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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Stoner is a very personal story about a man's journey through higher academia in the early to mid 19th century. I found the writing to be really beautiful at times and Stoner is definitely an interesting, well written character. However, I found most of the female characters were written to be pretty one dimensional and simple compared to the male characters, a flaw I'm sure is unfortunately present in most classical literature. Overall, I thought the book was OK.
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
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-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
When someone says their favorite book of all time is a novel about an unremarkable man published in 1965, I'm interested. Despite it being recommended by a man, written by a man, and about a man, I was still interested! Spoilers ahead because you've had 60 years to read this.
William Stoner gets taken from his farmhand life in the 19-teens and sent to college. He falls in love with literature, gets multiple degrees and starts teaching at his Alma mater. The rest of this book is about him never fighting for another thing he wants ever again. Seriously. He went out on a limb to get his degree in English instead of agriculture, then - with maybe the exception of asking his awful future wife on their first date - lets anything else good or promising slip through his fingers. His wife hates sex and gradually everything else about him, he never leaves her. He raises his daughter mostly alone until his wife comes around and basically alienates them from each other. He lets it happen. He makes an accidental enemy of a fellow professor who will go on to become his boss. He lets it fester. He falls in love with a coworker and this enemy professor breaks them up out of pure malice. He lets it happen. He does nothing as he's handed shitty schedules and held back from teaching what he's passionate about, lets his basically estranged daughter move away and doesn't intervene when it becomes clear she's an alcoholic and an absentee mother. He dies basically alone with his one, unremarkable book in his hands.
And I think the powerful thing is: it doesn't. bother. him. He doesn't lay there dying bemoaning what he didn't do and who he let go. He has no regrets and that's so different from how your 2025 ass expects it to go. This book was well written (albeit with some boring sections that could've been cut) and I think if you're early in your "I didn't ask to be born, I'm not trying to be exceptional anymore" millennial burnout this might strike a chord with you. 3 taters π₯π₯π₯/π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯
William Stoner gets taken from his farmhand life in the 19-teens and sent to college. He falls in love with literature, gets multiple degrees and starts teaching at his Alma mater. The rest of this book is about him never fighting for another thing he wants ever again. Seriously. He went out on a limb to get his degree in English instead of agriculture, then - with maybe the exception of asking his awful future wife on their first date - lets anything else good or promising slip through his fingers. His wife hates sex and gradually everything else about him, he never leaves her. He raises his daughter mostly alone until his wife comes around and basically alienates them from each other. He lets it happen. He makes an accidental enemy of a fellow professor who will go on to become his boss. He lets it fester. He falls in love with a coworker and this enemy professor breaks them up out of pure malice. He lets it happen. He does nothing as he's handed shitty schedules and held back from teaching what he's passionate about, lets his basically estranged daughter move away and doesn't intervene when it becomes clear she's an alcoholic and an absentee mother. He dies basically alone with his one, unremarkable book in his hands.
And I think the powerful thing is: it doesn't. bother. him. He doesn't lay there dying bemoaning what he didn't do and who he let go. He has no regrets and that's so different from how your 2025 ass expects it to go. This book was well written (albeit with some boring sections that could've been cut) and I think if you're early in your "I didn't ask to be born, I'm not trying to be exceptional anymore" millennial burnout this might strike a chord with you. 3 taters π₯π₯π₯/π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯
reflective
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:
Complicated
As a professor, I found great joy in this. I also seethed at some of the politics. I would say that the prose is a bit bland, but somehow βStonerβ evokes emotion on almost every page. A remarkable story.
I devoured this book and wept during its final pages. John Williams is a master at giving splendour to the simplicity and monotony of life.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
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
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
dark
emotional
reflective
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:
Complicated