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Stoner

A Novel

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Stoner

Written by: John Williams
Narrated by: Alfred Molina
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This is the story of a quiet man, destined to be a farmer but who becomes an academic. It is book in which nothing and everything happens and is possibly the greatest novel you've never read.

William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen 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 - of the conflicts, defeats and victories of the human race that pass unrecorded by history - and in doing so reclaims the significance of an individual life.

'It's simply a novel about a guy who goes to college and becomes a teacher. But its one of the most fascinating things that you've ever come across' Tom Hanks, Time

'A beautiful, sad, utterly convincing account of an entire life' Ian McEwan

'A brilliant, beautiful, inexorably sad, wise and elegant novel' Nick Hornby

© John Williams 1965 (P) Penguin Audio 2016

 Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological World Literature
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Critic Reviews

A terrific novel of echoing sadness (Julian Barnes)
It's simply a novel about a guy who goes to college and becomes a teacher. But its one of the most fascinating things that you've ever come across (Tom Hanks)
I was stunned by it... beautifully written in simple but brilliant prose, a novel of an ordinary life, an examination of a quiet tragedy, the work of a great but little-known writer
One of the great unheralded 20th century American novels...Almost perfect (Bret Easton Ellis)
One of the great forgotten novels of the past century. I have bought at least 50 copies of it in the past few years, using it as a gift for friends. It is universally adored by writers and readers alike...so beautifully paced and cadenced that it deserves the status of classic
A beautiful, sad, utterly convincing account of an entire life… I’m amazed a novel this good escaped general attention for so long (Ian McEwan)
A brilliant, beautiful, inexorably sad, wise, and elegant novel
Something rarer than a great novel -- it is a perfect novel, so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving, that it takes your breath away...few stories this sad could be so secretly triumphant, or so exhilarating.
A beautiful and moving novel, as sweeping, intimate and mysterious as life itself (Geoff Dyer)
The most extraordinary work of fiction I've read in a long time... If you're looking for a book that's simple and subtle, warmly human and at the same time utterly pitiless in his rendition of the vicissitudes of an ordinary existence, here's one you will read again and again
All stars
Most relevant
Unforgettable experience! So devastatingly superb, that the novel deserves to be on the top of modern classics!!!.

Unforgettable experience!!!

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I just know that I will remember this book for a long, long time. It will be in my memory for a long time. This is now my all-time favourite. <3

Amazing Narration

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This book follows the simple life of a person named William Stoner from his young age till his death. He is a simple man who doesn't really have a specific goal in life (I think many of us are like that, we don't really have a particular goal in life, most of the times we just.... kinda go with the flow). He let's his faith unfold itself and accepts whatever his life gives him without any complaints.
It is quite a sad story but with a reasonable ending. Even if his life is mostly sad, Stoner never complains and goes on.
I was thinking that I might end up with a hole in my heart after completing this book but I wasn't. I don't think any other ending would have done justice to the story and I am very happy that I stumbled upon this wonderfully written story.

I love this book!

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It’s a profoundly sad yet beautiful painting of words driven by destiny’s brutal dance macabre at the centre of which, drowns a beautiful soul, William Stoner.

One of the best books I have ever read.

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Even though it had its sad parts, overall, it was a really warm and cozy read. It's one of those quiet, slow-paced novels about mostly mundane little things in life that somehow stab you right in the heart and leave you reflecting on certain scenes long after you've finished. The narrator's voice was absolutely perfect and incredibly soothing, and his amazing performance made the experience even better.

A Quiet, Heartfelt Story with Amazing Narration.

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