Just finished Stoner, lads. Jesus Christ I couldn't

>>9240121
>“In his extreme youth Stoner had thought of love as an absolute state of being to which, if one were lucky, one might find access; in his maturity he had decided it was the heaven of a false religion, toward which one ought to gaze with an amused disbelief, a gently familiar contempt, and an embarrassed nostalgia. Now in his middle age he began to know that it was neither a state of grace nor an illusion; he saw it as a human act of becoming, a condition that was invented and modified moment by moment and day by day, by the will and the intelligence and the heart.”

>>9240121
By all accounts he lived a good life. Went to a good school, stayed there for his entire life in relative comfort, exercised some degree of competence in his field.

His family life might have been sad but he still experienced a lot of joy in fatherhood.

>>9240183
He was surrounded by sadness in his life. He could never find love with Edith and whenever he found that with Katherine it was taken away from him. Having Grace being taking away from him and grow farther away from him in front of his own eyes. There were many times when he was unhappy at the university as well. It was his only escape and he wasn't always content there. That's why the moments when he really enjoys teaching are so impactful.
There is also such strong regret at the end until he body and mind aren't bothered to think on it. What if he had been stronger or loved Edith more? Grace's situation is depressing af.

>>9240121
now go read Isherwood's A Single Man, it's even better.

>>9240121
preddi finish pigture. wii shal miit ät tö tori

how does Augustus compare to Stoner?

>>9241267
Its pretty good, although I felt that much of my enjoyment stemmed from my own interest in the classics as opposed to the writing. Augustus is interesting as a character until you read his testimony. Williams attempts to do what he did for Stoner to Augustus (describing a man accepting life) except entirely through the eyes of other characters, so it's generally the opposite approach of Stoner but still manages to get the same feeling across. Julia's sections were nice.

Why were his wife and the mutant such assholes? It's one thing to want to make your own life better, but to grind someone else into the ground like that was just spiteful

>>9241302
I think his wife was just fucked up. There didn't seem to be any real warmth inchildhood from her family. I think we see a similar thing in Grace, Stoner's daughter were she becomes an alcoholic who is incapable of caring for her own child. This likely stemmed from th family nviroment she was brought up in.
The mutant, lomax just seemed to be pissed off that the world because he may have been ridiculed for his deformity when he was younger. I think he particularly hated Stoner for how he treated Walker, the autistic PhD student. Even though stoner was obviously in the right.

>>9240236
At least she can drink

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21KB, 434x380px

>>9240154
Fuck...

>>9241302
>>9241326
It's strongly implied that Stoner's wife was sexually abused by her father, in addition to the rest of her life being pretty shit.