A Goodreads user asked this question about Stoner:
I am completely shocked by interpretations of this book. I am really extremely confused and would love any clarity. As far as I understand fr my reading, in this book, Stoner rapes his wife repeatedly for the first year of their marriage, and later she hates him and wants to keep their daughter away from him. In most reviews I've read, his wife's behavior is pointed to as irrational and cruel. How?? What am I missing?
Pascale Hall CW: Sexual Assault/ Rape
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I'm so glad to see this acknowledged. I felt so confused about exactly how to feel about this novel after reading it, some …more
CW: Sexual Assault/ Rape
...

I'm so glad to see this acknowledged. I felt so confused about exactly how to feel about this novel after reading it, some parts are so beautiful and humane and yet his treatment of Edith is so cruel and so flat. I've watched and read dozens of reviews of this online, and barely anywhere is the marital rape mentioned or acknowledged. I've even seen people justify it because she's 'frigid' or 'sexless' (rather than deeply traumatized) and say it's not really assault, when Stoner clearly states he knows he's violating her, she's unconscious etcetera. It really disturbed me how the book dealt with it and then how I've seen people discuss this online without describing those scenes as what they are which is sexual assault.

I know this was the reality for so many women even in recent history but seeing modern readers brush over it is really worrisome. Those paragraphs completely unnerved me and I couldn't read the rest of the novel for quite a while afterwards. (less)
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