The Hours is both a homage to Virginia Woolf and very much its own creature. Even as Michael Cunningham brings his literary idol back to life, he intertwines her story with those of two more contemporary women. One grey suburban London morning in 1923, Woolf awakens from a dream that will soon lead to Mrs.Dalloway. In the present, on a beautiful June day in Greenwich Village, 52-year-old Clarissa Vaughan is planning a party for her oldest love, a poet dying of an AIDS-related illness. And in Los Angeles in 1949, Laura Brown, pregnant and unsettled, does her best to prepare for her husband's birthday, but can't seem to stop reading Woolf. These women's lives are linked both by the 1925 novel and by the few precious moments of possibility each keeps returning to. Clarissa is to eventually realise:

There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined ... Still, we cherish the city, the morning; we hope, more than anything, for more.

As Cunningham moves between the three women, his transitions are seamless. One early chapter ends with Woolf picking up her pen and composing her first sentence: "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself." The next begins with Laura rejoicing over that line and the fictional universe she is about to enter. Clarissa's day, on the other hand, is a mirror of Mrs. Dalloway's--with, however, an appropriate degree of modern bevelling as Cunningham updates and elaborates his source of inspiration. Clarissa knows that her desire to give her friend the perfect party may seem trivial to many. Yet it seems better to her than shutting down in the face of disaster and despair.

Like its literary inspiration, The Hours is a hymn to consciousness and the beauties and losses it perceives. It is also a reminder that, as Cunningham again and again makes us realise, art belongs to far more than just "the world of objects." --Kerry Fried

A masterpiece, 23 Nov 2008
"The Hours" is a masterpiece which is particularly surprising and welcome in that it was written in the last years of the 20th century.
It is original, thought-provoking and so deeply felt and beautifully-written that it can be read over and over again.
Anyone who appreciates fine writing and who regards reading as a complete experience, must read this book. Indeed, owes it to himself to read this book. It is magical, unputdownable, haunting.

Rather depressing, 31 Jan 2008
I tried really, really hard to get into this. I did finish it but it was nearly always a chore rather than a pleasure. I was surprised and disappointed, as 1) the film was excellent 2) it's a clever, twisted three strand plot 3) I love the writing of Virginia Woolf and the author here appears to be striving to write in her style.

I just found far too much waiting with bated breath for the significance of life to strike...for the "moment" to reveal itself.

The tedium of the lives of the characters makes the reading tedious.

But in between, there are some wonderful passages: "There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children...knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult".

A final, probably petty point. He acknowledges twenty people who helped inspire, revise, edit etc the book. Good grief.




A beautiful, unpretenious read, 24 Sep 2007
I waited a few years after seeing the film to open the book as so often memories of the big screen can cloud the original work. Coming to this novel with a fresh eye was a great expereince. The writing is beautiful and the characters surprisingly deep despite only being painted in broad strokes. Those wanting high action will be disappointed but anyone who looks for atmosphere and poetry will love it. The Woolf influences are clear in the writing style but this is a tribute rather than a cheap imitation. An easy read on one level but also so much more

5*: a complete modern masterpiece, 25 Jun 2006
This book is not merely a piece of entertainment, which I think the lower-rating readers are expecting. It cannot be passively read and its ultimate message is not presented to you on a silver platter. If approached correctly, its dynamic can entwine into your thoughts and daily life long after you have finished it and act as a catalyst, however small, to understanding your own personal development as an individual in a world of unspoken structures, prejudices and expectations.

I read this book a while ago now but every now and then a moment happens in my life, often very brief, where I have a vivid flashback to certain key moments in this book. At times the author completely exposes the human condition in such simple, often short sentences/chapters but they can hit to your essence so hard that you feel a certain loss of uniqueness in yourself whilst simultaneously finding comfort: this is how we are as human beings. An inescapable fact: comforting yet unnerving all in one.

Thus, surely after this, he has acheived all that is required to create a successful novel. His characters and storylines make you often stop mid-sentence and introspect on yourself or reflect on the wider moral and cultural issues of our time and how you can and do, in all your purity, fit into this wider mesh.

It sounds unbelievebly cheesy and over the top, I know, but these things do when you try to describe them. You just have to read it because I'm sure my experience of this book will be different to the next so there's no use me sitting here expaining it to you.

Truely deserving of 5*: an utter modern masterpiece.

Eloquent, but empty, 10 Nov 2005
Having recently read a lot of character-based novels (e.g. ‘Morvern Callar,’ ‘The Wasp Factory’ and ‘Less Than Zero’)…I have to confess that in comparison Pulitzer Prize winner 'The Hours' left me very cold. Admittedly, the novels I refer to are set more recently and it’s possible that it’s the various period settings of this novel (i.e. 1920’s London, 1940’s Los Angeles and 1990’s New York) and the three main protagonists imbedded in those periods that didn’t agree with me. I haven’t after all read 'Mrs Dalloway', which is perhaps a pre-requisite for this book, which would not only have introduced me to Virginia Woolf’s writing style and some of her common themes, but also would have given me an idea of what to expect from this modern interpretation of her life and the lives of two fictitious women whose lives she has touched in some way through her work.

Let me first say that I did for the most part enjoy reading about these characters and admired the author for discovering and bringing to life such unusual and engaging women. And without any doubt this is an extremely insightful novel (almost every sentence carries some simple and yet complex revelatory insight) and the human condition is captured remarkably well, but for a novel with such insight I found it incredibly uninspiring. Depression, suicidal impulses, death and disease- all figure heavily in this story, but it wasn’t these issues that depressed me- commendably the author manages to write without too much melancholy or morbidity for such serious topics. I did, however, find the prose extremely sentimental and pretentious. And I also found the dialogue the worst of any story I’d ever read- no matter which characters were speaking I couldn’t get the image of two robots conversing in the distant future- they all speak in a dull monotone, there is absolutely no passion to their speech- no one in real life speaks this way, well no one I know at least. While very little of incident occurs in the story plot-wise this novel is effortlessly sustained by the three days in the lives of each of these women, as each of them (Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughan and Laura Brown) are exceptionally vivid, intriguing and not your average heroines of fiction.

The ending has a certain symmetry that I definitely appreciated and went a long way to rescuing the novel for me. But largely, despite evocative stories, engaging characters and more than a little insight…this novel simply left me cold.

A masterpiece, 23 Nov 2008
"The Hours" is a masterpiece which is particularly surprising and welcome in that it was written in the last years of the 20th century.
It is original, thought-provoking and so deeply felt and beautifully-written that it can be read over and over again.
Anyone who appreciates fine writing and who regards reading as a complete experience, must read this book. Indeed, owes it to himself to read this book. It is magical, unputdownable, haunting.

Rather depressing, 31 Jan 2008
I tried really, really hard to get into this. I did finish it but it was nearly always a chore rather than a pleasure. I was surprised and disappointed, as 1) the film was excellent 2) it's a clever, twisted three strand plot 3) I love the writing of Virginia Woolf and the author here appears to be striving to write in her style.

I just found far too much waiting with bated breath for the significance of life to strike...for the "moment" to reveal itself.

The tedium of the lives of the characters makes the reading tedious.

But in between, there are some wonderful passages: "There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children...knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult".

A final, probably petty point. He acknowledges twenty people who helped inspire, revise, edit etc the book. Good grief.




