Instruct: Classify the given review as either positive or negative.
Query: A work of art, Cunningham at his best...

When I sat down to read, THE HOURs, my expectations were so high I figured they would be dashed instantly. They weren't. THE HOURS, a homage to Virgina Woolf, is a brilliant work of art which, along w/ THE POISONWOOD BIBLE, became my favorite book I read all summer. It could be titled as 'a quick read' but you are so facsinated by the material on the pages you want to read it as slow as possible, absorbing every last ounce of it til it is gone. For the people who gave this book a bad review, they probably did not understand what they were reading. I did, and thanks to Michael Cunningham I now understand even more.I hope that you buy this and read it because in every decade there is one writer's homage to another writer that grasps your heart not letting go. This is that novel and with it's strong characters and sensational plotting, you will be craving for more at the last page.