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There are currently 28 member reviews
for Day
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Anne G. (Austin, TX)
Day by Michael Cunningham
Morning, May 5, 2019–we meet a family involved in their morning routines. We learn that the five of them have nearly outgrown their apartment in Manhattan and in some ways they also may have outgrown the relationship that holds them together. They are Dan and Isabel, parents to Nathan (10) and Violet (5), and Isabel's brother Robbie who lives in the attic of their brownstone.
Afternoon, May 5, 2020-covid has arrived in NYC and the kids are homeschooling while Dan and Isabel get on each other's nerves. Robbie went to Iceland and is stuck there because planes aren't flying. Violet is horrified that an open window will let in "the thing." Nathan has moved to the attic and is entering his teens with all the accompanying angst and body odor.
Evening, April 5, 2021-we learn of separations. The factors involved in each are different. Reality is now changed and our characters must figure out a path forward.
Cunningham's writing is both eloquent and sometimes overly complex with sentences that wrap around until I've completely lost the point. This story seems to be simply about the ebbing and flowing of human relationships. The connections of all kinds that get these characters through their days. I wish I had an answer for the reasoning behind the three points in time, but I don't. Perhaps they are just markers in the stream of life.
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Jean B. (Naples, FL)
Boring
Michael Cunningham, the author of Day, worries that his novel is boring. He worries even though he has a Pulitzer prize for a previous book. I must say that I agreed with his concern. This book is clearly not a story which involves plot and action and drama. Reviewers call Cunningham's work brilliant. Only occasionally as I read this book can I agree; but mostly I agree with his concern that his novel is boring.
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Barbara S. (Gig Harbor, WA)
One Day leaving many questions
Day, by Michael Cunningham is another novel which is set in the time period of COVID and its aftermath. Cunningham uses an intriguing device of following an extended family through the same day in 2019, 2020, and 2021. This is a very effective way of showing the the thoughts and interactions that families went through during this time.
However, I found some of his characters thoughts and actions slightly disjointed, leaving the reader with many unanswered questions. In particular, the 5 year old daughter seems too self-aware for her age. Also the interaction of Dan and Robbie seems to be left hanging in the air.
On the whole, an intriguing premise to a story that perhaps could have been better fleshed out.
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Beth M. (New York, NY)
Overwrought dysfunctional family story!
Michael Cunningham is a beautiful, thoughtful writer. I've read all his books and loved most of them. I was so excited to read this new book after his long absence. Unfortunately I didn't love it. It's a story of a dysfunctional family; Isabel and Dan, their two children, Isabel's younger brother Robbie and several other characters. It takes place before, during and after the pandemic on the same day of the year. It examines the impact of the lockdown and the characters inner turmoil and choices moving forward. Robbie was the character I cared most about. He was pivotal in this story and Cunningham did a masterful job of portraying him with all his achingly beautiful humanity. The book which was relatively short felt overwrought to me. The characters seem so embroiled with their inner dialogs which often felt unimportant. Overall while the book touched on thought provoking topics, like the falsehoods on social media, I found the story and the characters to be rather tedious.
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Debbie C. (Sun Lakes, AZ)
Family members and how they handled the pandemic
The story came across to me as a dysfunctional family. They did not appear to be happy with themselves or each other. The introduction of Wolfe got me confused at first. The other characters I really didn't get why they were involved. I only managed to read the first day before I lost total interest and didn't pick it up again.
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Carolyn A. (Lake Oswego, OR)
Day - I couldn't get through it:(
I found this book disjointed and hard to force myself to read. I quit after 3 attempts and 3 chapters. I will pick it up later and try again, but, for now, I wouldn't recommend it!
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Gail G. (Hernando, FL)
Disappointing
The format of this book is interesting. It takes place on the same day in three consecutive years the middle of which was the pandemic year of lockdown. I initially thought that the pandemic lockdown would take a more prominent place in the story. Wrong! It was the shortest part of the book. The characters were all so neurotic and self absorbed that I couldn't sympathize with any of them. They all seemed disconnected from each other, even the children characters were strange. I'm not sure what the author was trying to say but I totally missed it.
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