A beautiful, unpretenious read, 24 Sep 2007
I waited a few years after seeing the film to open the book as so often memories of the big screen can cloud the original work. Coming to this novel with a fresh eye was a great expereince. The writing is beautiful and the characters surprisingly deep despite only being painted in broad strokes. Those wanting high action will be disappointed but anyone who looks for atmosphere and poetry will love it. The Woolf influences are clear in the writing style but this is a tribute rather than a cheap imitation. An easy read on one level but also so much more

5*: a complete modern masterpiece, 25 Jun 2006
This book is not merely a piece of entertainment, which I think the lower-rating readers are expecting. It cannot be passively read and its ultimate message is not presented to you on a silver platter. If approached correctly, its dynamic can entwine into your thoughts and daily life long after you have finished it and act as a catalyst, however small, to understanding your own personal development as an individual in a world of unspoken structures, prejudices and expectations.

I read this book a while ago now but every now and then a moment happens in my life, often very brief, where I have a vivid flashback to certain key moments in this book. At times the author completely exposes the human condition in such simple, often short sentences/chapters but they can hit to your essence so hard that you feel a certain loss of uniqueness in yourself whilst simultaneously finding comfort: this is how we are as human beings. An inescapable fact: comforting yet unnerving all in one.

Thus, surely after this, he has acheived all that is required to create a successful novel. His characters and storylines make you often stop mid-sentence and introspect on yourself or reflect on the wider moral and cultural issues of our time and how you can and do, in all your purity, fit into this wider mesh.

It sounds unbelievebly cheesy and over the top, I know, but these things do when you try to describe them. You just have to read it because I'm sure my experience of this book will be different to the next so there's no use me sitting here expaining it to you.

Truely deserving of 5*: an utter modern masterpiece.

Eloquent, but empty, 10 Nov 2005
Having recently read a lot of character-based novels (e.g. ‘Morvern Callar,’ ‘The Wasp Factory’ and ‘Less Than Zero’)…I have to confess that in comparison Pulitzer Prize winner 'The Hours' left me very cold. Admittedly, the novels I refer to are set more recently and it’s possible that it’s the various period settings of this novel (i.e. 1920’s London, 1940’s Los Angeles and 1990’s New York) and the three main protagonists imbedded in those periods that didn’t agree with me. I haven’t after all read 'Mrs Dalloway', which is perhaps a pre-requisite for this book, which would not only have introduced me to Virginia Woolf’s writing style and some of her common themes, but also would have given me an idea of what to expect from this modern interpretation of her life and the lives of two fictitious women whose lives she has touched in some way through her work.

Let me first say that I did for the most part enjoy reading about these characters and admired the author for discovering and bringing to life such unusual and engaging women. And without any doubt this is an extremely insightful novel (almost every sentence carries some simple and yet complex revelatory insight) and the human condition is captured remarkably well, but for a novel with such insight I found it incredibly uninspiring. Depression, suicidal impulses, death and disease- all figure heavily in this story, but it wasn’t these issues that depressed me- commendably the author manages to write without too much melancholy or morbidity for such serious topics. I did, however, find the prose extremely sentimental and pretentious. And I also found the dialogue the worst of any story I’d ever read- no matter which characters were speaking I couldn’t get the image of two robots conversing in the distant future- they all speak in a dull monotone, there is absolutely no passion to their speech- no one in real life speaks this way, well no one I know at least. While very little of incident occurs in the story plot-wise this novel is effortlessly sustained by the three days in the lives of each of these women, as each of them (Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughan and Laura Brown) are exceptionally vivid, intriguing and not your average heroines of fiction.

The ending has a certain symmetry that I definitely appreciated and went a long way to rescuing the novel for me. But largely, despite evocative stories, engaging characters and more than a little insight…this novel simply left me cold.

I read this book on a 9 and a half hour flight to India!, 15 May 2005
"A Home at the End of the World" has to be Michael Cunningham's finest book to date. In a sea of bland coming of age novels this book leaps miles ahead and is a must for anyone who enjoys reading alternative gay fiction. The core of this book is not, however, about homosexuality it takes a refreshing look at how people from differing backgroungs come together to forge a life together in a not so successful manner. All I can say is, read this book, it's fantastic!!

Marvellous, 06 Jan 2005
A superb novel, very well written. Excellent!!!

A novel of clarity, 27 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going through.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunnigham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating our lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

A novel of Clarity, 22 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going though.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunningham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating their lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

interesting read, 28 Sep 2001
This book is beautifully written, guiding the reader through the lives of three different people who are in what could seem a bizarre relationship together. Compassionate, descriptive and a fresh look on 'alternative' lifestyles.

It's hard to overestimate the impression made by Michael Cunningham's The Hours; this was literary fiction of a rare order, detailing the inner lives of its female protagonists with sympathy and understanding. Now we have Specimen Days, and this has to be counted among the most eagerly anticipated novels in recent years, such is the reputation of the Pulitzer prize-winning novelist has acquired in a relatively short time. And if Specimen Days does not immediately exert the grip of its predecessor, this is due to no failure of technique. Cunningham knows exactly what he is doing, and his slow, penetrating accretion of detail ultimately pays off in ways that are richly satisfying.

The various sections of the novel describe the same group of protagonists: a young boy, a young woman and an older man. But the treatment of these characters is strikingly varied from section to section, and the ambitions of the novel are jaw dropping. In the Machine is set during the industrial revolution, and balances the carefully examined pathology of its characters against supernatural elements. We are then taken to the early 21st century in The Children's Crusade which has a far grittier tone, with a terrorist group setting off bombs at random throughout the city. Finally, we are plunged 150 years into the future, when the city of New York is struggling to deal with the host of refugees from a planet that astronauts have reached.

All of these widely disparate narratives are united by the telling presence of the poet Walt Whitman, who acts as an anchor for the reader in a narrative that disorients as much as it stimulates. Not everyone will be able to accept the massive reach of Cunningham's novel, and the wrench between different time periods is certainly more shocking than that in The Hours. But for those willing to accept the new and challenging, Specimen Days is a masterful and visceral read. --Barry Forshaw

A masterpiece, 23 Nov 2008
"The Hours" is a masterpiece which is particularly surprising and welcome in that it was written in the last years of the 20th century.
It is original, thought-provoking and so deeply felt and beautifully-written that it can be read over and over again.
Anyone who appreciates fine writing and who regards reading as a complete experience, must read this book. Indeed, owes it to himself to read this book. It is magical, unputdownable, haunting.

Rather depressing, 31 Jan 2008
I tried really, really hard to get into this. I did finish it but it was nearly always a chore rather than a pleasure. I was surprised and disappointed, as 1) the film was excellent 2) it's a clever, twisted three strand plot 3) I love the writing of Virginia Woolf and the author here appears to be striving to write in her style.

I just found far too much waiting with bated breath for the significance of life to strike...for the "moment" to reveal itself.

The tedium of the lives of the characters makes the reading tedious.

But in between, there are some wonderful passages: "There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children...knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult".

A final, probably petty point. He acknowledges twenty people who helped inspire, revise, edit etc the book. Good grief.




A beautiful, unpretenious read, 24 Sep 2007
I waited a few years after seeing the film to open the book as so often memories of the big screen can cloud the original work. Coming to this novel with a fresh eye was a great expereince. The writing is beautiful and the characters surprisingly deep despite only being painted in broad strokes. Those wanting high action will be disappointed but anyone who looks for atmosphere and poetry will love it. The Woolf influences are clear in the writing style but this is a tribute rather than a cheap imitation. An easy read on one level but also so much more

5*: a complete modern masterpiece, 25 Jun 2006
This book is not merely a piece of entertainment, which I think the lower-rating readers are expecting. It cannot be passively read and its ultimate message is not presented to you on a silver platter. If approached correctly, its dynamic can entwine into your thoughts and daily life long after you have finished it and act as a catalyst, however small, to understanding your own personal development as an individual in a world of unspoken structures, prejudices and expectations.

