There is a novel.  Stoner, by John Williams, an American writer.  I’d never heard of it and may not have had not John Lent mentioned it to me.  John Lent is a man whose opinion is worth considering.

The novel evokes an only child with humble beginnings and little in the way of aspirations.  Moving anywhere, let alone up in the world, do not occur to him and one would suspect occur even less to his parents who nudge him into a world of wonder.  William Stoner does wonder, much of his life, about what it is he is unprepared for.  

The novel sneaks up on you.  The text is far from ostentatious and, like Marilynne Robinson’s novel Housekeeping, contractions are not found, outside of dialogue.  William Stoner lives a life of patience that is apt to make a reader grind one’s teeth.  The novel captures an era of expectations that are reasonable and yet punitive.  The characters will remain closer than arm’s length for a lifetime.  

The novel has been more popular in Europe and one can understand why. This novel is almost anti-Gatsby.  Earnest but not flattering.   
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Another novel by John Williams, Augustus, won the American National Book Award.