Stones from the River

Rating:
Summary: Patience is a pre-requisite for this book
Review: Patience is a pre-requisite for this book. Just so you know, you have to be prepared for a very slow moving book, with a lot of wordiness and only so-so visual imagery. I usually like recommendations from Oprah's book club, but this one was not as good as the others. I expected more from this book, maybe because it is set in between WWI & WWII, and had so much potential to have so much happen, but it doesn't. Instead, it goes on and on about Trudi's thoughts and aimless plots, and not about what's going on around her. Some people might like this wordiness but I prefer a faster, edgier moving paced book.

Rating:
Summary: One of my top 10 favorites
Review: This is a rich, colorful story written for everyone who has ever felt that they were different. Hegi brings to life a time and place known to most only through stark newsreel footage.

Rating:
Summary: stones from the river
Review: I read this book on Oprah's recommendation. It was hard to get started but once I started reading it the body of the story was great. I was, however, VERY dissappointed at the ending. It totally ruined what could've been a great novel.

Rating:
Summary: Stones from the River
Review: I believe this book is excellent. I did not choose to read this book, Rinaldi made me read it. It is pretty good, whoever is reading this has nothing better to do.

Rating:
Summary: Stones from the River
Review: I found Stones from the River one of the best novels I have read in ten years. Not only is the writing beautiful, powerful, elegant and evocative, but the author presents an extremely insightful, cogent view of a panorama of time in Germany. The blend of historical, psychological and spiritual information is seamless and entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Eloquent and engaging, full of pathos
Review: I picked up this book expecting a thick read. I was well rewarded. The story of Trudi is a two-pronged look at human growth from multiple perspectives, and every reader will find something here to relate to. Hegi is also a fine writer. Her facility with language inspires one to visualize all of these events, and it swept me away emotionally, without the drippy sentimentality one finds in such books as The Bridges of Madison County or The Horse Whisperer. I actually read Stones while vacationing in Italy - needing a daily rest because of illness - and after I got back to Ohio, I remembered not only my travels to Florence and Rome, but also my adventures with the zwerg and her village. Defintely a thumbs up!

Rating:
Summary: very enjoyable
Review: I really enjoyed the original, fresh approach of this novel and the perspective from which it is written. a very intriguing and enjoyable book, you really feel as though you know Trudi and where she is coming from. fantastic.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful characters
Review: There are many wonderful things about this book, the story is fascinating and the characters are realistic, unstereotyped, and easy to identify with. The main character, Trudi Montag, is a dwarf who collects and shares stories and secrets about a small town in Germany before and during the second World War. She is a very sympathetic character whose life unfolds in the pages of this very well written book. This is my favourite kind of novel, fictional but set against a real and horrifying part of our history. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful perspective
Review: I am an avid reader, an English major and I have to say that this was quite possibly the most intriguing book I have ever read. The perspective shines a new and interesting light on a horrible event. I gained great insight about the Nazi's from a German outlook. BUY IT!

Rating:
Summary: A very good novel
Review: A haunting tale, Stones From the River has the relentless psychological power of The Triumph and the Glory, the plot twists of Grisham at his best, and the vivid imagery of Cold Mountain. It took awhile for me to really get involved in the story but once I did I was rewarded with one of the best reading experiences I have enjoyed in a long, long time.