I read this book a while ago now but every now and then a moment happens in my life, often very brief, where I have a vivid flashback to certain key moments in this book. At times the author completely exposes the human condition in such simple, often short sentences/chapters but they can hit to your essence so hard that you feel a certain loss of uniqueness in yourself whilst simultaneously finding comfort: this is how we are as human beings. An inescapable fact: comforting yet unnerving all in one.

Thus, surely after this, he has acheived all that is required to create a successful novel. His characters and storylines make you often stop mid-sentence and introspect on yourself or reflect on the wider moral and cultural issues of our time and how you can and do, in all your purity, fit into this wider mesh.

It sounds unbelievebly cheesy and over the top, I know, but these things do when you try to describe them. You just have to read it because I'm sure my experience of this book will be different to the next so there's no use me sitting here expaining it to you.

Truely deserving of 5*: an utter modern masterpiece.

Eloquent, but empty, 10 Nov 2005
Having recently read a lot of character-based novels (e.g. ‘Morvern Callar,’ ‘The Wasp Factory’ and ‘Less Than Zero’)…I have to confess that in comparison Pulitzer Prize winner 'The Hours' left me very cold. Admittedly, the novels I refer to are set more recently and it’s possible that it’s the various period settings of this novel (i.e. 1920’s London, 1940’s Los Angeles and 1990’s New York) and the three main protagonists imbedded in those periods that didn’t agree with me. I haven’t after all read 'Mrs Dalloway', which is perhaps a pre-requisite for this book, which would not only have introduced me to Virginia Woolf’s writing style and some of her common themes, but also would have given me an idea of what to expect from this modern interpretation of her life and the lives of two fictitious women whose lives she has touched in some way through her work.

Let me first say that I did for the most part enjoy reading about these characters and admired the author for discovering and bringing to life such unusual and engaging women. And without any doubt this is an extremely insightful novel (almost every sentence carries some simple and yet complex revelatory insight) and the human condition is captured remarkably well, but for a novel with such insight I found it incredibly uninspiring. Depression, suicidal impulses, death and disease- all figure heavily in this story, but it wasn’t these issues that depressed me- commendably the author manages to write without too much melancholy or morbidity for such serious topics. I did, however, find the prose extremely sentimental and pretentious. And I also found the dialogue the worst of any story I’d ever read- no matter which characters were speaking I couldn’t get the image of two robots conversing in the distant future- they all speak in a dull monotone, there is absolutely no passion to their speech- no one in real life speaks this way, well no one I know at least. While very little of incident occurs in the story plot-wise this novel is effortlessly sustained by the three days in the lives of each of these women, as each of them (Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughan and Laura Brown) are exceptionally vivid, intriguing and not your average heroines of fiction.

The ending has a certain symmetry that I definitely appreciated and went a long way to rescuing the novel for me. But largely, despite evocative stories, engaging characters and more than a little insight…this novel simply left me cold.

I read this book on a 9 and a half hour flight to India!, 15 May 2005
"A Home at the End of the World" has to be Michael Cunningham's finest book to date. In a sea of bland coming of age novels this book leaps miles ahead and is a must for anyone who enjoys reading alternative gay fiction. The core of this book is not, however, about homosexuality it takes a refreshing look at how people from differing backgroungs come together to forge a life together in a not so successful manner. All I can say is, read this book, it's fantastic!!

Marvellous, 06 Jan 2005
A superb novel, very well written. Excellent!!!

A novel of clarity, 27 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going through.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunnigham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating our lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

A novel of Clarity, 22 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going though.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunningham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating their lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

interesting read, 28 Sep 2001
This book is beautifully written, guiding the reader through the lives of three different people who are in what could seem a bizarre relationship together. Compassionate, descriptive and a fresh look on 'alternative' lifestyles.

BOLD BUT STRANGE, 06 Nov 2008
Michael Cunningham's novel, The Hours, was a thoroughly enjoyable read and was made into one of my favourite movies of all time starring three of my favourite actresses: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.

Specimen Days is an odd novel. Essentially it comprises three separate stories set in the past, present and future but with the 3 central characters turning up in each story in a different guise. But whereas in The Hours Mr Cunningham skilfully and beautifully weaves the stories together, in Specimen Days they can almost be regarded as standalone novels. That said, Specimen Days is bold and atmospheric and Mr Cunningham's prose is as beautiful as ever, but I must confess I did struggle to finish the book.


Surprising and disconcerting, 04 Jul 2007
I am a massive fan of Michael Cunningham's work. I thought his first two novels were very accomplished and skillfully constructed, and I absolutely adored The Hours which ranks of one of the best books I have ever read.

As for Specimen Days, well it certainly surprised me. I would have never dreamed of reading about a love story between a cyborg and a extraterrestrial lizard-female in one of his books - and there was something refreshing and exciting in such a bold departure. Unfortunately I am not sure that the book as a whole was successful. Like in The Hours, Cunningham tells three stories which have a common thread of characters, themes and literary/poetic background. But where in the Hours, the stories were beautifully interwoven and magnified each other depth and meaning, here they seemed to be running separately and sequentially and I often felt like reading three novellas rather than one coherent piece of work.

I thought the first story was especially hard work and I would have definitely given up if it wasn't for some kind of loyalty and respect that i felt towards Cunnigham's work. In sum, this book is a bold and ambitious attempt and should be celebrated as such but i felt that the effort of going through it was greater than the reward.

Worth reading!, 26 Sep 2006
Michael Cunningham is a very talented writer. Focusing on themes of love and death, regeneration and survival, 'Specimen Days' is a cleverly structured, well-written triptych. The three sections are linked by three recurring characters, while Walt Whitman's poetry provides a continuity throughout that supports the regeneration theme. In many ways, the book reminded me of David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas'; structurally, thematically, and in the writer's skillful narration from different perspectives.
Although the first section is set amid the grinding poverty of mid-nineteenth century immigrant New York, the second in contemporary fear-stricken New York, and the third in a dystopic future-New York, this book is - ironically - profoundly optimistic. The settings are interesting and believable, and the lives of the characters compelling.
A good read.

Intense, captivating, ambitious, 11 Aug 2006
I did not expect to be as captivated by this book as I came to be in sheer minutes since turning the first page.

As a narrative, it takes you on a journey through time, through the eyes of three different characters - a boy, a young woman and a man - all experiencing different things.

Walt Whitman and a china bowl are the strings binding them together.

Heartlessness is a word that perfectly describes the world around them, whether it is past, present or future. Their voices are intricately united however, and there is no dissonance in the text.

For those looking for a theme, why could the beauty of life not be the answer? It is what Walt Whitman celebrated; it is what poor little Lucas with his heart condition speaks of in his fits; it is what the children's crusade sets Cat onto finding about; it is what a man's implant makes him churn out of the blue.

An immensly enjoyable read, deserving its every penny and then some.

Unclear to me what the theme of this book is, 12 Jun 2006
Specimen Days consists of three stories, with in each of them a woman, a man and a boy. The first story is located in New York at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when a young boy has to take the place of his older brother when the latter dies during an accident with the machine that he operates. In order to safe the girlfriend of his deceased brother he mutilates himself... The second stories plays in the present time and portays the life of a police woman who tries to prevent random violence from people with mental problems and who is more or less overwhelmed when all of a sudden children start committing suicide bombings... The third story is located in the future, when Earth has made contact with another civilization and a Nadian and a humanoid flee from theme park New York to go to Denver. It is unclear to me what the common theme of the book is and the stories were not overly interesting.

