Sunday 16 June 2013

Stoner by John Edward Williams

"So Stoner began where he had started, a tall, thin, stooped man in the same room in which he had sat as a tall, thin, stooped boy listening to the words that had led him to where he had come."

Prepare for an onslaught of superlatives because I just loved this book. It so perfectly describes an ordinary life from hope  to disappointment, from youth to adulthood with moments of delight and despair. Leaving his parents on the farm, studious William Stoner leaves for a life of academia, transferring from agricultural studies to literature.
 
That description does not nearly do this book justice. It was a joy to read. I felt like I really knew Stoner, I'd lived besides him and enjoyed the odd moments of joy. His relationship with his daughter and wife particularly seems so real.
 
5 out of 5 sepia toned real life.
 


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