Mark answers “It's a remarkably good book that has...”

Chris Bischof asked this question about Stoner:

It's a remarkably good book that has developed a cultish following. What is it that makes Stoner so compelling?

Mark Like many reviewers I have returned for a second reading, within twelve months of completing my first, and after recommending this wonderful book to s…moreLike many reviewers I have returned for a second reading, within twelve months of completing my first, and after recommending this wonderful book to so many of my friends.

One friend's response surprised me, "I didn't like William Stoner' as he was so feeble' - she went on, ' he is a willing victim, and loses his daughter and his career, and allows himself to be beaten by his horrible manipulative wife, and humiliated in the work place, and he doesn't stand up for what he believes in'

But William Stoner stands for 'Everyman' doesn't he ! And in his struggles and misfortunes we see the way a life is put together and inevitably must unravel. He stands for the oppressed, the downtrodden and the defeated, and yet his insights illuminate the biggest lessons in life :

“In his forty-third year William Stoner learned what others, much younger, had learned before him: that the person one loves at first is not the person one loves at last, and that love is not an end but a process through which one person attempts to know another.”

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