A masterpiece, 23 Nov 2008
"The Hours" is a masterpiece which is particularly surprising and welcome in that it was written in the last years of the 20th century.
It is original, thought-provoking and so deeply felt and beautifully-written that it can be read over and over again.
Anyone who appreciates fine writing and who regards reading as a complete experience, must read this book. Indeed, owes it to himself to read this book. It is magical, unputdownable, haunting.

Rather depressing, 31 Jan 2008
I tried really, really hard to get into this. I did finish it but it was nearly always a chore rather than a pleasure. I was surprised and disappointed, as 1) the film was excellent 2) it's a clever, twisted three strand plot 3) I love the writing of Virginia Woolf and the author here appears to be striving to write in her style.

I just found far too much waiting with bated breath for the significance of life to strike...for the "moment" to reveal itself.

The tedium of the lives of the characters makes the reading tedious.

But in between, there are some wonderful passages: "There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children...knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult".

A final, probably petty point. He acknowledges twenty people who helped inspire, revise, edit etc the book. Good grief.




A beautiful, unpretenious read, 24 Sep 2007
I waited a few years after seeing the film to open the book as so often memories of the big screen can cloud the original work. Coming to this novel with a fresh eye was a great expereince. The writing is beautiful and the characters surprisingly deep despite only being painted in broad strokes. Those wanting high action will be disappointed but anyone who looks for atmosphere and poetry will love it. The Woolf influences are clear in the writing style but this is a tribute rather than a cheap imitation. An easy read on one level but also so much more

5*: a complete modern masterpiece, 25 Jun 2006
This book is not merely a piece of entertainment, which I think the lower-rating readers are expecting. It cannot be passively read and its ultimate message is not presented to you on a silver platter. If approached correctly, its dynamic can entwine into your thoughts and daily life long after you have finished it and act as a catalyst, however small, to understanding your own personal development as an individual in a world of unspoken structures, prejudices and expectations.

I read this book a while ago now but every now and then a moment happens in my life, often very brief, where I have a vivid flashback to certain key moments in this book. At times the author completely exposes the human condition in such simple, often short sentences/chapters but they can hit to your essence so hard that you feel a certain loss of uniqueness in yourself whilst simultaneously finding comfort: this is how we are as human beings. An inescapable fact: comforting yet unnerving all in one.

Thus, surely after this, he has acheived all that is required to create a successful novel. His characters and storylines make you often stop mid-sentence and introspect on yourself or reflect on the wider moral and cultural issues of our time and how you can and do, in all your purity, fit into this wider mesh.

It sounds unbelievebly cheesy and over the top, I know, but these things do when you try to describe them. You just have to read it because I'm sure my experience of this book will be different to the next so there's no use me sitting here expaining it to you.

Truely deserving of 5*: an utter modern masterpiece.

Eloquent, but empty, 10 Nov 2005
Having recently read a lot of character-based novels (e.g. ‘Morvern Callar,’ ‘The Wasp Factory’ and ‘Less Than Zero’)…I have to confess that in comparison Pulitzer Prize winner 'The Hours' left me very cold. Admittedly, the novels I refer to are set more recently and it’s possible that it’s the various period settings of this novel (i.e. 1920’s London, 1940’s Los Angeles and 1990’s New York) and the three main protagonists imbedded in those periods that didn’t agree with me. I haven’t after all read 'Mrs Dalloway', which is perhaps a pre-requisite for this book, which would not only have introduced me to Virginia Woolf’s writing style and some of her common themes, but also would have given me an idea of what to expect from this modern interpretation of her life and the lives of two fictitious women whose lives she has touched in some way through her work.

Let me first say that I did for the most part enjoy reading about these characters and admired the author for discovering and bringing to life such unusual and engaging women. And without any doubt this is an extremely insightful novel (almost every sentence carries some simple and yet complex revelatory insight) and the human condition is captured remarkably well, but for a novel with such insight I found it incredibly uninspiring. Depression, suicidal impulses, death and disease- all figure heavily in this story, but it wasn’t these issues that depressed me- commendably the author manages to write without too much melancholy or morbidity for such serious topics. I did, however, find the prose extremely sentimental and pretentious. And I also found the dialogue the worst of any story I’d ever read- no matter which characters were speaking I couldn’t get the image of two robots conversing in the distant future- they all speak in a dull monotone, there is absolutely no passion to their speech- no one in real life speaks this way, well no one I know at least. While very little of incident occurs in the story plot-wise this novel is effortlessly sustained by the three days in the lives of each of these women, as each of them (Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughan and Laura Brown) are exceptionally vivid, intriguing and not your average heroines of fiction.

The ending has a certain symmetry that I definitely appreciated and went a long way to rescuing the novel for me. But largely, despite evocative stories, engaging characters and more than a little insight…this novel simply left me cold.

I read this book on a 9 and a half hour flight to India!, 15 May 2005
"A Home at the End of the World" has to be Michael Cunningham's finest book to date. In a sea of bland coming of age novels this book leaps miles ahead and is a must for anyone who enjoys reading alternative gay fiction. The core of this book is not, however, about homosexuality it takes a refreshing look at how people from differing backgroungs come together to forge a life together in a not so successful manner. All I can say is, read this book, it's fantastic!!

Marvellous, 06 Jan 2005
A superb novel, very well written. Excellent!!!

A novel of clarity, 27 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going through.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunnigham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating our lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

A novel of Clarity, 22 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going though.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunningham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating their lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

interesting read, 28 Sep 2001
This book is beautifully written, guiding the reader through the lives of three different people who are in what could seem a bizarre relationship together. Compassionate, descriptive and a fresh look on 'alternative' lifestyles.

BOLD BUT STRANGE, 06 Nov 2008
Michael Cunningham's novel, The Hours, was a thoroughly enjoyable read and was made into one of my favourite movies of all time starring three of my favourite actresses: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.

Specimen Days is an odd novel. Essentially it comprises three separate stories set in the past, present and future but with the 3 central characters turning up in each story in a different guise. But whereas in The Hours Mr Cunningham skilfully and beautifully weaves the stories together, in Specimen Days they can almost be regarded as standalone novels. That said, Specimen Days is bold and atmospheric and Mr Cunningham's prose is as beautiful as ever, but I must confess I did struggle to finish the book.


Surprising and disconcerting, 04 Jul 2007
I am a massive fan of Michael Cunningham's work. I thought his first two novels were very accomplished and skillfully constructed, and I absolutely adored The Hours which ranks of one of the best books I have ever read.

As for Specimen Days, well it certainly surprised me. I would have never dreamed of reading about a love story between a cyborg and a extraterrestrial lizard-female in one of his books - and there was something refreshing and exciting in such a bold departure. Unfortunately I am not sure that the book as a whole was successful. Like in The Hours, Cunningham tells three stories which have a common thread of characters, themes and literary/poetic background. But where in the Hours, the stories were beautifully interwoven and magnified each other depth and meaning, here they seemed to be running separately and sequentially and I often felt like reading three novellas rather than one coherent piece of work.

I thought the first story was especially hard work and I would have definitely given up if it wasn't for some kind of loyalty and respect that i felt towards Cunnigham's work. In sum, this book is a bold and ambitious attempt and should be celebrated as such but i felt that the effort of going through it was greater than the reward.

