Rating: 
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: During one of my many conversations with a Jewish acquantance, I told her I often felt self conscious about saying I am of German heritage to a Jew, and it didn't seem right, especially since my ancestors had no animosity towards Jews, even during WWII. She suggested I read this book. I thought the book was excellent! It portrays how a small German town, with a mixture of Jews, Protestants and Catholics actually lived, their prejudices or lack thereof, and how they were all affected by Hitler and the War. It adds meaning to "real friends don't desert you, even in times of trouble". Even though the people were powerless against Hitler, in their hearts and souls, they remained connected. The way the author uses Trudi, a dwarf, to unfold this epic, is complex but very successful. For anyone who as ever had a disability, been sexually abused, or lived with someone with mental illness, this book realistically portrays the lifetime battle associated with any of these. The author depicts how Trudi, so victimized, stigmatized, etc. manages to weave her lot within the community, while hiding her inner emotions to everyone expect us, the readers. The author also does a wonderful job of keeping this a German epic, by using, from time to time, German phrases with translations. There are many characters and at times it may be hard to remember whose who, but it makes me just want to read the book again.
Rating: 
Summary: A book that makes you think, but doesn't always entertain.
Review: Hegi's story of Trudi, a dwarf living in Germany during the Nazi era, was slow reading for me, not because it is a challenge, but because I just didn't believe or identify with the characters. I guess the author wants Trudi to be the someone we empathize with, yet in order to create someone tough enough to make it through life as a dwarf and survive Nazi Germany, Hegi also has to endow her protagonist with a certain hard edge that causes the reader to back away. The result, at least for me, was a main character who you at once feel sorry for and can't really get close to. The portrayal of the Germans during the 30's and 40's, I'm sure, is accurate and enlightening. This book makes you think, but it didn't capture my imagination. I found the characters rather flat. I learned about their political views and their quirks, but I never really got to know THEM. Although the book is in excess of 500 pages, somehow I felt the author was just scraping the surface. An interesting read from a historical perspective... instructive, but not all that pleasurable a way to spend a quiet Saturday afternoon.
Rating: 
Summary: View of WWII
Review: I finally got around to reading this book! And I can say I AM glad that I did! While the book started out very slow for me- trying to become acquainted & care about the character of Trudi, a dwarf. I found the first 150 pages long and a bit boring. However, once the story got going, I was very glad I finished it.
The plot of the book is a bit hard to describe in simple terms. Basically it's the story of Trudi's life: her childhood, her relationship with her parents, her struggles with her size, her difficulty in making friends, and what her life became when WWII came about. I very much enjoyed when the book came to the central plot which was life during WWII in Germany among both the Germans & Jews. When the ending of the book came about, after nearly 525 pages, I felt like I'd read something of a epic.
I will warn readers that there are a lot of characters in the book, and especially in the beginning I wished I'd made a list of who's who. Mainly because of the German names (Mr. & Mrs.) which made it difficult at first to follow if you didn't know. One other greivance was that in the first 100 or so pages it annoyed me greatly that Trudi was only 3, 4, 5 and she literally spoke and thought like a 20 year old. It was quite the irritant. Ms. Hegi really should have edited that part that make it fit a child's mind. Overall though, I am glad I stuck it out and did enjoy the journey back in time with vivid characters & lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not the best book I have ever read
Review: I had to read this book for summer reading. I am a Junior in high school and i love to read but this this book was just awful and hard to read.the dialogue in this got so far off the what the characters were saying that it was tough to remember what situation the charaters were in. THe only interesting points in this book was during WWII and that started half way through the book. The book is so sad that it is hard to read because you know that Trudi Mpntags life really does not amount to a happy ending. Like I have said this is definitely not the best book I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I have owned this book for 6 years. I have picked up this book a dozen time- if not more- and I could never get past the first page. I forced myself to read this book and I have to admit it's one of the best books I have read.
Rating:
Summary: A great summer read but not literary genius!
