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Stoner

A Novel

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Stoner

By: John Williams
Narrated by: Alfred Molina
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About this listen

Waterstone's book of the year 2013

Colum McCann once called Stoner one of the great forgotten novels of the past century, but it seems it is forgotten no longer - in 2013 translations of Stoner began appearing on best-seller lists across Europe.

William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at 19 to study agriculture. A seminar on English literature changes his life, and he never returns to work on his father's farm. Stoner becomes a teacher. He marries the wrong woman. His life is quiet, and after his death his colleagues remember him rarely.

Yet with truthfulness, compassion and intense power, this novel uncovers a story of universal value. Stoner tells of the conflicts, defeats and victories of the human race that pass unrecorded by history and reclaims the significance of an individual life.

A listening experience like no other, itself a paean to the power of literature, it is a novel to be savoured.

©2016 John Williams (P)2016 Random House AudioBooks Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Inspiring
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If you enjoy Donna Tartt I think you will enjoy this. I am left feeling bereft after finishing this book, so much so that I am about to start again!

Probably one of the finest books I have listened to - why isn't this book better known?!

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Utterly fantastic, moving and expertly composed. Everyone should read this book. The person who read this version was also flawless in his delivery.

A Truley Great Novel.

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A fantastically crafted narrative that explores the human condition. As dark as it is beautiful.

Dark and beautiful

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This isn't the sort of book I would normally go for. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did I was hooked. I think comparisons to John Steinbeck are pushing it a bit, but Stoner is a compelling classic American novel with a character I came to really care about.

Thoughtful and compelling

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From the get go, Stoner had my full attention and I was was immediately transported into the world its characters inhabited. I didn't want this book to end, such was the expertise, beauty and eloquence of Williams' prose and Al Molina's delivery.

How I hadn't known and read this author sooner is beyond me. Or maybe I'm mature and academic enough now to appreciate such great work.

Stoner, the character, I deeply cared for and loved. In fact, all the characters were so well crafted they became as real to me as if they were in my own company. I wasn't merely a reader or listener of this beautifully written character led story. I was with them, in their homes, in nature, at the university, in their heads and their relationships.

This work is an example of brilliant writing which doesn't rely on creating huge plot twists or events to engage us as readers. It is masterly, poignant and wonderful in its every word, every thought, movement and expression, with dialogue so natural and believable, even when forced to put it down, it was drawing me back to it like a magnet.

It lingers still, now, and I suspect it will remain with me, such was the effect it had on me. It is most certainly one of my favourite novels ever.

Remarkable - I could have listened to this forever!

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