Worth reading!, 26 Sep 2006
Michael Cunningham is a very talented writer. Focusing on themes of love and death, regeneration and survival, 'Specimen Days' is a cleverly structured, well-written triptych. The three sections are linked by three recurring characters, while Walt Whitman's poetry provides a continuity throughout that supports the regeneration theme. In many ways, the book reminded me of David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas'; structurally, thematically, and in the writer's skillful narration from different perspectives.
Although the first section is set amid the grinding poverty of mid-nineteenth century immigrant New York, the second in contemporary fear-stricken New York, and the third in a dystopic future-New York, this book is - ironically - profoundly optimistic. The settings are interesting and believable, and the lives of the characters compelling.
A good read.

Intense, captivating, ambitious, 11 Aug 2006
I did not expect to be as captivated by this book as I came to be in sheer minutes since turning the first page.

As a narrative, it takes you on a journey through time, through the eyes of three different characters - a boy, a young woman and a man - all experiencing different things.

Walt Whitman and a china bowl are the strings binding them together.

Heartlessness is a word that perfectly describes the world around them, whether it is past, present or future. Their voices are intricately united however, and there is no dissonance in the text.

For those looking for a theme, why could the beauty of life not be the answer? It is what Walt Whitman celebrated; it is what poor little Lucas with his heart condition speaks of in his fits; it is what the children's crusade sets Cat onto finding about; it is what a man's implant makes him churn out of the blue.

An immensly enjoyable read, deserving its every penny and then some.

Unclear to me what the theme of this book is, 12 Jun 2006
Specimen Days consists of three stories, with in each of them a woman, a man and a boy. The first story is located in New York at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when a young boy has to take the place of his older brother when the latter dies during an accident with the machine that he operates. In order to safe the girlfriend of his deceased brother he mutilates himself... The second stories plays in the present time and portays the life of a police woman who tries to prevent random violence from people with mental problems and who is more or less overwhelmed when all of a sudden children start committing suicide bombings... The third story is located in the future, when Earth has made contact with another civilization and a Nadian and a humanoid flee from theme park New York to go to Denver. It is unclear to me what the common theme of the book is and the stories were not overly interesting.

Wrong narrator, 30 Nov 2006
Brilliant book, excellent film........terrible audio book!
Content superb BUT appalling narration.
Patricia Hodge is dreadful - at one point its impossible to tell the difference between Ritchie and his father - the same voice is used for both.
Miranda Richardson SHOULD have recorded this title.

better than reading it for yourself, 30 Aug 2005
I didn't think that the book of THE HOURS could be improved on until I heard this unabridged reading. At fist I foud Hodges' alternation of english and american accented narration jarring, but it really works and complements her unerring characterisation. The ticking clock that markes the transition between the three interlocking narratives is also effective.

It's hard to overestimate the impression made by Michael Cunningham's The Hours; this was literary fiction of a rare order, detailing the inner lives of its female protagonists with sympathy and understanding. Now we have Specimen Days, and this has to be counted among the most eagerly anticipated novels in recent years, such is the reputation of the Pulitzer prize-winning novelist has acquired in a relatively short time. And if Specimen Days does not immediately exert the grip of its predecessor, this is due to no failure of technique. Cunningham knows exactly what he is doing, and his slow, penetrating accretion of detail ultimately pays off in ways that are richly satisfying.

The various sections of the novel describe the same group of protagonists: a young boy, a young woman and an older man. But the treatment of these characters is strikingly varied from section to section, and the ambitions of the novel are jaw dropping. In the Machine is set during the industrial revolution, and balances the carefully examined pathology of its characters against supernatural elements. We are then taken to the early 21st century in The Children's Crusade which has a far grittier tone, with a terrorist group setting off bombs at random throughout the city. Finally, we are plunged 150 years into the future, when the city of New York is struggling to deal with the host of refugees from a planet that astronauts have reached.

All of these widely disparate narratives are united by the telling presence of the poet Walt Whitman, who acts as an anchor for the reader in a narrative that disorients as much as it stimulates. Not everyone will be able to accept the massive reach of Cunningham's novel, and the wrench between different time periods is certainly more shocking than that in The Hours. But for those willing to accept the new and challenging, Specimen Days is a masterful and visceral read. --Barry Forshaw

A masterpiece, 23 Nov 2008
"The Hours" is a masterpiece which is particularly surprising and welcome in that it was written in the last years of the 20th century.
It is original, thought-provoking and so deeply felt and beautifully-written that it can be read over and over again.
Anyone who appreciates fine writing and who regards reading as a complete experience, must read this book. Indeed, owes it to himself to read this book. It is magical, unputdownable, haunting.

Rather depressing, 31 Jan 2008
I tried really, really hard to get into this. I did finish it but it was nearly always a chore rather than a pleasure. I was surprised and disappointed, as 1) the film was excellent 2) it's a clever, twisted three strand plot 3) I love the writing of Virginia Woolf and the author here appears to be striving to write in her style.

I just found far too much waiting with bated breath for the significance of life to strike...for the "moment" to reveal itself.

The tedium of the lives of the characters makes the reading tedious.

But in between, there are some wonderful passages: "There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children...knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult".

A final, probably petty point. He acknowledges twenty people who helped inspire, revise, edit etc the book. Good grief.




A beautiful, unpretenious read, 24 Sep 2007
I waited a few years after seeing the film to open the book as so often memories of the big screen can cloud the original work. Coming to this novel with a fresh eye was a great expereince. The writing is beautiful and the characters surprisingly deep despite only being painted in broad strokes. Those wanting high action will be disappointed but anyone who looks for atmosphere and poetry will love it. The Woolf influences are clear in the writing style but this is a tribute rather than a cheap imitation. An easy read on one level but also so much more

5*: a complete modern masterpiece, 25 Jun 2006
This book is not merely a piece of entertainment, which I think the lower-rating readers are expecting. It cannot be passively read and its ultimate message is not presented to you on a silver platter. If approached correctly, its dynamic can entwine into your thoughts and daily life long after you have finished it and act as a catalyst, however small, to understanding your own personal development as an individual in a world of unspoken structures, prejudices and expectations.

I read this book a while ago now but every now and then a moment happens in my life, often very brief, where I have a vivid flashback to certain key moments in this book. At times the author completely exposes the human condition in such simple, often short sentences/chapters but they can hit to your essence so hard that you feel a certain loss of uniqueness in yourself whilst simultaneously finding comfort: this is how we are as human beings. An inescapable fact: comforting yet unnerving all in one.

Thus, surely after this, he has acheived all that is required to create a successful novel. His characters and storylines make you often stop mid-sentence and introspect on yourself or reflect on the wider moral and cultural issues of our time and how you can and do, in all your purity, fit into this wider mesh.

It sounds unbelievebly cheesy and over the top, I know, but these things do when you try to describe them. You just have to read it because I'm sure my experience of this book will be different to the next so there's no use me sitting here expaining it to you.

Truely deserving of 5*: an utter modern masterpiece.

