pickI've saved this as I was so keen to read it! Nothing like I thought... this keeps happening!
The first year, 2019, I couldn't gel with at all. But 2020 and 21 were much more enticing. His prose is precise yet detailed, there's a lot of imagery that is clear to imagine. I'm jot sure any of the characters were likeable really, and thus not sure they needed to be...
pick6-2-24: My 16th finished book of 2024! Michael Cunningham‘s The Hours is one of my all time favorite books so of course I put a lot of pressure on this one. It‘s beautifully written but it didn‘t gut me. April 5, 2019, 2020 and 2021. How can so much change in 3 years to the day? Isabel and Robbie are sister/brother and very close. He lives with her family, husband and 2 kids. But Robbie has to finally make his own way. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣1️⃣6️⃣
pickWell that was quietly devastating!
It had all the uncannily perceptive interiority that I found so engrossing in The Hours (which I've read multiple times).
If I have a quibble it's that I'd have preferred longer chapters so as to spend more time with each character. Sometimes it felt a bit choppy and briefly disorienting. Deliberately, given the COVID setting? I loved how Robbie - the single brother/uncle/friend - proved to be the family's heart.
pickTaken at 6:30 am & it‘s still snowing at 4 pm. Power on & off all day. Funny how my mood improves the minute power is restored. A week after reading Day, here is what I remember: a character is living in Iceland & Cunningham‘s description of the cold & the climate is so accurate it puts you right smack dab in that location. I‘ve never been there but I know what the sound & smells are like at -20C. The book is fine, but that part was my favorite.
pickThis one was a mixed bag for me. There are aspects of craft here that are phenomenal (if “show don‘t tell” has ever confused you, this books shows masterfully) whereas as others were a bit clunky (the few plot points were glaringly obvious). I also felt like the focus was too scattered, moving to another character as soon as my empathy really started for the current one. Between pick and so-so for me.
pickReally liked this novel, which tells the story of a family through a unique structure of three specific days one year apart (2019-2021, so you know where that‘s going). The writing is impeccable.
Also taking the chance to show off my orchid, which I‘ve managed to keep alive for over a year and it‘s blooming again! 🤗
pickLoved this. Sometimes felt very seen in Isabel and her 1st world, white lady problems.
Introspective and insightful with wonderful writing.
pickI read The Hours at a very formative time in my life and it moved and changed me profoundly. I‘ve been sort of chasing that high with Cunningham ever since. And finally here, 20 years later, he has done it again. Devastatingly good.
pickHow well can we ever know the interior lives of the people we care about? I love the structure of this quiet, rotating POV character-based novel which takes place on the same date across 3 years: April 5 in 2019, 2020 & 2021. I was totally absorbed in this mixed cast of queer & straight adult siblings, spouses, & children with messy oh-so-human lives. Audiobook read by Julianne Moore.
Friday Reads January 19: hot & not-so-hot audiobooks on a snowy day, LGBTQ comics & a CanLit classic:
https://youtu.be/SLqKci93sWw
Plus lots of butterfly footage from Victoria Butterfly Garden!
so-soI enjoyed the central conceit of this book - one day told three years apart, one year in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. However, I felt that the characters themselves just fell sort of flat and it was too difficult to find sympathy with what felt like overprivileged hipster problems. It‘s one of the first batch of novels that deals with the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic yet felt forgettable.
pickLoved this novel. I just fall into his writing. Novel takes place on the same day in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Highly recommend. 4.5 🌟
P30 “They‘re driven by an ancient, filial wrath, stunning in its purity.”
P44 “Dan resembles himself, occupies himself, more effectively than anyone Rob could name.”
NOVEL IN A NUTSHELL: P58 “She ponders the prospect that decadent unhappiness might, in its way, be worse than genuine, legitimate despair. Which is, as she knows, a decadent question to pose at all.”
P111 “He occupies the narrow, shifty zone between culture and corruption.”
pickCunningham characters: precious & self-absorbed, observant & open. Family, reliance. Desire, responsibility. Love & loss. Pull to escape a comfortable domestic life. V. Woolf influence. Insta as fiction. Pandemic novel in all its concentrated numbness. Quiet foreshadowing. Strong psychological portraits of exasperating characters, in perfect gem sentences.
P115 “Maybe they‘ll abandon their lives, which are rich and full but nevertheless…” 2023
pickGreat sticker placement. 🙄
Oh how the world changed from 2019 to 2021! Cunningham tracks an extended family‘s single day in April through each of these three years. Most of the book is set up in 2019, and I got really attached to the characters, but I didn‘t feel a sense of resolution in 2021, and it bothered me. More a #LikeNotLove #BorrowNotBuy 🤷🏻♀️
pickTaking place on the same date across three years - 2019, 2020, and 2021 - this is a story of an untraditional family who face struggles and limitations. Full of literary allusions, this is brilliant writing. (The Hours is still my favorite by Cunningham.)
My third and final stop on today‘s bookstore itinerary was Reads & Company in Phoenixville, PA. What an awesome Main Street and the store was so inviting! I absolutely loved the inventory and how thoughtful the displays were. The tagged book, signed, called out to me as well as Amazing Grace Adams which got love from some Littens. If I lived closer I would happily have this as my local indie bookstore. All in all, it was a great bookful day!
@CarolynM Thank you so much for the Christmas beauties! I couldnt help myself but had to open it straight away. And how well you know me! Day was on my Santa list this year (so i had a word in santa‘s ear this morning just in case 😂). And the desk calendar is gorgeous and the chocolate has already been opened! So appreciate your thoughtfulness and it just brought so many smiles!
#BookReport 47/23
The tagged book and The Fortunate Ones were both really good. The Library didn‘t meet my expectations (but they are really high when it comes to Japanese literature) and I bailed on Shark Drunk. On audio I listened to The Hate U Give.
pickThe new Michael Cunningham has an interesting premise: we spend three days with a family, consisting of a couple, their kids and her brother. It is April 5 in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The relations between the family members change drastically during the years, not in the least due to the coming and going of lockdowns. I loved how Cunningham brings his characters to life and the dialogues are great. Recommended!
Now Available! 🎉🥳📚
Day- Michael Cunningham
Book Review- https://www.boleybooks.com//day/
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pickFascinating novel about one day during consecutive years as we see several family groupings in crisis as they fall out of love, find quirky traits in their children, and readjust to new circumstances. Couldn‘t predict where it was going!
#NetGalley
Day | 
