I didn't expect to love this as much as I did. The prose is clean and deliberate, and everything unfolds organically. Sitting with it now, the ending lines of Middlemarch keep jumping to mind, about those living a hidden life. Not that William Stoner is as good Dorothea, but there's a similar devotion shared between the two. Though seemingly unremarkable (40 years as an assistant prof with an obscure, mediocre publishing record) and soon-to-be-forgotten, he lives a fulfilling and rich life in spite of the sadness and hardship around him.