From the Bookshelf of NYRB Classics…

Stoner

John Williams,

John McGahern (Introduction)

Start date: September 1, 2025

Finish date: September 30, 2025

Discussion: Group Book Club

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* Past Book Club Selections
By Trevor · 1 post · 296 views

last updated Mar 18, 2014 12:14PM

Stoner by John Williams
By Sam · 11 posts · 25 views

last updated Sep 14, 2025 10:00AM

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What Members Thought

May 06, 2008 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favoritos, read-in-2008, recommended-novels, love-the-cover, 5-stars, nyrb, lonely-hearts

I didn't find this as sad or sorrowful as it’s often said to be. For me it’s about how the inner life redeems the outer, how a satisfying life of the mind makes the rest of life bearable. In that way, despite all the protagonist’s misfortune, I found Stoner an affirmative and even uplifting book.

May I add what an incredibly handsome paperback it is? The cover portrait by Thomas Eakins is gorgeous and perfect, grave and balanced.

I should give it five stars. I will.
...more

82 likes · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2014 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: around-the-usa, read2015, nyrb, location-usa-missouri

Don't judge a book by its cover (I'm sure the artwork chosen is a seminal work but doesn't exactly scream "read me!")

Don't judge a book by its title. (This has nothing to do with drugs, ha!)

DO read a book when readers you respect keep bringing it up. Friends in the Misfit Readers had mentioned it and then I heard a small excerpt on Episode 4 of Dear Sugar Radio.

This is a small book about a small life and I struggle to explain why it is as good as it is. I couldn't put it down, this man from farm Don't judge a book by its cover (I'm sure the artwork chosen is a seminal work but doesn't exactly scream "read me!")

Don't judge a book by its title. (This has nothing to do with drugs, ha!)

DO read a book when readers you respect keep bringing it up. Friends in the Misfit Readers had mentioned it and then I heard a small excerpt on Episode 4 of Dear Sugar Radio.

This is a small book about a small life and I struggle to explain why it is as good as it is. I couldn't put it down, this man from farming stock who ends up becoming an English professor. The book starts with the author telling us that Stoner's colleagues have already started to forget him.

The novel is set from the time immediately preceding World War I and extends just past World War II. Stoner avoids fighting because he is in school, and as such provides a perspective of academia during that time period. Contrasted to the 21st century, it felt a bit ironic, because at one point the university is referred to as the "only institution immune" from the financial hardships of the 1930s.

"It's not for us that the University exists, for the dispossessed of the world; not for the students, not for the selfless pursuit of knowledge, not for any of the reasons that you hear. We give out the reasons, and we let a few of the ordinary ones in, those that would do in the world ; but that's just protective coloration."

The characters in the novel necessarily discuss the contrast of war with higher learning.

""A war doesn't merely kill off a few thousand or a few hundred thousand young men. It kills off something in a people that can never be brought back. And if a people goes through enough wars, pretty soon all that's left is the brute, the creature that we - you and I and others like us - have brought up from the slime... The scholar should not be asked to destroy what he has aimed his life to build."

I want to put that last sentence up as a banner at every institution facing cutbacks. I know the author is talking about civilization but in the present day, it felt more about the existence of colleges and universities.

The character of Stoner has a few subtle epiphanies in the book - realizations that aren't given substantial time, and they happen completely internally but change the course of his life. One is when he realizes that he is intrigued by literature - that he loves it, that he will not move back home, that he will pursue it without any specific goal in mind. It takes a while before he is able to communicate that love to his students, but that was one of my favorite moments.

"The love of literature, of language, of the mystery of the mind and heart showing themselves in the minute, strange, and unexpected combinations on letters and words, in the blackest and coldest print - the love which he had hidden as if it were illicit and dangerous, he began to display, tentatively at first, and then boldly, and then proudly.

I feel as if I have had those moments about books and reading. They are life-altering.

And then we get to love! Stoner is married but it isn't until he turns 43 that he discovers real love. Usually this trope of aging professor falling for a student drives me crazy but in this case I understood and felt it along with him.

The book follows him until his death, but the reader knows that from the beginning. Nothing is surprising, except how deeply it is possible to connect to this book.

"To a woman or to a poem, it said simply: Look! I am alive." ...more

74 likes · Like · see review

Jun 29, 2010 Patrick Brown rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, campus-lit, nyrb

What to say about this book? It's one of the five best books I've ever read, and I think I've only met one person who considers it anything less than one of the best books of the 20th Century. Is that enough to recommend it to you?

I also wrote about this book for The Millions last year. Everything I said then still stands. I can't wait to re-read this. ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

May 01, 2014 jenn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiftyfiftyme, 2014

Man, I wanted to hate this book. You win, Stoner. Take all five stars, you pale, quiet, stooped, ineffectual motherfucker, you.

Stoner is sympathetic. BUT THEN HE'S NOT. The writing is super plain. UNTIL IT'S NOT. Writing is about making choices, UNLESS IT'S ABOUT MAKING NO CHOICES AND JUST WRITING DOWN EVERYTHING ONE DUDE DOES WITH HIS LIFE, AND WE ARE ALL TRICKED INTO THINKING IT'S BRILLIANT.

But what if it *IS* brilliant?

Needless to say, I have a lot of feels about this one. Including anger at ...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 04, 2013 Will rated it it was amazing

Shelves: recommended

Totally understandable how this was such a hit everywhere in the world in its re-release, this is a near-perfect novel featuring a quality of writing and psychological insight into its characters that is sorely lacking today.

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2013 Armen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

A beautiful, sad story of young man who discovers his passion for literature.I absolutely loved it.

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 02, 2013 Tim Riley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction

Best novel I've read in years. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 08, 2010 Gayla Bassham rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010-reads, book-club

I loved this book. I loved the writing. I loved the character of Stoner. I loved the delicate way the author handled everything. I loved Stoner's love of books. I loved the last scene. I loved the whole thing. I loved it so much that I kind of don't want to talk about it anymore, lest I come up with something that spoils it for me. ...more

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May 09, 2013 Jacob rated it it was amazing

Amazing, perhaps the great unknown American novel.

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2014 Irena rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2014

This book is a quietly beautiful gem.

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May 05, 2009 Rose Gowen rated it really liked it

There are a number of fine reviews of this book on Goodreads. I'm not sure yet what I want to add.

I just finished reading it a couple of hours ago, and I'm still feeling sad that William Stoner is gone, and mentally arguing with him about the choices he made in life. ...more

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