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A review by bcgg
Stoner by John Williams
5.0
'John Williams's luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world.'
To me, Stoner is an observer of life, like it is story being laid out before him which for some, will be seen as a very sad story. It does not have the big finish most North American readers expect by the end of a novel - as in, a grand finish that puts everything in order and, the main character, is the hero of the story etc. It has been described as the "anti-“Gatsby" of its time.
It has precise wording and in that quiet, it gives us the truth about life. It isn't always going to be good and that is ok.
“Stoner” is a great, chronically underappreciated American novel. " The New Yorker October 20, 2013
Where his life can seem to some as sad and unsuccessful, I do not. Yes his life is full of hurdles, challenges that truly are unfair at times, he does succeed in the one thing in his life he truly loved - literature.
His story is probably more reflective of real life than many books we North Americans expect. It is a book one never forgets.
To me, Stoner is an observer of life, like it is story being laid out before him which for some, will be seen as a very sad story. It does not have the big finish most North American readers expect by the end of a novel - as in, a grand finish that puts everything in order and, the main character, is the hero of the story etc. It has been described as the "anti-“Gatsby" of its time.
It has precise wording and in that quiet, it gives us the truth about life. It isn't always going to be good and that is ok.
“Stoner” is a great, chronically underappreciated American novel. " The New Yorker October 20, 2013
Where his life can seem to some as sad and unsuccessful, I do not. Yes his life is full of hurdles, challenges that truly are unfair at times, he does succeed in the one thing in his life he truly loved - literature.
His story is probably more reflective of real life than many books we North Americans expect. It is a book one never forgets.