Why John Williams’ Stoner is the greatest novel I’ve ever read

There is something fundamentally sad about the main character in John Williams’ 1965-novel Stoner. That sadness is partly why it is the greatest novel I’ve ever had the chance to read.

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It is a wonderful feeling when you find that one book. That singular piece of literature that seems to change the way you look at the written word. For me, that novel was Stoner by John Williams. I had only been reading for a couple of years when I found it, and I had never read anything like it. Nor, do I think, will I ever read anything like it again.

William Stoner goes to the University of Missouri to study agriculture to support his family and their farm, and end up becoming a teacher. Then he marries a woman, who without any doubt is the wrong one. He lives a quiet life, fitting for a quiet man. And when he dies, it does not take long until he is forgotten.

That is the premise of this novel. The plot. And I could sit here and explain to you the whole story. From beginning to end. And despite that, if you’d pick up the novel and read through it, I truly believe you’d be able to experience what I experienced when I read it. Because somehow, this book is not about what happens within it. There is something greater. Something I’ll never be able to grasp. It is a work of art. John Williams created, with this book, something special.

Vintage Williams Cover, Penguin Random House

I personally believe it lies with the main character. There is something relatable to William Stoner. The fact that through all trouble and every sorrow, Stoner turns to his books. It is not a coincidence that the Penguin Vintage Classics-version of the novel has a stack of books on the cover. The book is about Stoners love for books.

It is, in part, the fact that anyone who loves the written word can see themselves in William Stoner, that makes this novel so great. Many of us, just like Stoner, disappear into our books when life gets tough. I’m not saying that it’s healthy. It probably isn’t. But it is what it is, and it’s relatable.

Between, on top of, under and within the lines

The sadness in Stoner isn’t hidden. In fact, it is what makes the novel. Without that sadness, it would only be an account of the day-to-day life of a University teacher who wants to write a book, gets married, and then dies. Because that is what it is, plot-wise. It’s nothing special. There is nothing spectacular about William Stoner’s life. It is completely normal, filled with the happiness and sadness that all of us encounter in our own lives. It has boring intrigue and useless fighting and messed up relationships, and it has death.

But the way John Williams write does make it special. How he puts his words and sentences and paragraphs together screams of pure talent. And the boring intrigue and the failed marriage and the end that awaits us all flows from the page into our minds as it brings an immense sadness into our hearts. A sadness I’m quite certain the writer himself must have felt, in one form or another. At least that is what it does to me. That is how I feel. In fact, everything I’ve written up to this point is what I’ve experienced.

But I don’t think I’m alone. My mother reads crime. That’s all she does. She loves the writings of our fellow countryman Jo Nesbø. And needless to say, she was reluctant, when I handed her this literary novel. “What is it about?” she asked. I didn’t know how to answer. So I explained the plot and it seemed boring. Because the plot is boring. But I told her to give it a go and through continuous torment, she picked it up and she too felt what I had felt. And from the reviews I’ve read, many others feel the same. This is no feel-good novel. It’s not supposed to be. It is a sad story about a sad man who loves books. That is how I’ve come to describe it.

The Work of John Williams

Stoner is in no way John Williams’ only novel. How could it be? In 1942 he wrote Nothing but the night, in 1960 he wrote the novel Butcher’s Crossing, which in fact is a wonderful novel. in 1972, after the publication of Stoner, he even published an historical novel titled Augustus, telling the tale of Rome’s emperor. He also wrote poetry, which is no surprise when taking a look at the style of his writing.

But none of them seem to reach the level of Stoner. Apart from it I’ve only read Butcher’s Crossing, and although it has the same tone to it, and in all seriousness is a great read, it does not compare to the masterpiece we have been so lucky to rediscover. As a wannabe author I can only dream of one day reaching the level of John Williams, and there is no doubt that his beautiful novel deserves the title of a true American Classic. John Williams deserves to be mentioned with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Harper Lee.

I end this article as Williams ends his novel. Although there is no secret that William Stoner dies at the end of the novel, the way his death is written is close to magnificent. It is when he picks up the book he dreamt of writing, the dream me managed to fulfil, the only glimpse of light in a dark life, one last time.