Rating: 
Summary: EAGERLY AWAITED, BUT DISAPPOINTING
Review: I almost gave this book 4 stars, just for the style in writing alone. If the author had not dropped the ending into a depressing mess, I would have rated it higher. This story is well written and the subject is interesting, but I'm afraid that I was really geared for a happy ending. This is not the book to read on a dreary winter day if you are already depressed and need your spirits uplifted. It's also not a quick read mostly because the beauty of the writing and scope of the story requires some thought. I liked the book up until the last two chapters. I just did not like the ending because it seemed that Emma lost everything she had worked for. A very sad book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Vision of Emma Blau
Review: I enjoy Ursula Hegi writings. Her characters in this book are not perfect, each and every one of them have flaws just like in real life. We can feel the compasion and the drive that makes us each individuals trying to attain our goals, wants, needs and even greed. I was happy to read that this book tied in with "A River Run's Throught It". The ending was disappointing, however maybe another book is in the works to tie up loose ends, I sure hope so.
Rating:
Summary: Keep them coming!
Review: I found this treasure on the shelf and was so thrilled- each book about the lives in, around, and from Burgdorf is enchanting. I wish they weren't so few and far between. Kudos to Hegi for another fabulous look at the human condition to which anyone can relate in at least some basic way. The trials of immigrants, of families, and of life in general are played on a small stage, but shown on a large screen.
Rating: 
Summary: wonderful trip
Review: I just finished reading this book today and I loved it, although I don't think it had the powerful language and images that I found in "Stones from a River". The book reminded me a lot of a John Irving novel, maybe because of the location in New Hampshire. Although the book did not finish as strongly as begun, it was an enjoyable read. I recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Not Up To Par
Review: I love Ursula Hegi's writing but this book was a bit off her usual high standards. Too many characters and the most interesting of these were never developed. I enjoyed the reading the book but at the end felt a little cheated. I will look forward to Ms Hegi's next novel hopefully about Emma's Aunt Gerta...now that will be a book worth waiting for and worth reading!
Rating:
Summary: so-so
Review: i loved Stones From the River. Compared to that, this book is a disappointment. The characters did not move me at all, although the story itself wasn't too bad. I would not read it again, and only finished it b/c I like to finish what I start.
Rating:
Summary: It was okay....but.
Review: I loved the character of Stephan and the stories of his wives but the further along I got...the less interested I was in his children and Emma. Sorry for the so so review. I wish I could have enjoyed it more.
Rating:
Summary: the Vision of Emma Blau
Review: I loved this book. I have been telling everyone I know (mostly women) to read it. I loved the way she brought her characters to life and made you wonder what would happen to them next. I was entranced by Stones from the River, I had never read anything by Hegi before, and when I came accross this newest novel grabbed it up, knowing, in advance, I was in for a treat.
Rating:
Summary: Another great one from Hegi
Review: I read "The Vision of Emma Blau" immediately after reading "Stones from the River," and I was as enthralled by the characters in this book as I was in the first. The occasional mention of characters from the other book made this story a wonderful blending of the two, peopled with characters you feel you know intimately. Another case of not wanting the book to end. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, however. I wanted to know more, a lot more!
Rating:
Summary: A Maze.....
Review: I read this book after reading "Stones from the River" and was a little disappointed. Hegi is a wonderful storyteller and she has a gift of writing poetically sensible sentences which strike at your heart and make you see things in her characters which you recognise in yourself. However, I can't help but feel that this was an over-ambitious work. The parts where it deals with Stefan Blau's attempt to adapt to life in America as an immigrant are not well explored, and when the novel unfolds, the introduction of the various characters becomes a tad confusing and you get the feeling that you're reading alot more about characters you don't care about only because they fall into the correct time frame. I would rather she had concentrated on characters from the first and second generation, as their lives were neglected towards the last third of the novel, leaving a sense of dissatisfaction in the reader. The writing of "Stones of the River" was much more in-depth and the fact that the story was seen through the eyes of a main protagonist managed to give the novel a degree of centrality which was severely lacking in "The Vision of Emma Blau". At the end of the novel, there is a sense that you have read everything, but have escaped the pertinent points. This was an average novel, but its resources, setting, people and themes could have been worked into something much more powerful. I still look forward to Hegi's other offerings.
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