[book_talk] book review - John Williams
- From: "Bonnie L. Sherrell" <blslarner@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Blind Chit Chat" <Blind-Chit-Chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Books for the Blind" <Books4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Blind Book Lovers Cafe" <bblc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Book Talk" <book_talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 23:24:03 -0800
_Stoner_
by John Williams
read by Robin Field
William Stoner's parents were encouraged to send their son to college
to study in the new school of agriculture. However, all sophomores
were expected to take a survey class in literature, and a reading
Professor Sloane gave one day of one of Shakespeare's sonnets caused
the young man to have an epiphany, and he left the school of
agriculture to get a degree in literature instead, leaving his parents
with no real help back on the farm and totally bemused at his new
ambitions and interests. He went on to earn both a Masters and his
Ph.D. in English Literature, and was able to continue on as a professor
in the subject at the college where he'd done his undergraduate and
graduate work only because so many men his age left college to enlist
to fight in Europe during the first World War.
One evening at a college function he caught a glimpse of a young woman
who fascinated him, and he wooed her shyly, not realizing that her
inability to look him in the face as she talked to him indicated a
twisted ability to accept her own sexuality. Their marriage proved to
be lacking in love or intimacy, and other than the fact they were able
to produce one daughter, was by and large very unsatisfactory.
Two true friendships, one daughter, and one true love may not seem to
be indicative of a full life, but William Stoner's story still manages
to capture the imagination, as his story is the story of so many of us.
And I love that this lover of literature in the end held a volume that
meant so much to him, in spite of what others may have thought of as
his inadequacy. As for his wife--I saw in her the often twisted ideals
that her generation was burdened with, thinking girls to be too
light-minded and delicate for preparation for real life. Oh, but I saw
my own grandmother reflected in her several times!
Got this from Audible on sale, and read it while traveling to Oregon
and back for New Years. I felt Mr. Field did a decent job as narrator,
and am glad I read it. I recommend it, although I will caution that
it's not full of angst, murders, or shoot-em-up-bang-bang! A quiet
book on which to ponder, I found it.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise
cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
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