M. Cunningham's novel is a tribute to the idol of literary modernism, the English writer Virginia Woolf. Just as the author in her famous work Mrs. Dalloway described a single day in the life of the title character, Cunningham also focuses on a single day in the life of three characters. The Clock is a masterpiece - of course it is a book about dying and helplessness, but also about consideration and love, about how one can be deeply unhappy and still manage to find brief moments of happiness. M. Cunningham won the Pulitzer Prize for the work, and an Oscar-winning movie was made based on the novel.