Stoner by John Williams

The opening pages of Stoner sum up his not-so-impressive life. William Stoner grew up on a Missouri farm and was given the opportunity to attend the new Agriculture School at the University of Missouri, something he didn't realize he wanted. He quickly realized that he was drawn to the English Literature courses more than chemistry and science classes of the Agriculture School. Without telling his parents, he switches majors and never returns to the family farm.

William marries the first girl (Edith) that catches his eye, before they really know each other. An unhappy marriage that produces a daughter, whom he adores as young child. Edith is unhappy, most likely depressed or bi-polar, and is jealous of their father-daughter relationship. She manipulates the home to reduce their time together and ultimately, the daughter turns away from him as well.

His career as a professor is unfulfilling due to department politics and his own apathy about his situation.

William is someone to whom life "happens." He falls into college, marriage, teaching, an affair, and an unsatisfying career. Rarely does he express anger or strong feelings - even when he is wronged, treated unfairly and forcibly estranged from his young daughter by his wife. Yet Stoner is likely "enough" and his life is interesting "enough" to make a truly memorable story. Maybe because even though he is unhappy most of his life, he doesn't whine about it or complain. He plods ahead, does the work, and doesn't let people down. He is self-aware.

"He had, in odd ways, given it to every moment of his life, and had perhaps given it most fully when he was unaware of his giving. It was a passion neither of the mind nor of the flesh; rather, it was a force that comprehended them both, as if they were but the matter of love, its specific substance. To a woman or to a poem, it said simply: Look! I am alive."

It is a beautifully written book reflecting on the life of an unremarkable man. I believe there are a lot of Stoners in the world. Men and women who plod through life, maybe changing their circumstances in some ways but also blithely accepting the slights or wrongs done to them.