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2kool_4skool 's review for:
Stoner
by John Williams
04/29/25
Every love story is a ghost story. There may not be a better way to encapsulate this book. The beauty of the work cannot be understated, it is the most profoundly sad and delicate and real piece of literature I have ever read and will likely read again. It is perfectly crafted. Williams' experiences have opened the literary world to him in such a way to allow him the ability to create such a penetrating story. My goodness. If I was being sent to a remote island and allowed with me only 5 books, this book would honorably make the list. If not for the writing style alone, but for the brilliance of the development and action and.... there is a never ending amount of things I may write about his book and still not be able to convey the brilliance of this work. Just read the first page or hell even the first paragraph, if you don't fall into the story with a savagery, ripping through the pages like an animal, well then, maybe it is a read for another time. But to have lived and died without reading Stoner is a grave injustice. One may as well never have lived at all. Thank you, John, this is a masterpiece, a real masterpiece. I can hardly wait to dive into your other works and be with your words for more time.
I have only finished this book today. Surely as I sit longer and the story fully solidifies in my mind I will have more to say. That, and it is late and time for slumber. But perhaps I may say a few more words before I go. One, this book has made me feel profoundly less alone. The quiet wars which rage amongst the pages of this book are some of the very same that rage inside my mind. What is Love? What is work? What is toil? For what reason do we live and love and toil? Is there a point to suffering? Is there a point to suffering in the worst of possible ways, over and over again? I thank you, Williams, for bringing these questions to the fore in such a beautiful way, it is almost unnoticible and yet right there, in front of our eyes. Stoner's toil was in the service of Love and there can never be anything undertaken in the service and spirit of love which can be rotten. The absence of love is felt. Meaning and love are partners in the most intimate way possible. Meaning, to be meaningful is to in some way be done or acted on in the service of love. What that means I know not yet, but there is something here between the relationship of toil and meaning and love that jumps at me like a frog.
Every love story is a ghost story. There may not be a better way to encapsulate this book. The beauty of the work cannot be understated, it is the most profoundly sad and delicate and real piece of literature I have ever read and will likely read again. It is perfectly crafted. Williams' experiences have opened the literary world to him in such a way to allow him the ability to create such a penetrating story. My goodness. If I was being sent to a remote island and allowed with me only 5 books, this book would honorably make the list. If not for the writing style alone, but for the brilliance of the development and action and.... there is a never ending amount of things I may write about his book and still not be able to convey the brilliance of this work. Just read the first page or hell even the first paragraph, if you don't fall into the story with a savagery, ripping through the pages like an animal, well then, maybe it is a read for another time. But to have lived and died without reading Stoner is a grave injustice. One may as well never have lived at all. Thank you, John, this is a masterpiece, a real masterpiece. I can hardly wait to dive into your other works and be with your words for more time.
I have only finished this book today. Surely as I sit longer and the story fully solidifies in my mind I will have more to say. That, and it is late and time for slumber. But perhaps I may say a few more words before I go. One, this book has made me feel profoundly less alone. The quiet wars which rage amongst the pages of this book are some of the very same that rage inside my mind. What is Love? What is work? What is toil? For what reason do we live and love and toil? Is there a point to suffering? Is there a point to suffering in the worst of possible ways, over and over again? I thank you, Williams, for bringing these questions to the fore in such a beautiful way, it is almost unnoticible and yet right there, in front of our eyes. Stoner's toil was in the service of Love and there can never be anything undertaken in the service and spirit of love which can be rotten. The absence of love is felt. Meaning and love are partners in the most intimate way possible. Meaning, to be meaningful is to in some way be done or acted on in the service of love. What that means I know not yet, but there is something here between the relationship of toil and meaning and love that jumps at me like a frog.