Literary Exploration discussion

Group discussion

Really enjoyed this, above all, John Williams novels

Have the book, started reading, and enjoying it so far. I really like the writing style, and the story so far. Going to try to get back to it, but might not finish toward the end of month due to other things going on.

I will be starting it very soon. I'm very intrigued!

I read this a year ago and enjoyed it but it's quite sad.

My goodness. I practically drank this book! I could not put it down. Which is strange because ... his life is so ordinary but... perhaps that what was so interesting!

I really struggled with understanding why his wife agreed to marry him though and would like to discuss this further once more people have read through the book.

I read this last year and really loved it. It was completely different to anything I had read before.

I wrote a review of it if any of you are interested and don't worry, there are no spoilers.

http://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogspo...

Nice review, Anna, thanks.

The novel went through a big hype last year here in Italy, too. I didn't know it was the same in the UK, I thought it was an all-Italian hype because of the new translation which was published, I think, in 2014 or so.

I will start reading it as soon as I finish the book I'm currently reading. I can't wait!

I read half of it today thanks to a long commute. I don't know if it's going to improve in the second half, but so far I'm not liking it. True, the writing style is beautiful, but I just can't find nothing of interest in Stoner's story. He's so ordinary, so flat. I can also appreciate books which don't have much of a story or where the characters are ordinary, but in this case I'm really struggling.

Bethany, to answer your question, I have no idea why Stoner's wife agreed to marry him. It's completely not understandable to me. (view spoiler)[It looks like she was eager to escape from something else, but then there's never mention, at least so far, of anything of importance in her family of origin. (hide spoiler)] Have you formed any idea on this?

Just finished it. I confirm my first thoughts on the book: the writing is very good, but I couldn't care less for Stoner's story. As I said, I can appreciate books without a story (just before this one I read and thoroughly enjoyed The Tartar Steppe), but in this case I found nothing of interest in this novel. I found it as flat as its main character.

I have to say that I sat finishing this read this weekend (as the rain poured down outside) and have to say that it was such a powerful read, I couldn't put it down, and needed to finish it, all this despite the fact that metaphorically it is like watching a train wreck about to happen. We seem to know that William Stoner is about to come upon another setback, another hurdle in life, something devastating will soon take its course. Still, there was something that was so humanistic and brlliant about this novel. I think it teaches us that there are battles that we must all overcome: mental, spiritual, physical, etc. You do not have to be so "heroic" to be a hero, in some sense. Besides that, Williams writing is spot on, the prose so amazing and poetic and lyrical.

Glad this book was chosen as our read this month. I am just curious if anyone has read any other works by this author? I am interested in reading something else.

I started to read 'Butcher's Crossing', also by John Wiliams, but then got caught up in Stoner. It looked promising though, so while I can't yet recommend it I believe it was the book Williams was most renowned for.