In a review written in 2013 of John Williamson’s “Stoner,” Tim Kreider snagged the attention of The New Yorker readers with this title: “The Greatest American Novel You’ve Never Heard of.”
This year, when my friend Anne introduced me to “Stoner,” I still belonged to the ignorant crowd. I’d never heard of the man or his book. Given the title and its publication in 1965, I immediately assumed “Stoner” featured hippies and potheads.