Book Review: "Day" by Michael Cunningham

“Here, then, is the answer. A degree of cruelty is necessary because Garth, like most men, can only deposit his needs at her feet, can only declare his love—that romantic hallucination, which would begin to fade as soon as she said yes—can only say, Here is my desire, here is my loneliness, what are you going to do about it?”

- Day by Michael Cunningham

Honestly, when I read The Hours, I loved it. But I was not too fond of the film (I apologise). Michael Cunningham seems to be one of those rare authors like Ian McEwan of The Cement Garden, David Mitchell of Cloud Atlas and John Boyne of Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom, in which anything he writes automatically turns to gold. It took a whole year for one of my workmates to convince me to read The Hours, and when I did (back when I was on my degree) my mind was blown about what was possible when it comes to fiction. This blend of fiction and nonfiction, I came to realise, would become a trope of Michael Cunningham's novels in which he includes these details that are universal nonfiction experiences within the fictitious work.

Set over one day in 2019, 2020 and 2021, Michael Cunningham takes us all on this universal journey of the world as we know it changing in ways we could not project alongside these familiarities of relationships that go awry in ways we do not expect. The characters are those classic characters of flaws and all we encounter as real human beings in Cunningham's novels and the themes are definitely subtle, but give the book greater meaning (for example: I found that there was a theme of appearances, especially givent he 'aqua dress' that is more of an 'evening' thing than a day thing). Cunningham doesn't just write books, he creates entire realities.

One thing I have always enjoyed about Michael Cunningham's writing is his characters. This is not an exception when it comes to Day. Isabel and Robbie are some of the most incredble characters I have read this year. It's almost as though they have a telepathy with each other. I have noticed that Michael Cunningham has a way of connecting characters with each other but this, making them related to each other as well as share this weird connection, is something extraordinary. It allows the reader to get in between that process and feel as though they too, are part of this strange telepathy and thus, feeling that connection.

Isabel wants to divorce her husband, Dan and her children are sort of caught in the midst of this rift. She is quite playful with her brother who lives in their house too because of the failing housing market in New York in which a teaching salary cannot afford you a home. And, as it is in many modern novels, social media seems to seep into it somehow as Robbie has this entire fake Instagram life of glamour when in fact, the whole thing is a battered old lie.

I think many people reading this book would have understood the extended metaphor behind Robbie living in the family attic and being the 'cool uncle' to the two kids. He is practically holding the marriage of Isobel and Dan together and this is something deep, profound, intertextual and meaningful. The idea of a person living in the attic does hearken back to those Victorian novels exploring madness and deception - especially one Jane Eyre. If you have not read Jane Eyre then I suggest you read it before reading Days because it will make more sense as to why Robbie is in the attic and why, if he leaves, the marriage will kind of fall to bits much quicker than we think it will. Secrets regarding the true dissatisfaction with love and life will be revealed.

Michael Cunningham has done really well at creating such a liminal space of past and present whilst also presenting the reader with a kind of claustrophobia towards the scene. Everything is set in ever-shrinking spaces. We have the attic, we have the home during the pandemic, we have Violet's room in which she refuses to open any windows or doors. We have the Iceland and many more of these small spaces in which things tend to go wrong and conversations explode into relationship-changing debates. Speech is often limited but sharp and this is where we see through wit and sigh, that all is not well in New York.

All in all, I enjoyed this book for being this classic Michael Cunningham novel of people who are imperfect and dissatisfied gaining identity as the book goes on. We not only know more about them in the moment, but we seek to see what they thought their lives would be like in comparison to what they are actually like.