION is excellent in that respect. I go back to it each time I reread Byatt's book; the same goes for Ishiguro's REMAINS.

This guide, on the other hand, is not worth your money OR your time. You'll have a much more productive afternoon browsing through reviews on the Internet. A waste (at 87 pages) of shelf-space.

To do with words what Hendrix did with the guitar was the goal of former self-described slacker Michael Cunningham when he realized in his late 20s he wanted to give writing a serious go. It's an interesting phrase and one of many which shed light on the Pulitzer-winning novel "The Hours" in Tory Young's Reader's Guide.

In four clear sections, the novelist, the novel, the novel's reception, and its adaptation to film are discussed. One complaint: The film isn't discussed to nearly the extent the book is, and considering its quality, this seems a missed opportunity. Also, the book wanders into academic jargon of an insular and confusing kind on occasion.

Provocative and illuminating discussions of the difference between assimilationist and transgressive gay lit (David Leavitt, Hollinghurst, & Cunningham vs. J. T. Leroy & Dennis Cooper) help make this book worthwhile. So do descriptions of critical reactions to an American author "riffing" on a classic English novel (Mrs. Dalloway). Cunningham's weaknesses are discussed, but the Reader's Guide makes it clear that the deftness of his three interwoven narratives and the luminosity of his prose more than compensate.

I would have liked more biographical info about Cunningham; saying he's "guarded" about his personal life is no excuse not to learn and speculate about it. It's an interesting topic since Cunningham may be the premier living American author.

A lot will rest on his upcoming novel "Specimen Days," which I admit I am eager for; it's set for a June release. When I read Cunningham I am melancholic because he refuses to dodge the most difficult things in life: suffering, loss, and missed connections. There is plenty of death in Cunningham, but the wake is packed with the flowers of his pitch-perfect prose. His novels unfold with a sort of sad beauty; he shares Henry James' gift for the well-developed female character and her complex interior emotional life, most notably in "The Hours."

Get this trim handsome 80-page Reader's Guide if you're a Cunningham fan like I am. Thorough analysis combines with interesting tidbits to make good reading.

This is one of the great novels of the twentieth century; truly innovative and heart-breaking. It is not hard to read, one only needs to pay attention.

I really liked the movie "the Hours", loosely based on this book, so I thought I'd read it... I couldn't get through it. I love many classic books, but I'll not try another by Virginia Woolf.