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Jo (The Book Geek)'s Reviews > Stoner
Stoner
by
by
Jo (The Book Geek)'s review
bookshelves: heart-in-pieces, i-m-in-love, inspirational
Jul 30, 2019
bookshelves: heart-in-pieces, i-m-in-love, inspirational
Read 3 times. Last read June 13, 2023 to July 15, 2023.
Reread July 2023;
It hit harder the third time. I read the last 30 pages this morning and my eyes were unable to stay dry. So painful to read and yet so beautiful to immerse myself in.
Reread January 2023;
I would never have thought that a story detailing a professor's life could have such a huge impact on me.
This experience was better than my first read through, but honestly, my heart is in pieces. I'm so glad my Mum recommended this to me! Phenomenal writing, beautiful, real and sometimes brutal scenes of one man's life and you're left with one woman in tears over here in the UK. Thank you, John Williams for producing one of my favourite works of literacy, and probably one of the best reads of my life to date.
July 2019:
My heart is deliciously heavy tonight, here in the UK, and it feels damn good! Stoner, is the type of book that I would put to the bottom of my to-read list, purely because I thought the cover and the blurb were dull. Stoner, is the type of book I'd look at, then tell it I'd get to it in a few years or so. Stoner, is a book my Mum recommended to me two years ago, and now I'm sitting here, my eyes still moist with tears, and I'm asking myself the question "Why didn't I pick this up earlier?"
This book has took the very breath from my body, and if one knows me well enough, you'll realise that is a pretty extensive task to take on. I feel revived, and I believe that this book was just waiting, waiting for the right moment to come into my life.
We follow Stoner, our main character, as he makes his way through life, quietly, but with assertiveness, making decisions that shape his life, for better, or for worse. From any way in which I looked at Stoner, he didn't meet the expectations of which he should have, but it was his interesting but difficult life, that kept me immersed in this, until the very last page.
I believe that as the story progresses, Stoner progresses in his ability to be the person he'd always wanted to be, and that, as a writer, is a masterful thing to achieve.
It distresses me actually, that this book for the most part, is going unnoticed, and isn't doing as well as a book with a happy ending and the promise of a hero, for instance. Stoner is a real life account, of a rather ordinary individual, but God, it broke my heart.
It hit harder the third time. I read the last 30 pages this morning and my eyes were unable to stay dry. So painful to read and yet so beautiful to immerse myself in.
Reread January 2023;
I would never have thought that a story detailing a professor's life could have such a huge impact on me.
This experience was better than my first read through, but honestly, my heart is in pieces. I'm so glad my Mum recommended this to me! Phenomenal writing, beautiful, real and sometimes brutal scenes of one man's life and you're left with one woman in tears over here in the UK. Thank you, John Williams for producing one of my favourite works of literacy, and probably one of the best reads of my life to date.
July 2019:
My heart is deliciously heavy tonight, here in the UK, and it feels damn good! Stoner, is the type of book that I would put to the bottom of my to-read list, purely because I thought the cover and the blurb were dull. Stoner, is the type of book I'd look at, then tell it I'd get to it in a few years or so. Stoner, is a book my Mum recommended to me two years ago, and now I'm sitting here, my eyes still moist with tears, and I'm asking myself the question "Why didn't I pick this up earlier?"
This book has took the very breath from my body, and if one knows me well enough, you'll realise that is a pretty extensive task to take on. I feel revived, and I believe that this book was just waiting, waiting for the right moment to come into my life.
We follow Stoner, our main character, as he makes his way through life, quietly, but with assertiveness, making decisions that shape his life, for better, or for worse. From any way in which I looked at Stoner, he didn't meet the expectations of which he should have, but it was his interesting but difficult life, that kept me immersed in this, until the very last page.
I believe that as the story progresses, Stoner progresses in his ability to be the person he'd always wanted to be, and that, as a writer, is a masterful thing to achieve.
It distresses me actually, that this book for the most part, is going unnoticed, and isn't doing as well as a book with a happy ending and the promise of a hero, for instance. Stoner is a real life account, of a rather ordinary individual, but God, it broke my heart.
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Quotes Jo (The Book Geek) Liked
“The love of literature, of language, of the mystery of the mind and heart showing themselves in the minute, strange, and unexpected combinations of letters and words, in the blackest and coldest print—the love which he had hidden as if it were illicit and dangerous, he began to display, tentatively at first, and then boldly, and then proudly.”
― Stoner
― Stoner
“Like all lovers, they spoke much of themselves, as if they might thereby understand the world which made them possible.”
― Stoner
― Stoner
“In his forty-third year William Stoner learned what others, much younger, had learned before him: that the person one loves at first is not the person one loves at last, and that love is not an end but a process through which one person attempts to know another.”
