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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
reflective
sad
slow-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
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
sad
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
It's basically a depressing novel about life in middle America. In some ways, it reminded me of Sinclair Lewis, but was much more beautifully written. In other ways it was reminiscent of Mr. Bridge and Mrs. Bridge, by Evan Connell, which was similarly quiet but somehow deeply moving. And, I suppose I was also reminded of McCuller's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, though that was just a question of mood, and this book, as bleak as it is, was not as wrist-slit tingly good as that. This one basically followed Thoreau's observation, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation."
Stoner is a middling academic at a non-prestigious University in the mid-West. He comes from a dirt poor farming family and has elevated himself much higher than he ever had a right to expect, but that is not very high. The book deals with the various aspects of his life, or its lacks. His wife only hates him when there is some substance to the relationship, but mostly there is not. He loves his daughter in his way, which is mostly reserved. He doesn't get on very well in his department, but the head of the department can't fire him because he has tenure, so instead he does whatever he can to make Stoner's life miserable.
And through all these petty trials, Stoner perseveres. He has some minor victories and some minor defeats. And yet through all this quiet despair, he emerges as something of a heroic figure. In its way, I see this as being kind of an embodiment of Camus' idea that the trick for Sisyphus is that he be happy rolling that boulder. And Stoner achieves, I think, a quiet sort of happiness, or at least he comes to terms with himself and is at peace.
The novel is simple, but profound, and quite almost always quite beautiful, even in its prevailing stasis. The main blemish I see is that I had to overlook, or at least accept, his wife's seeming insanity. I think it's explainable, but it often felt out of place. I think she was sexually abused by her father, then forced into a marriage not of her choosing, and when her father dies, she undergoes a radical change and decides to get vengeance on the nearest man at hand -- her husband.
Stoner is a middling academic at a non-prestigious University in the mid-West. He comes from a dirt poor farming family and has elevated himself much higher than he ever had a right to expect, but that is not very high. The book deals with the various aspects of his life, or its lacks. His wife only hates him when there is some substance to the relationship, but mostly there is not. He loves his daughter in his way, which is mostly reserved. He doesn't get on very well in his department, but the head of the department can't fire him because he has tenure, so instead he does whatever he can to make Stoner's life miserable.
And through all these petty trials, Stoner perseveres. He has some minor victories and some minor defeats. And yet through all this quiet despair, he emerges as something of a heroic figure. In its way, I see this as being kind of an embodiment of Camus' idea that the trick for Sisyphus is that he be happy rolling that boulder. And Stoner achieves, I think, a quiet sort of happiness, or at least he comes to terms with himself and is at peace.
The novel is simple, but profound, and quite almost always quite beautiful, even in its prevailing stasis. The main blemish I see is that I had to overlook, or at least accept, his wife's seeming insanity. I think it's explainable, but it often felt out of place.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
if there were a book that demonstrated my worst nightmare in life through words, it’ll be this
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4 stars possibly the saddest book I have read. It’s was slow to get into but then I just got swept along wanting Stoner to just do something. The characters are interesting so many unspoken emotions. I feel that one has to consider the circumstances/ social “norms” of the time when considering the actions/ non actions of the protagonist and others.
Is it not clocking to you that he lost so much in life by standing on the integrity of his business?
A remarkable story of what we are told at the onset is the life of an unremarkable man. Stoner is relatable because at the core, we all have our hopes, dreams, aspirations and fantasies of what life can be. We grow with preconceived notions around life, death, joy, profession, fulfillment, integrity.
Sometimes our experiences in life align with our youthful visions. Other times, life forces us in different directions and we are made to reconsider the world and what we believed about things like love, marriage, parenthood, or jobs. All of it. Part of the beautiful thing about life, about our existence, is that we have the ability to change our outlooks. That we can find respite and joy and happiness where we never thought possible.
Stoner lived much of his life in circumstances that robbed him of happiness in many ways, but what I took from him was his willingness to never be so bitter, so hardened, that he rejected the fleeting moments of happiness in life as they suddenly came upon him. He seized them, let them go, and continued. Sometimes, isn’t that all we can do?
To Stoner, and the reminder that we are all, in our quiet ways, remarkable because we are here.
A remarkable story of what we are told at the onset is the life of an unremarkable man. Stoner is relatable because at the core, we all have our hopes, dreams, aspirations and fantasies of what life can be. We grow with preconceived notions around life, death, joy, profession, fulfillment, integrity.
Sometimes our experiences in life align with our youthful visions. Other times, life forces us in different directions and we are made to reconsider the world and what we believed about things like love, marriage, parenthood, or jobs. All of it. Part of the beautiful thing about life, about our existence, is that we have the ability to change our outlooks. That we can find respite and joy and happiness where we never thought possible.
Stoner lived much of his life in circumstances that robbed him of happiness in many ways, but what I took from him was his willingness to never be so bitter, so hardened, that he rejected the fleeting moments of happiness in life as they suddenly came upon him. He seized them, let them go, and continued. Sometimes, isn’t that all we can do?
To Stoner, and the reminder that we are all, in our quiet ways, remarkable because we are here.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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