The website Vulture occasionally asks actors, musicians, or artists for their ten favorite books. I learned about Stoner from Michael C. Hall's list. It is a portrait of an unremarkable English professor in Missouri during the first part of the 20th century. He grows up on a farm, finds his mind expanded by literature, falls in love with a banker's daughter, and experiences career setbacks.
It sounds strange to say, but the greatest strength of Stoner is how it doesn't explain the characters' various epiphanies. The author allows the experience to be as mysterious to us as it is to the characters. For example, Stoner's transformation from a farmer to a scholar happens after he fails to answer a question in class. Williams describes the incident and Stoner's dazed stroll after class, but doesn't attempt to plumb the depths of his motivations. The book is as inarticulate as the characters are when they are asked to explain themselves.
Another strength is Stoner's quietly positive attitude. Many apparently bad things happen to poor William Stoner, but as he says late in the book, he sees the events as his life and he can't regret them. He remains stoic-ly optimistic.
It sounds strange to say, but the greatest strength of Stoner is how it doesn't explain the characters' various epiphanies. The author allows the experience to be as mysterious to us as it is to the characters. For example, Stoner's transformation from a farmer to a scholar happens after he fails to answer a question in class. Williams describes the incident and Stoner's dazed stroll after class, but doesn't attempt to plumb the depths of his motivations. The book is as inarticulate as the characters are when they are asked to explain themselves.
Another strength is Stoner's quietly positive attitude. Many apparently bad things happen to poor William Stoner, but as he says late in the book, he sees the events as his life and he can't regret them. He remains stoic-ly optimistic.
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