― Stoner
― Stoner
Reading Progress
August 19, 2016
– Shelved
August 19, 2016
– Shelved as:
to-read
July 24, 2019
–
Started Reading
July 24, 2019
–
11.0%
July 25, 2019
–
16.0%
July 25, 2019
–
24.0%
July 27, 2019
–
32.0%
July 27, 2019
–
46.0%
July 28, 2019
–
51.0%
July 29, 2019
–
55.0%
July 30, 2019
–
69.0%
July 30, 2019
–
86.0%
July 30, 2019
– Shelved as:
heart-in-pieces
July 30, 2019
– Shelved as:
i-m-in-love
July 30, 2019
– Shelved as:
inspirational
July 30, 2019
–
Finished Reading
January 16, 2023
–
Started Reading
January 23, 2023
–
Finished Reading
June 13, 2023
–
Started Reading
June 17, 2023
–
11.0%
June 27, 2023
–
17.0%
July 4, 2023
–
27.0%
July 15, 2023
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-33 of 33 (33 new)
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Morris
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Jul 30, 2019 04:41PM
Great review! You’ve convinced me to give it a try.
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This may sound strange, but it’s the mediocrity of Stoner’s life that makes this book a favorite of mine. It’s everybody’s story in an artistic sort of way.
Like Morris, been considering this book for awhile. Your review has pushed me to give a go.
"Deliciously heavy" - yes, I know what you mean. This is an extraordinary and very special book, and it was a delight to read your visceral reaction to that. I'm surprised you think the book is going unnoticed. I'd never heard of it, until I saw a flood of passionate reviews from GR friends a few years ago. However, reviews like yours will help it be noticed more.
Meanwhile, he only wrote two other proper novels (plus a short early one he disowned), and they're as good, though utterly different.
One of the most quietly impactful books I’ve read.
When the book was first published in 1965, it disappeared almost without a trace. It's current popularity, some suggest, is that it's more "relatable." I think that comes through in the favorable reviews on GR.
Don't worry, Jo, this book is far from going unnoticed on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, so we may rejoice in that. I'm so happy you discovered it!
Thanks for this wonderful review. The book is on library recommended list. Will get hold soonest.
Your reading experience of Stoner was so similar to mine; we must be soul mates! Lovely review.
John wrote: "Your reading experience of Stoner was so similar to mine; we must be soul mates! Lovely review."Thank you, John! This book is unforgettable. :)
I totally agree!
This is a very special book, and your review was a pleasure to read, Jo.
It's hard to do justice to this book in a review, but you managed it. This is a book by which I judge people. If you didn't like it, you go down in my estimation.
A runaway delight. In my opinion, one of the best books ever written.
Thank you for your heartfelt review. It spurred me to read this sensational story and for that I am eternally grateful.
Great review Jo...need to move it up my list.
Michael wrote: "Great review Jo...need to move it up my list."Yes, you do!!
One of those rare instances where I liked a novel the 2nd time around as much as I did the first time I read it [17 years ago to this exact day and then I gave it an a+++].
Thanks Jo for this review, I’ve Just bought the book
Albert-Jan wrote: "Thanks Jo for this review, I’ve Just bought the book"You're welcome! I really hope you enjoy it, Albert-Jan!
Chris wrote: "I thought about 'Stoner' while reading Ian McEwan's 'Lessons' last month, Jo. I'm sure you would enjoy that one too."Thanks, Chris. I've just added it to the list.
Outstanding Jo. Looking forward to reading this one. I try and mix up my reading mystery/thrillers, light/easy, fiction, so I should be able to fit this in soon.
Ian M. Pyatt wrote: "Outstanding Jo. Looking forward to reading this one. I try and mix up my reading mystery/thrillers, light/easy, fiction, so I should be able to fit this in soon."Thanks, Ian. I hope you get to it soon!
That is a heartfelt review Jo
Murray wrote: "That is a heartfelt review Jo"Thank you!
Your reread made me look forward to my own, despite the ache that lingers from having read Stoner for the first time only recently, passages, imagery, still popping up in thought.
Hey Jo, thanks for the review! I believe that as the story progresses, Stoner progresses in his ability to be the person he'd always wanted to be, and that, as a writer, is a masterful thing to achieve.
I'm most curious to know what made you think so! Is it his ability to oppose Walker or at least voice his opposition to his passing the exam? Is it his obdurateness against Lomax?
Three times?? I've got it in my own library but have yet to crack the binding. Given your review, I'll need to be in a proper frame of mind before tackling it.
Ian M. Pyatt wrote: "Three times?? I've got it in my own library but have yet to crack the binding. Given your review, I'll need to be in a proper frame of mind before tackling it."I think it's worth my time, and I hope you enjoy it if you do decide to read it!
Made my favorite shelf, Jo. Wow.
