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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is not something I thought I'd enjoy and it wasn't happy at all (I'm a HEA gal). And yet, I really enjoyed it
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is more like a 3.7 - I get it’s meant to be a quiet classic but god this is depressing. Maybe I’m a hater but no way I could endure a life of suffering quietly like Stoner does. I hate Lomax and Edith so immensely that I had to stop reading at points. My only solace and joy was his affair with Katherine, I can’t believe I was rooting HARD for him to cheat on his wife. I guess I rounded up to a 4 because it really was hard to stop reading and I found myself emotionally invested.
EDIT - 12/05
increased to 5 stars, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about and talking about this book. I hated it whilst reading but after I finished, I couldn’t stop reflecting - completely unintentionally - and it really grew on me. they were lowkey right about this being a quiet master piece
EDIT - 12/05
increased to 5 stars, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about and talking about this book. I hated it whilst reading but after I finished, I couldn’t stop reflecting - completely unintentionally - and it really grew on me. they were lowkey right about this being a quiet master piece
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a character study, and I hesitate to see it as anything deeper than that. I enjoyed the descriptions of people the most, I find the author’s turn of phrase quite beautiful at times.
Where the book occasionally lost me was in the believability of Stoner’s love of the subject to which he devoted his life. From the moment he shed his plan to return to the family farm, I kept waiting for some spark of inspiration, some joy to be found in the love of literature, but it’s just not there.
The complete stoicism of this character was difficult at times to endure. He seems not at all curious and again, as a person who supposedly finds fulfillment in poetry, there is an utter lack of interest in people, in philosophy, in life, really.
Overall I did find the book compelling, and the prose while spare to be really poignant. But, if you are looking for a book that celebrates a life of the mind, this is not that.
Where the book occasionally lost me was in the believability of Stoner’s love of the subject to which he devoted his life. From the moment he shed his plan to return to the family farm, I kept waiting for some spark of inspiration, some joy to be found in the love of literature, but it’s just not there.
The complete stoicism of this character was difficult at times to endure. He seems not at all curious and again, as a person who supposedly finds fulfillment in poetry, there is an utter lack of interest in people, in philosophy, in life, really.
Overall I did find the book compelling, and the prose while spare to be really poignant. But, if you are looking for a book that celebrates a life of the mind, this is not that.
Every once in a while a novel really captures my imagination. This is one of those novels and in this novel, nothing happens. Nothing. Through this nothing I was gripped from the beginning, anxious with anticipation for everything that “happens” next.
Before we get too far, just so there are no illusions, Stoner: A Novel is not a stoner novel.
William Stoner has some rather curious undercurrent-connection with Bartelby, the Scrivener -- it’s like Stoner is channeling ole Bartels-boy. If you asked me to develop that thought I could only reply, “I would prefer not to.” Meanwhile the novel is set in the early to mid part of the last century, Stoner is a farm boy whose passive parents send him off to agriculture college intending that he can learn how to better run the family farm. Through what might be Stoner’s only act of active participation in life, he changes his major to literature. Even this act doesn’t seem of his own doing; passivity reigns. Stoner doesn’t tell his parents he changed his major until some four years later, the day he graduates. As the novel develops, Stoner inexplicably -- literally -- ends up a teaching professor at his alma mater.
What is amazing about this novel is that very little happens through any action on the part of the protagonist. The author’s skill and artful writing is revealed thematically using words like “beige,” “endure,” and “impersonal.” Somehow characters and storyline are compelling. And meanwhile nothing extraordinary continues to happen as characters figuratively sleep their way through life. There are a couple notable villains, but adding to the theme, how or why the villains choose to be villainous is somehow fascinating and confounding.
Throughout, in spaces surrounding storyline and character development, the prose delivers rich contemplations. Several passages beg to be reread immediately while the basic act of reading feels unparalleled. Compelling, somehow, the novel unfolds through a bland act of nothing special. Reading Stoner left me an appreciation of the characters, the story, and especially the author’s light touch and devotion to craft.
Before we get too far, just so there are no illusions, Stoner: A Novel is not a stoner novel.
William Stoner has some rather curious undercurrent-connection with Bartelby, the Scrivener -- it’s like Stoner is channeling ole Bartels-boy. If you asked me to develop that thought I could only reply, “I would prefer not to.” Meanwhile the novel is set in the early to mid part of the last century, Stoner is a farm boy whose passive parents send him off to agriculture college intending that he can learn how to better run the family farm. Through what might be Stoner’s only act of active participation in life, he changes his major to literature. Even this act doesn’t seem of his own doing; passivity reigns. Stoner doesn’t tell his parents he changed his major until some four years later, the day he graduates. As the novel develops, Stoner inexplicably -- literally -- ends up a teaching professor at his alma mater.
What is amazing about this novel is that very little happens through any action on the part of the protagonist. The author’s skill and artful writing is revealed thematically using words like “beige,” “endure,” and “impersonal.” Somehow characters and storyline are compelling. And meanwhile nothing extraordinary continues to happen as characters figuratively sleep their way through life. There are a couple notable villains, but adding to the theme, how or why the villains choose to be villainous is somehow fascinating and confounding.
Throughout, in spaces surrounding storyline and character development, the prose delivers rich contemplations. Several passages beg to be reread immediately while the basic act of reading feels unparalleled. Compelling, somehow, the novel unfolds through a bland act of nothing special. Reading Stoner left me an appreciation of the characters, the story, and especially the author’s light touch and devotion to craft.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective