X-Book

Stoner

Click Buy to Log in and see personalised pricing.

Send as a gift Get in the xigxag app
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

This is the story of a quiet man, destined to be a farmer but who becomes an academic. It is book in which nothing and everything happens and is possibly the greatest novel you've never read.

William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. A seminar on English literature changes his life, and he never returns to work on his father's farm. Stoner becomes a teacher. He marries the wrong woman. His life is quiet, and after his death, his colleagues remember him rarely.

Yet with truthfulness, compassion and intense power, this novel uncovers a story of universal value - of the conflicts, defeats and victories of the human race that pass unrecorded by history - and in doing so reclaims the significance of an individual life.

'It's simply a novel about a guy who goes to college and becomes a teacher. But its one of the most fascinating things that you've ever come across' Tom Hanks, Time

'A beautiful, sad, utterly convincing account of an entire life' Ian McEwan

'A brilliant, beautiful, inexorably sad, wise and elegant novel' Nick Hornby

© John Williams 1965 (P) Penguin Audio 2016

Critics Review

A terrific novel of echoing sadness
Julian Barnes
It's simply a novel about a guy who goes to college and becomes a teacher. But its one of the most fascinating things that you've ever come across
Time
I was stunned by it... beautifully written in simple but brilliant prose, a novel of an ordinary life, an examination of a quiet tragedy, the work of a great but little-known writer
Guardian
One of the great unheralded 20th century American novels...Almost perfect
Bret Easton Ellis
One of the great forgotten novels of the past century. I have bought at least 50 copies of it in the past few years, using it as a gift for friends. It is universally adored by writers and readers alike...so beautifully paced and cadenced that it deserves the status of classic
Guardian
A beautiful, sad, utterly convincing account of an entire life… I’m amazed a novel this good escaped general attention for so long
Ian McEwan
A brilliant, beautiful, inexorably sad, wise, and elegant novel
The Believer
Something rarer than a great novel -- it is a perfect novel, so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving, that it takes your breath away...few stories this sad could be so secretly triumphant, or so exhilarating.
New York Times
A beautiful and moving novel, as sweeping, intimate and mysterious as life itself
Geoff Dyer
The most extraordinary work of fiction I've read in a long time... If you're looking for a book that's simple and subtle, warmly human and at the same time utterly pitiless in his rendition of the vicissitudes of an ordinary existence, here's one you will read again and again
New Statesman

User Reviews

Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
Author John Williams
Narrator Alfred Molina
Duration 8 hours and 56 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781473524071
Format Audiobook
Publisher Random House
Genre Classic fiction, Higher education, tertiary education, Narrative theme: Interior life
Collections Recommended by The xigxag Ten
Availability AU, GB, IE
Rating
5.0 (2 reviews)
Narration
5.0 (2 reviews)

More from the same

Author

Narrator

About xigxag

xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.

There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.

Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.

Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.