Eloquent, but empty, 10 Nov 2005
Having recently read a lot of character-based novels (e.g. ‘Morvern Callar,’ ‘The Wasp Factory’ and ‘Less Than Zero’)…I have to confess that in comparison Pulitzer Prize winner 'The Hours' left me very cold. Admittedly, the novels I refer to are set more recently and it’s possible that it’s the various period settings of this novel (i.e. 1920’s London, 1940’s Los Angeles and 1990’s New York) and the three main protagonists imbedded in those periods that didn’t agree with me. I haven’t after all read 'Mrs Dalloway', which is perhaps a pre-requisite for this book, which would not only have introduced me to Virginia Woolf’s writing style and some of her common themes, but also would have given me an idea of what to expect from this modern interpretation of her life and the lives of two fictitious women whose lives she has touched in some way through her work.

Let me first say that I did for the most part enjoy reading about these characters and admired the author for discovering and bringing to life such unusual and engaging women. And without any doubt this is an extremely insightful novel (almost every sentence carries some simple and yet complex revelatory insight) and the human condition is captured remarkably well, but for a novel with such insight I found it incredibly uninspiring. Depression, suicidal impulses, death and disease- all figure heavily in this story, but it wasn’t these issues that depressed me- commendably the author manages to write without too much melancholy or morbidity for such serious topics. I did, however, find the prose extremely sentimental and pretentious. And I also found the dialogue the worst of any story I’d ever read- no matter which characters were speaking I couldn’t get the image of two robots conversing in the distant future- they all speak in a dull monotone, there is absolutely no passion to their speech- no one in real life speaks this way, well no one I know at least. While very little of incident occurs in the story plot-wise this novel is effortlessly sustained by the three days in the lives of each of these women, as each of them (Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughan and Laura Brown) are exceptionally vivid, intriguing and not your average heroines of fiction.

The ending has a certain symmetry that I definitely appreciated and went a long way to rescuing the novel for me. But largely, despite evocative stories, engaging characters and more than a little insight…this novel simply left me cold.

I read this book on a 9 and a half hour flight to India!, 15 May 2005
"A Home at the End of the World" has to be Michael Cunningham's finest book to date. In a sea of bland coming of age novels this book leaps miles ahead and is a must for anyone who enjoys reading alternative gay fiction. The core of this book is not, however, about homosexuality it takes a refreshing look at how people from differing backgroungs come together to forge a life together in a not so successful manner. All I can say is, read this book, it's fantastic!!

Marvellous, 06 Jan 2005
A superb novel, very well written. Excellent!!!

A novel of clarity, 27 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going through.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunnigham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating our lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

A novel of Clarity, 22 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going though.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunningham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating their lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

interesting read, 28 Sep 2001
This book is beautifully written, guiding the reader through the lives of three different people who are in what could seem a bizarre relationship together. Compassionate, descriptive and a fresh look on 'alternative' lifestyles.

BOLD BUT STRANGE, 06 Nov 2008
Michael Cunningham's novel, The Hours, was a thoroughly enjoyable read and was made into one of my favourite movies of all time starring three of my favourite actresses: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.

Specimen Days is an odd novel. Essentially it comprises three separate stories set in the past, present and future but with the 3 central characters turning up in each story in a different guise. But whereas in The Hours Mr Cunningham skilfully and beautifully weaves the stories together, in Specimen Days they can almost be regarded as standalone novels. That said, Specimen Days is bold and atmospheric and Mr Cunningham's prose is as beautiful as ever, but I must confess I did struggle to finish the book.


Surprising and disconcerting, 04 Jul 2007
I am a massive fan of Michael Cunningham's work. I thought his first two novels were very accomplished and skillfully constructed, and I absolutely adored The Hours which ranks of one of the best books I have ever read.

As for Specimen Days, well it certainly surprised me. I would have never dreamed of reading about a love story between a cyborg and a extraterrestrial lizard-female in one of his books - and there was something refreshing and exciting in such a bold departure. Unfortunately I am not sure that the book as a whole was successful. Like in The Hours, Cunningham tells three stories which have a common thread of characters, themes and literary/poetic background. But where in the Hours, the stories were beautifully interwoven and magnified each other depth and meaning, here they seemed to be running separately and sequentially and I often felt like reading three novellas rather than one coherent piece of work.

I thought the first story was especially hard work and I would have definitely given up if it wasn't for some kind of loyalty and respect that i felt towards Cunnigham's work. In sum, this book is a bold and ambitious attempt and should be celebrated as such but i felt that the effort of going through it was greater than the reward.

Worth reading!, 26 Sep 2006
Michael Cunningham is a very talented writer. Focusing on themes of love and death, regeneration and survival, 'Specimen Days' is a cleverly structured, well-written triptych. The three sections are linked by three recurring characters, while Walt Whitman's poetry provides a continuity throughout that supports the regeneration theme. In many ways, the book reminded me of David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas'; structurally, thematically, and in the writer's skillful narration from different perspectives.
Although the first section is set amid the grinding poverty of mid-nineteenth century immigrant New York, the second in contemporary fear-stricken New York, and the third in a dystopic future-New York, this book is - ironically - profoundly optimistic. The settings are interesting and believable, and the lives of the characters compelling.
A good read.

Intense, captivating, ambitious, 11 Aug 2006
I did not expect to be as captivated by this book as I came to be in sheer minutes since turning the first page.

As a narrative, it takes you on a journey through time, through the eyes of three different characters - a boy, a young woman and a man - all experiencing different things.

Walt Whitman and a china bowl are the strings binding them together.

Heartlessness is a word that perfectly describes the world around them, whether it is past, present or future. Their voices are intricately united however, and there is no dissonance in the text.

For those looking for a theme, why could the beauty of life not be the answer? It is what Walt Whitman celebrated; it is what poor little Lucas with his heart condition speaks of in his fits; it is what the children's crusade sets Cat onto finding about; it is what a man's implant makes him churn out of the blue.

An immensly enjoyable read, deserving its every penny and then some.

Unclear to me what the theme of this book is, 12 Jun 2006
Specimen Days consists of three stories, with in each of them a woman, a man and a boy. The first story is located in New York at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when a young boy has to take the place of his older brother when the latter dies during an accident with the machine that he operates. In order to safe the girlfriend of his deceased brother he mutilates himself... The second stories plays in the present time and portays the life of a police woman who tries to prevent random violence from people with mental problems and who is more or less overwhelmed when all of a sudden children start committing suicide bombings... The third story is located in the future, when Earth has made contact with another civilization and a Nadian and a humanoid flee from theme park New York to go to Denver. It is unclear to me what the common theme of the book is and the stories were not overly interesting.

Wrong narrator, 30 Nov 2006
Brilliant book, excellent film........terrible audio book!
Content superb BUT appalling narration.
Patricia Hodge is dreadful - at one point its impossible to tell the difference between Ritchie and his father - the same voice is used for both.
Miranda Richardson SHOULD have recorded this title.

better than reading it for yourself, 30 Aug 2005
I didn't think that the book of THE HOURS could be improved on until I heard this unabridged reading. At fist I foud Hodges' alternation of english and american accented narration jarring, but it really works and complements her unerring characterisation. The ticking clock that markes the transition between the three interlocking narratives is also effective.

BOLD BUT STRANGE, 06 Nov 2008
Michael Cunningham's novel, The Hours, was a thoroughly enjoyable read and was made into one of my favourite movies of all time starring three of my favourite actresses: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.

Specimen Days is an odd novel. Essentially it comprises three separate stories set in the past, present and future but with the 3 central characters turning up in each story in a different guise. But whereas in The Hours Mr Cunningham skilfully and beautifully weaves the stories together, in Specimen Days they can almost be regarded as standalone novels. That said, Specimen Days is bold and atmospheric and Mr Cunningham's prose is as beautiful as ever, but I must confess I did struggle to finish the book.


