This is a beautifully written novel, one that will stick with me for quite awhile. William Stoner seemed to be living a quiet life, and yet his was a life full of tragedy, loneliness, defiance, and passion. Stoner had plenty of opportunity to show integrity and be true to himself, and he did. He discovered the truth and meaning in his life. That is success.

The English professor who opened William Stoner's eyes in the beginning of this story is Archer Sloane, who has a memorable speech about the young men who are leaving school to fight in WWI.

"...A war doesn't merely kill off a few thousand or a few hundred thousand young men. It kills off something in a people that can never be brought back. And if a people goes through enough wars, pretty soon all that's left is the brute, the creature that we--you and I and others like us--have brought up from the slime...the scholar should not be asked to destroy what he has aimed his life to build."

I'd recommend this to anyone.