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Stoner

By: John Williams
Narrated by: Robin Field
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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.
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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)

Featured Article: The top 100 classics of all time


Before we whipped out our old high school syllabi and dug deep into our libraries to start selecting contenders for this list, we first had to answer the question, "How do we define a classic?" The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might guess, though there’s a lot to be said for the old adage, "You know it when you see it" (or, in this case, hear it). Of course, most critically, each of our picks had to be fabulous in audio. So dust off your aspirational listening list—we have some amazing additions you don’t want to miss.

What listeners say about Stoner

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Solid story

Just a warning- if you are contemplating suicide- don’t listen to this book. Otherwise, it is an amazing story, a complete examination of a man’s life. Very well done and compelling.

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    3 out of 5 stars

Too sad…

This is a very sad story. What a wasted life. I think it’s a common fear to die before or right after retirement. Unable to enjoy the fruits of your many years of labor. Also this character just kind of let life happen to him, excluding his career he did nothing that would make his life more enjoyable. He was pitiful.

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Brutal

Stoner has a certain brutality and honesty that is often left unsaid. It puts words on truths not easily expressed.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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An American Masterpiece

Beautiful. Lyrical. Profound. A genuine American literary masterpiece. This will stay with you long after close the book.

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What a treasure

Amazing depiction of a ordinary man, beautifully written, it lingers with you after you are done reading

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Excellence!!!

Stoner is Stone Cold Perfection; a must read for anyone looking for a good story!

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A life worth living …

Life requires stamina, conviction if it is to be called a life. And here we find this lonely character teaching us not only the marvels of exceptional literature, but that of character, that of the beauty of endurance in the face of the tragedy of life… and circumstances!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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The sadness of the characters

This was a depressing story of a sad man and its lonely life . It was well written but nevertheless sad

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First Title that I completed in 24 hours

Outstanding listen. I completed this in +/- 24 hours. This is to indicate how enjoyable the story is.

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Simple but beautiful

This book is so well written that you will become enraptured in a very boring story.

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