Rating: 
Summary: An amazing, moving book
Review: When I tell adults that I have just finished reading the deepest, most powerful book I haveever read, the expect me to say the Giver, or some other young adult book. That is probably because I am 12. My reading level is Post High School and yet, I still can't bring myself to believe some of the occurences in this story. I just can't . I can barely explain how this book touched me so much. The only word that can truly define this book is-remarkable.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but please, not a masterpiece
Review: Hegi does many things well -- some nice writing, some good characters, some good metaphors, some good questions to ponder. On the other hand, in other parts it smacked of the touch of a new-age writers' support group, and seemed in need of a firmer editorial hand. If you like Hegi's somewhat mystical feminist storytelling touch, and would like to read a five-star effort, try Isak Dinesen's Winter's Tales, or for four stars, the short stories of Ursula K. Le Guin, to name an Ursula who does this better. For a five-star (six-star?) epic sandwiched around a war, read Tolstoy's War and Peace. And finally, for a tight five-star ending of the sort Hegi was reaching for but couldn't find, that in fact uses a stones in the river metaphor, read MacLean's A River Runs Through It. This was certainly a solid effort and a worthwhile read. It is a book I will keep for selective lending, but I will not re-read it. I think my main bone of contention here is that so many readers gave it five stars...
Rating:
Summary: Ursula Hegi's great achievement: Stones From the River
Review: Obviously I'm not the only person who loved the novel. I just finished reading "Floating in My Mothers Palm" also by Ursula Hegi and would recommend it as well. Bonus: Trudi Montag's character appears in this novel as well.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story and characters, but rambling
Review: Wonderful story; wonderful characters. The author makes one think hard about the complicity of silence. Thought it rambled, and could have been 50 - 100 pages shorter.
Rating:
Summary: In tragic times we are all human and look no different.
Review: I thought the book was excellent, the description of the book on the back cover does nothing for the story inside. It made me go through many emotions, I wish the book would never end.
Rating:
Summary: Ever wonder how the Germans "let" the Holocaust happen?
Review: This book was a wonderful story, and a great insight to the German people who allowed Hitler to gain so much control over their country. Many of the books written about the Holocaust either tell the American point of view or the Jewish point of view - this one is different. Trudi, the main character, is a midget Catholic who comes of age during the war. The story is not just another 'lesson' about the terrible things that happened to the Jews in Germany during the war, but it's also the story of a girl whose physical differences set her apart from others her own age. I don't want to say any more because it might spoil the book. All in all, it was a wonderful read, I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Trudi Montag is difficult and sometimes painful to hear.
Review: This book is very long and full of prose that can either be classified as rambling, if you do not identify with the author, or rich -- if her voice has personal meaning for the reader. Scenes from this book, particularly a horrible scene in Trudi's adolescence, characterize the sense of "otherness" that is so much a part of the adolescent world, and whose echoes can haunt for a lifetime. Hegi perfectly captures the emotions of rage and hurt that those painful coming-of-age experiences can evoke. Not a fun read, not a feel-good book -- but a resonant work.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and different, but flabby prose.
Review: This book gives us a rare and fascinating look at the Second World War from the German point of view. Characters are complex and well-rounded, and an air of mystery and fairy tale colors the whole. My only complaint: the prose rambles, often veering out of control. I felt myself longing for an editor to reign it into focus.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books ever written
Review: This is the first book of Ursula Hegi's that I've read, and I loved it. I'd love to read more, but in Hong Kong, they don't sell these types of books, so I have to wait untill I go holiday in Canada or the States to get more. I pulled it off my mom's bookshelf one day just to have a glance at it and I loved it, it's a story that could go on forever, the only problem is Trudi doesn't live forever.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual and unforgettable
Review: Some may say that it's too long and that it's hard to familiarize oneself with the charcter with whom many people don't have a lot in common. But no matter how long it takes to finish this book, you won't regret it and won't soon forget it. The main character is a dwarf, Trudi. She is born towards the end of World War I and lives through the horrors of World War II. It is a very gut-wrenching portrayal of a small fictional town and people in it. The descriptions of people's behavior during the time of Hitler are very honest and close to the truth, as I see it. But that is not what makes this novel great. It is the character of Trudi. She is not perfect -- she gets jealous; she curses people; she betrays trusts. But she is so real, you can practically reach out and touch her. She is the strength and the foundation on which this novel rests. And no other heroine in recent memory has been so unique and so real. Read "Stones from the River". I guarante! e that you will treasure it for years to come.
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