Review: I picked up this book without at first knowing that it was an Oprah pick or that it took place in Germany - coincidentally I'm staying in an apartment in small-town Germany at the moment and this was one of the few English books on the bookcase so I thought I'd give it a whirl. There is something compelling about this book - maybe it's the chance to get inside the head of a Zwerg which doesn't present itself very often, or maybe it's because it offers a well-written glimpse into WW2 from the point of view of those living through it which sadly wasn't offered to me in my European History classes either in high school or in Germany. Or maybe, it just really offers me a chance to glimpse inside the minds of the people walking around me who speak little to no English while I speak no German. I'm not sure. I do know that I found myself rushing through this book at times, staying up until 5am because I couldn't wait to find out what happens to Hans-Juergen or Georg, but just this morning as I was finishing the book, I found myself immensely annoyed and frustrated with Trudi. Annoyed with her desperate yearning to be liked, her endless gossiping, the way she tried to pretend Jutta's daughter was her own. And thus only the four stars. If not for anything else, pick up a used copy of this book to get a finely-woven story about a small German town before, during and after the war, and to remind yourself of the unspeakable horror that took place there.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Review: I read books during my 30-minute lunch break at work, and I sped through this novel, always wanting to sit for longer than those 30 minutes each day! Hegi weaves a beautiful story that made me laugh out loud, even cry at times. The characters are wonderful, and Hegi's descriptions really put you in early 20th-century Burgdorf. She also does a good job of weaving connections that support the themes like storytelling and individuality/differences as beauty. Reading the back cover before reading the novel actually made me wonder if I would like it, but I'm glad I did read it; the cover just does not do the book justice.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant and Memorable
Review: I read this book after reading Ursula Hegi's "Tearing the Silence" which referred to it many times in the introduction. I found it highly readable and moving. The mood created is at once mystical and potent and the book has many well-drawn characters. Trudi, herself, of course, and my favourites -- her father (I forget the name now) and the unknown benefactor -- all of them contribute to the uplifting of the story and highlight the strength and generosity in the human condition amidst a very cruel world of senseless destruction. What is refreshing is the ability to discuss the very sensitive topic of the holocaust using the novel form and Hegi should be congratulated for the depth of exploration she put into the characters and the juxtaposition between personal trials and deprivation against the larger difficulties and crimes of the age. Some parts of the story are corny and predictable, but the book as a whole is good, as Hegi has masterfully weaved the lives of her characters with our own. I should be picking up "Floating in my Mother's Palm" soon to give myself a more rounded and complete picture of the story of Burghof.
Rating:
Summary: Dreadful. Let me count the ways....
Review: I read this book because I enjoyed some of Hegi's short stories in Hotel of the Saints. I'm wondering now if they were written by different people. Or, maybe she just had a terrible editor for this book. It's long and plodding, with way too much detail that adds nothing to the story. The narrator and heroine is a dwarf named Trudi, who grows from an unhappy, mostly friendless girl into a preachy, gossipping woman. Her endless navel-gazing makes her a less than compelling character. She occasionally has a supernatural ability to predict the future but it doesn't seem to do her any good. I gathered that the theme of this novel was 'secrets' but never understood what that was all about. It ended abruptly, as if Hegi suddenly--finally!--ran out of steam. I waded through the entire thing because of the historical information it contained. The descriptions of the lives of ordinary Germans between the wars and during the 2nd WW were good and I'll give this book an extra star for that.
Rating:
Summary: Dreadful. Let me count the ways....
Review: I read this book because I enjoyed some of Hegi's short stories in Hotel of the Saints. I'm wondering now if they were written by different people. Or, maybe she just had a terrible editor for this book. It's long and plodding, with way too much detail that adds nothing to the story. The narrator and heroine is a dwarf named Trudi, who grows from an unhappy, mostly friendless girl into a preachy, gossipping woman. Her endless navel-gazing makes her a less than compelling character. She occasionally has a supernatural ability to predict the future but it doesn't seem to do her any good. I gathered that the theme of this novel was 'secrets' but never understood what that was all about. It ended abruptly, as if Hegi suddenly--finally!--ran out of steam. I waded through the entire thing because of the historical information it contained. The descriptions of the lives of ordinary Germans between the wars and during the 2nd WW were good and I'll give this book an extra star for that.
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