Stoner, a novel of the everyday but not for the everyday reader

John Williams' Stoner is an understated novel, with enough staying power to keep the reader hooked to the fate of its protagonist, William Stoner, whose life in a small university town in America in the early twentieth comprises the subject matter of the book. Stoner rejects his parents' wish for him to carry on the family farm, opting instead to pursue his great curiosity for English Literature at college, which leads to a quiet but purposeful academic career as an English professor. The novel tracks the ups and downs of Stoner's career and the bitter disappointments of his personal life.

Indeed, Stoner is a novel about disappointment and mediocrity; about the straitjacket of social convention, wounded pride and long-held grudges; about how power slowly constructs and deconstructs itself, shape shifts and is annulled. Ultimately, it is a novel about sacrificing personal happiness at the altar of a higher, if mundane, purpose: a meaningful career.

John Williams' mastery as a writer lies in his ability to sustain the reader's interest in an unlikely, and at times unlikable, protagonist. The story is told from the point of view of Stoner in third-person, past-tense prose. Williams' prose is realistic and devoid of flourish, though not lacking in poignant remarks nor psychological insight. It is a prose style which pays attention to detail and yet moves the reader along at a steady and fast pace, making the work easily digestible to the everyday reader (that is, the reader who is not seeking a Joycean, that is, Herculean, reading challenge).

Yet I would perhaps not recommend Stoner to the 'everyday' reader, for it is entirely without thrills. It is deeply moving read for the mature, dare I say it, adult, reader who, through life experience, is perhaps more able to identify with the very commonplace, often unromantic concerns of the novel. To the adolescent looking to identify with a novel's characters and concerns, or looking for romance, humour or adventure, this may prove a frustrating and dull read. This is perhaps one for patient, mature students who love the discipline of English Literature as much as they love reading.