Surprising and disconcerting, 04 Jul 2007
I am a massive fan of Michael Cunningham's work. I thought his first two novels were very accomplished and skillfully constructed, and I absolutely adored The Hours which ranks of one of the best books I have ever read.

As for Specimen Days, well it certainly surprised me. I would have never dreamed of reading about a love story between a cyborg and a extraterrestrial lizard-female in one of his books - and there was something refreshing and exciting in such a bold departure. Unfortunately I am not sure that the book as a whole was successful. Like in The Hours, Cunningham tells three stories which have a common thread of characters, themes and literary/poetic background. But where in the Hours, the stories were beautifully interwoven and magnified each other depth and meaning, here they seemed to be running separately and sequentially and I often felt like reading three novellas rather than one coherent piece of work.

I thought the first story was especially hard work and I would have definitely given up if it wasn't for some kind of loyalty and respect that i felt towards Cunnigham's work. In sum, this book is a bold and ambitious attempt and should be celebrated as such but i felt that the effort of going through it was greater than the reward.

Worth reading!, 26 Sep 2006
Michael Cunningham is a very talented writer. Focusing on themes of love and death, regeneration and survival, 'Specimen Days' is a cleverly structured, well-written triptych. The three sections are linked by three recurring characters, while Walt Whitman's poetry provides a continuity throughout that supports the regeneration theme. In many ways, the book reminded me of David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas'; structurally, thematically, and in the writer's skillful narration from different perspectives.
Although the first section is set amid the grinding poverty of mid-nineteenth century immigrant New York, the second in contemporary fear-stricken New York, and the third in a dystopic future-New York, this book is - ironically - profoundly optimistic. The settings are interesting and believable, and the lives of the characters compelling.
A good read.

Intense, captivating, ambitious, 11 Aug 2006
I did not expect to be as captivated by this book as I came to be in sheer minutes since turning the first page.

As a narrative, it takes you on a journey through time, through the eyes of three different characters - a boy, a young woman and a man - all experiencing different things.

Walt Whitman and a china bowl are the strings binding them together.

Heartlessness is a word that perfectly describes the world around them, whether it is past, present or future. Their voices are intricately united however, and there is no dissonance in the text.

For those looking for a theme, why could the beauty of life not be the answer? It is what Walt Whitman celebrated; it is what poor little Lucas with his heart condition speaks of in his fits; it is what the children's crusade sets Cat onto finding about; it is what a man's implant makes him churn out of the blue.

An immensly enjoyable read, deserving its every penny and then some.

Unclear to me what the theme of this book is, 12 Jun 2006
Specimen Days consists of three stories, with in each of them a woman, a man and a boy. The first story is located in New York at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when a young boy has to take the place of his older brother when the latter dies during an accident with the machine that he operates. In order to safe the girlfriend of his deceased brother he mutilates himself... The second stories plays in the present time and portays the life of a police woman who tries to prevent random violence from people with mental problems and who is more or less overwhelmed when all of a sudden children start committing suicide bombings... The third story is located in the future, when Earth has made contact with another civilization and a Nadian and a humanoid flee from theme park New York to go to Denver. It is unclear to me what the common theme of the book is and the stories were not overly interesting.

A masterpiece, 23 Nov 2008
"The Hours" is a masterpiece which is particularly surprising and welcome in that it was written in the last years of the 20th century.
It is original, thought-provoking and so deeply felt and beautifully-written that it can be read over and over again.
Anyone who appreciates fine writing and who regards reading as a complete experience, must read this book. Indeed, owes it to himself to read this book. It is magical, unputdownable, haunting.

Rather depressing, 31 Jan 2008
I tried really, really hard to get into this. I did finish it but it was nearly always a chore rather than a pleasure. I was surprised and disappointed, as 1) the film was excellent 2) it's a clever, twisted three strand plot 3) I love the writing of Virginia Woolf and the author here appears to be striving to write in her style.

I just found far too much waiting with bated breath for the significance of life to strike...for the "moment" to reveal itself.

The tedium of the lives of the characters makes the reading tedious.

But in between, there are some wonderful passages: "There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children...knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult".

A final, probably petty point. He acknowledges twenty people who helped inspire, revise, edit etc the book. Good grief.




A beautiful, unpretenious read, 24 Sep 2007
I waited a few years after seeing the film to open the book as so often memories of the big screen can cloud the original work. Coming to this novel with a fresh eye was a great expereince. The writing is beautiful and the characters surprisingly deep despite only being painted in broad strokes. Those wanting high action will be disappointed but anyone who looks for atmosphere and poetry will love it. The Woolf influences are clear in the writing style but this is a tribute rather than a cheap imitation. An easy read on one level but also so much more

5*: a complete modern masterpiece, 25 Jun 2006
This book is not merely a piece of entertainment, which I think the lower-rating readers are expecting. It cannot be passively read and its ultimate message is not presented to you on a silver platter. If approached correctly, its dynamic can entwine into your thoughts and daily life long after you have finished it and act as a catalyst, however small, to understanding your own personal development as an individual in a world of unspoken structures, prejudices and expectations.

I read this book a while ago now but every now and then a moment happens in my life, often very brief, where I have a vivid flashback to certain key moments in this book. At times the author completely exposes the human condition in such simple, often short sentences/chapters but they can hit to your essence so hard that you feel a certain loss of uniqueness in yourself whilst simultaneously finding comfort: this is how we are as human beings. An inescapable fact: comforting yet unnerving all in one.

Thus, surely after this, he has acheived all that is required to create a successful novel. His characters and storylines make you often stop mid-sentence and introspect on yourself or reflect on the wider moral and cultural issues of our time and how you can and do, in all your purity, fit into this wider mesh.

It sounds unbelievebly cheesy and over the top, I know, but these things do when you try to describe them. You just have to read it because I'm sure my experience of this book will be different to the next so there's no use me sitting here expaining it to you.

Truely deserving of 5*: an utter modern masterpiece.

Eloquent, but empty, 10 Nov 2005
Having recently read a lot of character-based novels (e.g. ‘Morvern Callar,’ ‘The Wasp Factory’ and ‘Less Than Zero’)…I have to confess that in comparison Pulitzer Prize winner 'The Hours' left me very cold. Admittedly, the novels I refer to are set more recently and it’s possible that it’s the various period settings of this novel (i.e. 1920’s London, 1940’s Los Angeles and 1990’s New York) and the three main protagonists imbedded in those periods that didn’t agree with me. I haven’t after all read 'Mrs Dalloway', which is perhaps a pre-requisite for this book, which would not only have introduced me to Virginia Woolf’s writing style and some of her common themes, but also would have given me an idea of what to expect from this modern interpretation of her life and the lives of two fictitious women whose lives she has touched in some way through her work.

Let me first say that I did for the most part enjoy reading about these characters and admired the author for discovering and bringing to life such unusual and engaging women. And without any doubt this is an extremely insightful novel (almost every sentence carries some simple and yet complex revelatory insight) and the human condition is captured remarkably well, but for a novel with such insight I found it incredibly uninspiring. Depression, suicidal impulses, death and disease- all figure heavily in this story, but it wasn’t these issues that depressed me- commendably the author manages to write without too much melancholy or morbidity for such serious topics. I did, however, find the prose extremely sentimental and pretentious. And I also found the dialogue the worst of any story I’d ever read- no matter which characters were speaking I couldn’t get the image of two robots conversing in the distant future- they all speak in a dull monotone, there is absolutely no passion to their speech- no one in real life speaks this way, well no one I know at least. While very little of incident occurs in the story plot-wise this novel is effortlessly sustained by the three days in the lives of each of these women, as each of them (Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughan and Laura Brown) are exceptionally vivid, intriguing and not your average heroines of fiction.

