Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Stoner by John Williams

47 reviews

lhjh's review against another edition

3.75

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Rape, Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail

risemini's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, War

menagerie_of's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, War

Minor: Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy

unclejon75's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I've never had a book that made me feel every emotion. Stoner is nothing short of a remarkable novel.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, War, Classism

slonkybeans's review against another edition

3.0

mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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As I am currently reading Butcher's Crossing, another Williams book, I am seeing why I already like it better than Stoner. I identify with the main character's wanderlust (minus the imperialist context of the time that Andrews is living, still early enough in the book where I don't know if that will be addressed and I kind of doubt it unfortunately) but I found Stoner so unlikeable from the moment he described his feelings for the woman who would become his wife which seemed baseless and shallow. Then he completely lost me when he

raped her. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I implore you to reread the section where "consummation" is described and he sees that she clearly does not want to engage with him and he does it anyway.

I think the reason the book didn't gel with me is because I think Stoner is a coward who never took control of his life

except for when he left the farm and forced himself upon his wife.

He instead keeps doing terrible thing after terrible thing without confrontation or standing up for himself and his daughter from his emotionally abusive wife and mother of his child. My favorite part of the story

is when Katherine Driscoll is introduced because you can finally see that he actually can care about something in his life. But what could've been a beautiful thing gets ruined because he cannot stand up for himself and take control of his life.

I just find him beyond cowardly and insufferable. I did think it was very well written, there's something about the way Williams describes the dull and mundane that makes it interesting and almost beautiful but I just can't go above 3 stars because of how much I detest most of the characters in the book. I cannot see why people like his character. Being a "normal guy" who is mostly passive except the times in which he does things that are terribly harmful is nothing to be applauded.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, Pregnancy, Alcohol

Minor: War

mladd28's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Rape, Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Terminal illness, Medical content, Alcohol, War

Minor: Body shaming, Death, Death of parent

polarheights's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, War

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Pregnancy

wheelylauren's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting

Minor: Incest, Suicidal thoughts

ndnrbs's review against another edition

3.75

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, War

nenaveenstra's review against another edition

2.0

reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Boeken over alledaagse mensen kunnen heel mooi zijn, ze kunnen getuigen van een soort menselijkheid dat superhelden nooit zullen bezitten. Dus, toen ik de eerste pagina van dit boek las, en Stoner werd aangekondigd als een onbijzonder personage, rolde ik wat met mij ogen, maar ik hield hoop. Valse hoop, zo blijkt. 

Want Stoner is niet alleen alledaags, hij is ook heel passief en onverschillig. Veel van zijn leven overkomt hem. Welk drama zich ook voltrekt in zijn leven, hij haalt zijn schouders erbij op. En als hij bijna met pensioen gaat, heeft hij geen idee wat hij zou moeten met zoveel vrije tijd. 

Onverschillig, zo komt hij op mij over. Maar de auteur vindt wat anders: hij schrijft dat Stoners liefde vloeit in alles wat hij doet, vooral zijn werk, maar ook zijn huwelijk. Als dat zo is, waarom zien we dat dan niet? Williams is er wat mij betreft compleet in gefaald om Stoners karakter en beweegredenen over te brengen op de lezer. 

Verder vond ik het taalgebruik ook gewoon niet zo mooi. Het waren veel droge verhandelingen over literatuurgeschiedenis, afgewisseld met onhandige zinnen in de trant van "hij ging dood aan een ziekte, die ook nog eens dodelijk was." Misschien ligt dit aan de vertaling, ik weet het niet. 

En dan de vrouwen in dit verhaal. Allemaal tengere, stille vrouwen, die zich schikken aan hun geliefde totdat ze een ons wegen, en de rest van hun leven verteren in wrok. En volgens Stoner/Williams is dat... Liefde? Toewijding? 

Er waren wel een paar mooie momenten, soms zelfs iets van spanning, maar over het algemeen heb ik door dit boek heen geploeterd om bij het einde te komen. En nu het uit is, denk ik: Tja, was dat nou echt mijn tijd waard?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Pregnancy