STONER

It's not what you think. I just finished this novel, STONER, by John Williams, an author I'd never heard of until I read the review of the novel in the NY Times' Book Review last spring. I picked it up at Saint Mark's Books and then never got around to reading it until last week. The frenetic pace of the school year's end had left me a little frazzled, but last week I started to feel the kind of balance that inspired me to read. It was a stunning novel about a drab man in a drab world, but the man is a hero in a way that some people might never understand. For an idealistic creative person like me Stoner's heroism was breathtaking. The writing was as beautiful, clear and pristine as any I've read. Oh how sad I was at the end, not only because of the tragedy of the plot but because I wanted to continue to live inside the world of that book. There are many things I can relate to in it, and while it described a world away, it appealed to me on a gut level in many regards. Get it, read it. The title of the post is linked to a page on Amazon. You can buy it there.