Stoner

By: John Williams

Narrated by: Robin Field

Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

William Stoner is born at the end of the 19th century into a dirt-poor Missouri farming family. Sent to the state university to study agronomy, he instead falls in love with English literature and embraces a scholar's life, far different from the hardscrabble existence he has known. And yet as the years pass, Stoner encounters a succession of disappointments: marriage into a "proper" family estranges him from his parents; his career is stymied; his wife and daughter turn coldly away from him; a transforming experience of new love ends under threat of scandal. Driven ever deeper within himself, Stoner rediscovers the stoic silence of his forebears and confronts an essential solitude.

John Williams's luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world.

©1965 John Williams (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A perfect novel, so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving, it takes your breath away." (Morris Dickstein, New York Times Book Review )

“A masterly portrait of a truly virtuous and dedicated man.” ( New Yorker)

“An exquisite study, bleak as Hopper, of a hopelessly honest academic at a meretricious Midwestern university. I had not known…that the kind of unsparing portrait of failed marriage shown in Stoner existed before John Cheever.” ( Los Angeles Times)

Masterfully written!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. The author's skill permeates every line of it.

What did you like best about this story?

The few characters progress truthfully and despite their small number, the book is never boring. It has so much to teach us.

What does Robin Field bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Robin Field's tone suits the book perfectly - a bit monotonous, even bored at times, dragging his voice - to get the story through to us. All the while it was very easy to listen to and I got through most of it while driving around the city.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not a particular moment. The entire book is an event in itself.

Any additional comments?

If you like stories that move you deeply in their own way, go ahead!

a great American novel, a great American audiobook

There's a reason so many people admire, revere John Williams -- I then went and listened to Butcher's Crossing, so very different and also wonderful.

Ok story

This is an OK story. I don't think I would have finished the book if I had to read it myself.

Very touching

Born in a time and place when so much of the emotional life lies below any clear awareness and understanding, life empels Stoner into the tragic circumstances he accepts so stoically. He becomes a jewel caught in amber I grew to care for and even love.

melancholy and the sadness of a finite life

incredible narrator! story of synthesis of the potential and actual in a life well-unwell-well lived

A good book for all, a great book for middle aged

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Indeed I would. I would want younger men to read tis book to get some perspective on how important our choices are in life.

What other book might you compare Stoner to and why?

This might seem strange but in many ways it reminded me of "Gone with the wind". Though the books are about as different as can be I saw similarities in characters, the problems of making quick decisions and dealing with problems by not really dealing with them at all.

Any additional comments?

I was truly moved by the story. I read tons of nonfiction and fiction both. This book was a work of fiction that had the sense of real life.

Leaves a mark

This is a beautiful depiction of a life in quiet desperation. But what was I expecting?

Didn't want it to end!

What a great story... I never bored of it and I didn't want it to end... This should be a classic tale.

Lovable & mundane

Any additional comments?

I found this book through a review which labeled him the “chill one”. And that he is. Stoner is incredibly passive, rather than face conflict he just adapts. The one time he does decide to take a stance he gains a lifelong nemesis, one he does not deserve. He’s lovable & calm. He lets life pass before him. I had high hopes he would snap out of his mundane life

Very engaging

Beautiful account of life in academia
Stoner is an interesting character and the book is long but I loved all of it