This is the ultimate homage one writer can give to another. It is the story of three women united across time and space by one powerful novel: Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf. The characters, who are all profoundly touched in some way by the novel, are rendered in such exquisite, loving detail that the reader’s life in turn becomes entwined with theirs.

Woolf herself is one of the main characters, just beginning to write Mrs. D while dealing with the repercussions of what today would probably be diagnosed as bipolar disorder. Mrs. Brown is reading the novel in post-World War II Los Angeles, a where where she feels completely out of place, unfulfilled and trapped. And in the present day, “Mrs. Dalloway”-as she is nicknamed by her oldest friend-bustles through the day preparing for a party she is giving in her dying friend’s honor (another author).

Following the same structure as Mrs. D, the novel spans only one pivotal day in the life of each woman, a day that seems like a microcosm of their entire lives. And as their stories unfold, we gradually learn that all three women are more closely linked than it seemed at first—indeed, their lives are inextricable entwined with one another’s.

For a summary, Wikipedia covers it pretty well:

The book concerns three generations of women affected by a Virginia Woolf novel.

The first is Woolf herself writing Mrs. Dalloway in 1923 and struggling with her own mental illness. The second is Mrs. Brown, wife of a World War II veteran, who is reading Mrs. Dalloway in 1949 as she plans her husband’s birthday party. The third is Clarissa Vaughn, a lesbian, who plans a party in 1998 to celebrate a major literary award received by her good friend and former lover, the poet Richard, who is dying of AIDS.

I loved the layers to this. It starts out with quite a strong imitation of Virginia Woolf’s writing style. This gets diluted further in, as it mixes with a more conventional style and in particular dialogue. But in the characters and the themes, it had great echoes of Mrs Dalloway, often twisted a bit to form something new and unique. Its examination of mental illness is quite a powerful one, looking as it does at three different manifestations and combined with the wonderful interiority Virginia Woolf was so good at.

This is a book with wonderful depth and I enjoyed it immensely.

The book is so different from the film. Reading I could find the inner life of the characters. Getting into their emotions is brilliant, discovering their secret hopes and fears jut amazing.

The idea of synchronicity really drives the film and takes it to a whole new dimension.

The most lyrical and evocative writing! I finished and yet keep going back and re-reading passages just for their power and insight, and how they sometimes describe exactly what I feel.

I have not seen the movie, or read Mrs. Dalloway but definitely want to do both now.

A book worthy of it’s hype. Beautiful, raging, compassionate, passionate and truthful. A worthy companion to “Mrs Dalloway”, and i usually dislike the ‘revision of literature’ genre.

didn’t finish

Interesting and well written, though not a book I will re-read in the future.

Didn’t enjoy it as much as the movie, still a wonderful novel though!

closest to perfect a novel could be.

i’m glad it’s possible to read and enjoy the hours without having read mrs. dalloway, because the mrs. and i have never quite clicked. also, in english-major world, it is a source of pride to own a pre-movie-poster copy of a book like this (c.f. all the pretty horses).

I read this book for two reasons: I wanted to, and for a book club. And wow. It’s fantastic. And I am so glad that I read Mrs. Dalloway first. Really, you have to. I love the connections and relations, both within the novel and with Mrs. D.

I’m really looking forward to watching the movie now.

I saw the movie, and just had to read the book. It’s an excellent novel, and I think it fleshed out what was too subtle in the movie to have more of an emotional impact.

Having seen the film, and being informed that, naturally, the novel is better (and since I bought it for Anne in the first place based on the good reviews…)

It was time to read it.