Stoner by John Williams Review

Stoner is one of those books that I have not heard a single bad thing about online. I only ever hear people giving anecdotes about it putting them onto NYRBs, it being one of those books they wish they could read for the first time, it being one of their favorite books or modern classics, that it's so powerful. I've never read anything from the perspective of someone in academia (I'm firm in my belief that The Love Hypothesis does not count) so when I found this at my local used bookstore, I picked it up, even with the higher than usual price tag than I'm used to. I was hoping to gain some insight on the world of being a professor or academic, and I will admit, I wanted to know what the hype is about and to own my first NYRB. I fantasize about becoming an English professor one day. It’s a far off idea, and nice to think about, but I'm not sure if it’ll ever come to fruition. But then again, most of my dreams are easily romanticized because they seem so unattainable. Like people, ideas, future plans, it's fuzzy and I don't know much about it, so I fill in the blanks with my own rosy ideas conjured up by my mind. Reality usually disappoints. 

Stoner is so much more than a glimpse into the life of a professor or academia. The reader is able to see life through the point of view of one of us, someone who lives, breathes, and worships literature, throughout his entire existence, until the very end. His life is unremarkable, filled with bitter disappointments, miscommunication, and arguments. It is incredibly frustrating to see his romantic heart be crushed over and over again, by his wife, circumstances, coworkers. Despite all these moments, one thing stays constant: his refuge in the university and his pursuit of knowledge and the distribution of it. He grows in his ability to teach, he stands up for himself once or twice, he falls deeply and madly in love with a fellow reader, he experiences a weekend getaway with her and understands what it means to be truly understood and loved, for who he is, not what he provides. I particularly enjoyed his affair with Katherine aside from his life devoted to books and the study of literature, I believe that anyone who is as passionate as literature as me or Stoner is a “hopeless” romantic to some degree.

The novel wasn’t as personally impactful as I was expecting, but I genuinely think I'm too "green" for the life story of Stoner to resonate deep with something within me, perhaps a side of me who understands too well what it means to face the bitter disappointments of life will exist one day. Maybe we are not alike enough for me to understand his lack of conviction and actions to redirect his life, his personality and the time period is very different than mine. I still have hope that if I get married, they’ll be the right one, that my children will turn out okay, that I won’t simply be watching life pass me by with books as my only solace and comfort. I think life is dreary but I have that bit of faith within me to find shimmers of beauty in the darkness. That hopeful part of me thinks that the shimmers in Stoner's life were his passion for literature.