Stoner

In the opening chapters of Stoner, Archer Sloane asks a young William, “Don't you know about yourself yet?” Stoner seems always to be pulled between the idea of what he wants and what he is willing to do. He thinks constantly about what would be burdensome to others. Throughout the book, his placidity verges on ambivalence — as if he is aloof to the living of his own life. Sloane tells him later that he must remember what he is, and what he has chosen to become. We follow Stoner's becoming for the rest of his life.I thought a lot about [b:The Sun Also Rises 3876 The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1509802323l/3876.SY75.jpg 589497] as I read. There were many times where I wanted to reach through the page, grab Stoner by his shoulders, and shake him. He is often times a passenger when his life cries out for a pilot. In Hemingway's book, Jake is often a passenger (or, maybe, valet), especially as it relates to Brett. But we don't spend a lifetime with Jake. We watch Stoner watch his life pass by.So many passages stood out to me that I transferred about 18 pages worth of A5 to my little borrowed-books notebook. What is a teacher? Where are the bounds between complacency, apathy, and acceptance? What makes a life worth living – is it success? What is success? How much are you willing to give up for your principles? How much of what you do not yet possess are you willing to stake, blind?Some of the most painful moments in the book are between Stoner and his child. They're a collection of deaths so complete that in the end nothing is there really to die. They barely know one another, and in fact Stoner barely knows anyone at all. You might call that a failure, and Stoner thinks of it in this way until he considers kindness. He's always thinking about how not to offend, to the extent that even his very few triumphs he thinks considers “amusingly contemptuous.”Another disconnected thought: there's a bit here about rural boy moves to ‘urban' center and is irrevocably changed, so that when he visits home, he is an ‘alien.' I know the feeling. There's a lot here about inheritance and legacy, to an extent. Nothing that I have words for.The writing... I loved the prose. I notice that Williams, in writing Stoner's thinking, almost never phrases anything as positive, but as not negative. The phrase, “not unpleasant” appears repeatedly throughout. We get a crystal-clear sense of Stoner's quasi-nihilistic view on life.Not sure what else to say. I finished reading this about 30 minutes ago and need to let it cook for a bit. This is definitely the sort of story that appeals to me, though. Down to the occasional odd turn of phrase that I had to sit back and admire (the best in the closing chapters may be, “chaos of potentialities” – wowza).