Mr Stone And The Knights Companion

Disclaimer: This book contains racist and misogynistic views of both the lead and other characters that might be off-putting, but might fit within the context of the time the story takes place.

The book’s central conflict is the nearing retirement of the main character (Richard Stone) and his fears regarding change. This book was written by an experienced writer who mostly used a narrative and a descriptive writing style.

The story is mainly about the main character and never really strays to the thoughts of the side characters, which sometimes leaves them to be very one-dimensional. The most important aspects regarding the look, relationships, etcetera regarding these characters are based on the thoughts of the main character. Which in the case of women is very misogynistic.

The character arc of the main character regarding retirement is very believably written. He lives in an environment where prestige is at the forefront, combined with old-fashioned views of the place of men and women in society and regarding how to behave at a certain age. Internally, he rebels against these views and even detests them at certain times because of the negative impact they might have on him. The weaker elements of his story were his views regarding others, which made it less likely for me to immerse myself in the story entirely and made it very hard to sympathize with him. This caused the ending to be less satisfying for me. 

The theme throughout the story is loneliness and acceptance of your future. It was well expressed throughout the story. I could not find any plot holes or inconsistencies within the story. The story dragged a little in the parts about Mr. Stone’s relationship with his new wife. It did later recover.

I recommend this book to people willing to look past some problematic views of many of the characters and see them in the context of their environment and time. Furthermore, can sympathize with a story about getting older and the loneliness that one might feel throughout this process.