The ending has a certain symmetry that I definitely appreciated and went a long way to rescuing the novel for me. But largely, despite evocative stories, engaging characters and more than a little insight…this novel simply left me cold.

I read this book on a 9 and a half hour flight to India!, 15 May 2005
"A Home at the End of the World" has to be Michael Cunningham's finest book to date. In a sea of bland coming of age novels this book leaps miles ahead and is a must for anyone who enjoys reading alternative gay fiction. The core of this book is not, however, about homosexuality it takes a refreshing look at how people from differing backgroungs come together to forge a life together in a not so successful manner. All I can say is, read this book, it's fantastic!!

Marvellous, 06 Jan 2005
A superb novel, very well written. Excellent!!!

A novel of clarity, 27 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going through.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunnigham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating our lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

A novel of Clarity, 22 May 2003
Michael Cunningham has a method of writing that makes the reader FEEL every experience that his characters are going though.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is a fine example of this.
Cunningham takes you on the journey of two exceptionally, individual males who share the same thirst for understanding the world they live in & knowing who they are.
You watch as they struggle to develop themselves, in what seems like, a problematic society that their parents appear to have thrown them into.

Along the way their lives somehow entwine with that of an eccentric female whom teaches them that love has no boundaries and that rules only exist if you want them too.
‘A home at the end of the world’ is an eye opener for those of us that insist on complicating their lives by focussing on the how’s, when’s & why’s that we forget to live in the now…

interesting read, 28 Sep 2001
This book is beautifully written, guiding the reader through the lives of three different people who are in what could seem a bizarre relationship together. Compassionate, descriptive and a fresh look on 'alternative' lifestyles.

BOLD BUT STRANGE, 06 Nov 2008
Michael Cunningham's novel, The Hours, was a thoroughly enjoyable read and was made into one of my favourite movies of all time starring three of my favourite actresses: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.

Specimen Days is an odd novel. Essentially it comprises three separate stories set in the past, present and future but with the 3 central characters turning up in each story in a different guise. But whereas in The Hours Mr Cunningham skilfully and beautifully weaves the stories together, in Specimen Days they can almost be regarded as standalone novels. That said, Specimen Days is bold and atmospheric and Mr Cunningham's prose is as beautiful as ever, but I must confess I did struggle to finish the book.


Surprising and disconcerting, 04 Jul 2007
I am a massive fan of Michael Cunningham's work. I thought his first two novels were very accomplished and skillfully constructed, and I absolutely adored The Hours which ranks of one of the best books I have ever read.

As for Specimen Days, well it certainly surprised me. I would have never dreamed of reading about a love story between a cyborg and a extraterrestrial lizard-female in one of his books - and there was something refreshing and exciting in such a bold departure. Unfortunately I am not sure that the book as a whole was successful. Like in The Hours, Cunningham tells three stories which have a common thread of characters, themes and literary/poetic background. But where in the Hours, the stories were beautifully interwoven and magnified each other depth and meaning, here they seemed to be running separately and sequentially and I often felt like reading three novellas rather than one coherent piece of work.

I thought the first story was especially hard work and I would have definitely given up if it wasn't for some kind of loyalty and respect that i felt towards Cunnigham's work. In sum, this book is a bold and ambitious attempt and should be celebrated as such but i felt that the effort of going through it was greater than the reward.

Worth reading!, 26 Sep 2006
Michael Cunningham is a very talented writer. Focusing on themes of love and death, regeneration and survival, 'Specimen Days' is a cleverly structured, well-written triptych. The three sections are linked by three recurring characters, while Walt Whitman's poetry provides a continuity throughout that supports the regeneration theme. In many ways, the book reminded me of David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas'; structurally, thematically, and in the writer's skillful narration from different perspectives.
Although the first section is set amid the grinding poverty of mid-nineteenth century immigrant New York, the second in contemporary fear-stricken New York, and the third in a dystopic future-New York, this book is - ironically - profoundly optimistic. The settings are interesting and believable, and the lives of the characters compelling.
A good read.

Intense, captivating, ambitious, 11 Aug 2006
I did not expect to be as captivated by this book as I came to be in sheer minutes since turning the first page.

As a narrative, it takes you on a journey through time, through the eyes of three different characters - a boy, a young woman and a man - all experiencing different things.

Walt Whitman and a china bowl are the strings binding them together.

Heartlessness is a word that perfectly describes the world around them, whether it is past, present or future. Their voices are intricately united however, and there is no dissonance in the text.

For those looking for a theme, why could the beauty of life not be the answer? It is what Walt Whitman celebrated; it is what poor little Lucas with his heart condition speaks of in his fits; it is what the children's crusade sets Cat onto finding about; it is what a man's implant makes him churn out of the blue.

An immensly enjoyable read, deserving its every penny and then some.

Unclear to me what the theme of this book is, 12 Jun 2006
Specimen Days consists of three stories, with in each of them a woman, a man and a boy. The first story is located in New York at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when a young boy has to take the place of his older brother when the latter dies during an accident with the machine that he operates. In order to safe the girlfriend of his deceased brother he mutilates himself... The second stories plays in the present time and portays the life of a police woman who tries to prevent random violence from people with mental problems and who is more or less overwhelmed when all of a sudden children start committing suicide bombings... The third story is located in the future, when Earth has made contact with another civilization and a Nadian and a humanoid flee from theme park New York to go to Denver. It is unclear to me what the common theme of the book is and the stories were not overly interesting.

Wrong narrator, 30 Nov 2006
Brilliant book, excellent film........terrible audio book!
Content superb BUT appalling narration.
Patricia Hodge is dreadful - at one point its impossible to tell the difference between Ritchie and his father - the same voice is used for both.
Miranda Richardson SHOULD have recorded this title.

better than reading it for yourself, 30 Aug 2005
I didn't think that the book of THE HOURS could be improved on until I heard this unabridged reading. At fist I foud Hodges' alternation of english and american accented narration jarring, but it really works and complements her unerring characterisation. The ticking clock that markes the transition between the three interlocking narratives is also effective.

BOLD BUT STRANGE, 06 Nov 2008
Michael Cunningham's novel, The Hours, was a thoroughly enjoyable read and was made into one of my favourite movies of all time starring three of my favourite actresses: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.

Specimen Days is an odd novel. Essentially it comprises three separate stories set in the past, present and future but with the 3 central characters turning up in each story in a different guise. But whereas in The Hours Mr Cunningham skilfully and beautifully weaves the stories together, in Specimen Days they can almost be regarded as standalone novels. That said, Specimen Days is bold and atmospheric and Mr Cunningham's prose is as beautiful as ever, but I must confess I did struggle to finish the book.


Surprising and disconcerting, 04 Jul 2007
I am a massive fan of Michael Cunningham's work. I thought his first two novels were very accomplished and skillfully constructed, and I absolutely adored The Hours which ranks of one of the best books I have ever read.

As for Specimen Days, well it certainly surprised me. I would have never dreamed of reading about a love story between a cyborg and a extraterrestrial lizard-female in one of his books - and there was something refreshing and exciting in such a bold departure. Unfortunately I am not sure that the book as a whole was successful. Like in The Hours, Cunningham tells three stories which have a common thread of characters, themes and literary/poetic background. But where in the Hours, the stories were beautifully interwoven and ma