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Summary: A ripple in history
Review: Ursula Heigi's "Stones from the River" is right on historically. Not only did she manage to capture an era of hate and prejudice, but she carefully weaved in the fictitious life of Trudi Montag. This is not a love story, nor a story for the weak at heart - but a story of a courageous young woman in one of the world's bleakest, most horrific periods in history. It starts off subtly - giving much needed background for this epic and ends with a bang. Read the first half in one week, the second half in one night. Excellent! Deserves 4 1/2 stars!
Rating: 
Summary: Book didn't make sense
Review: I read this book expecting an epic tale about saving people during WWII. I expected too much. Trudi Montag, the main character who tries to accept herself through others, didn't hold my attention and gave me a cold feeling throughout the book. She antagonites over somewhat petty things, but seems to not let them go, resulting in a slow, awkward book. Although Helgi tries to show the German population and how they were affected, I found the town and it's people to be overbearing at times. This book is a long one, and unless you like the author, I don't think it is worth reading !Melody
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, boring, boring -- 500+ pages of Boredom
Review: What 3-year old child thinks, says and perceives the world and the close people around him/her the way Trudi does?! And a 6- or 7-year old child doing chores that Trudi, with Georg's help, does around the house? Buying meat, buying bread? This Trudi character is toally unbelievable. A wunderbar of a kid. Give me a break! A novel of Nazi Germany? I have read better ones. Although I have just finished the book, during 2 breakfasts and one lunch (doing more skipping of pages than of reading them), I can't tell you now what the book is about. That is how memorable the book is for me. Should have saved my money and taken the book out of the library.
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Summary: Fantastic. See the world through the eyes of a dwarf
Review: By the middle of this book, you wil know the agony of being prejudiced against, in more ways than one. You will be as angry as Trudi is when people treat her like a scrap heap reject, the first of whom being her own mother.You will sit and wonder, why can't they just treat her as they would anyone else? You will be disturbed when you realize your own prejudices. Also a frightening look at Nazi Germany, and all the stomach-turning moments, after which you wil realize that the Nazi's hate was not unlike the outside world's dissmissal of Trudi.
Rating:
Summary: kinda boring
Review: i'm sorry, but i read the novel STONES FROM THE RIVER and usually my comments are very good from OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB but i have to say that this book to me was pretty boring and lame. i fell asleep the first 10 pages of the book!! the ending was pretty good and it was a good story but it was sloppy and choppy. a dull review form me.
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Summary: How I Wasted My Summer Vacation
Review: Why do so many people like this dark, depressing book? I just didn't get it. I hope that no one's life is this "realistic". Couldn't anything work out for this character? Just one aspect of her pathetic little life? Trudy needs therapy. I didn't expect this book to end in a rainbow, but I at least expected a little hope. Trudy has no hope. Hopelessly depressing.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. I never lived through WWII and this book helps you to understand why it happened and the impact on the people. It held my interest from the first page. Although I needed a diagram to keep all the people in the town straight. I think this book would be a great addition to any highschool literature class. It might make kids think before they just blindly follow the leader.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling as a character study.
Review: This book had my undivided attention from the beginning, to almost the end, when I seemed to have had enough of it and was anxious to finish. I loved the way the author went inside of Trudi's mind and shared her thoughts and made her human with both positive and negative attributes. What it shared about WWII, however, gave no further insight and pretty much has all been said before. The power point was when Trudi walked through the rain to the river and consciously chose not to inherit her mother's insanity. I also liked the way the book summed up the idea that we are the sum-total of not only our experiences, but also the memories of these experiences.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Book
Review: One of my favorite books of all time. The book works both as a fairy tale of sorts, and also as an extremely believable account of how a small town reacted to the rise of Nazi Germany.
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Summary: Our life journey shapes us like the river shapes the stones
Review: What a beautiful story, what a wonderful story. The setting of Germany around WWII is a history that seems so familiar and so often told that it's like McDonald's - so familiar that its pedestrian. Then up steps Ursula Hegi with her story that weaves a rich tapestry of people's lives; revealing the role of the ordinary in something as disturbing as the Holocaust. And then there's Trudi. I learned so much from T's journey. She learned to love herself and, thereby, love others. Thank you, Trudi, for showing us all how important it is to shine your love on others and use your gifts and strenghts constructively. Thank you, Ursula Hegi, for bringing us this beautiful story.
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