Aug 8, 2024

Stoner

Reviewing John William's "Stoner"

This book is about the seemingly ordinary and unimportant life of William Stoner, who may not be the best husband, father, lover or teacher, but just like the rest of us, alive. The story has no villains or heroes, it is rather an intricate analysis of the complexes of the human nature that surrounds us. This is- as the author himself says- an "escape to reality."

If I had to talk more about Stoner himself, he is perpetually searching for himself and never quite finding it. He has a reverence towards being dedicated, and lives a life with a secret passion towards teaching and simply being.

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Stoner finds himself tangled into a myriad of problems- he marries the wrong girl, realises true love only in his later part of life, couldn't be the teacher he wanted to be, and didn't progress enough professionally. Nonetheless, he was somehow content, with an almost Stoic and indifferent attitude.

At a certain point, inside him was a tired spirit and had aged exponentially only in a couple of years out of profound loss of a mystical kind, and of regret. We can juxtapose that scenario with ourselves: haven't we felt as though we were profoundly sad? When everything is hard, even to breathe?

This struggle, this lurid feeling, led to his inevitable revelation and improvement of his life. He began taking control of his life, and pushed himself to find and be more of himself. But that wouldn't last long. This was a war for a meaningful existence; he had a lot more to do, but could he?

Apart from a moving and sad plot, this book is also of literary importance. It blurs the line between a "classic" and a "modern", consisting of brilliant imagery and literary devices. William's articulation of every scene is on point and coherent.

A deeply profound and philosophical book, full of real insights which frequency seem to increase as the book gets closer and closer to the end, and as the characters themselves realise how life is very, very strange.

It might not be as "astounding" as Kafka or Camus, but it is special in a discrete way; a phenomenon, that you could feel, breathe and live. John William's 1965 novel "Stoner" gets to you in a way you can't imagine.