Stones from the River

Rating:
Summary: Well Worth the Effort
Review: A friend recommended this book to me and I'm so glad she did. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. This is one of the most moving and poignant books I have read in a long time. It is a long novel and slow at times but it manages to capture life in Germany pre-and post WWII with such clarity and detail. I would definitely recommend this book to all my other friends.

Rating:
Summary: I cried reading this book.
Review: Even though I wasn't born during WWII, my mother often told me how ordinary people around her were made to support that war, and how there were many, but not speaking outloud, who opposed the war. Even though the story takes place in germany, things must have been similar in our country. I wish my father who went to war and who died ten years ago could read this book. I am keeping the book for my children when they can read english.

Rating:
Summary: A novel that not only captures the mind,but the heart aswell
Review: Stones From the River, by Ursula Hegi, is truely a work of art. Hegi weaves a magical story of a zwerg, or a dwarf, who is living in Germany during WW2. One may see a dwarf walking down the street, and catch a glimpse of their world. They may see the stout body makes its way along a path, of hardship perhaps. That person reminds themself not to stare and goes on their way, a giant in someone elses eyes. The dwarf is forgotten. But Ursula Hegi's dwarf, Trudi Montag, will live on in everyone's mind who've read Stones From the River. They will feel her pain and courage for the rest of their life. When they see a dwarf, they will think of Trudi as a child trying to stretch her short limbs by hanging from the door frame for hours. They will remember her prayers to grow. They will feel her pain in their heart, and they will not forget that dwarf they just saw, because they will always remember Trudi. Thank you to Ursula Hegi for this gift,and fo something else aslo. She showed something about German people during WW2. Many tried to help, but couldn't. Many did help, even though they were risking their lives. This eases me some how, comming from a German-American family.I am thankful she spoke up about something that I never hear about. I'd like to thank her for easing my unnecessary guilt. This book really helped me, in many ways, and I'm sure it will have the same impact on others.

Rating:
Summary: By far the best novel I have read.
Review: If you like stories from the heart, you will love this masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't want it to end
Review: I am an English teacher from Seattle, and I read this book over a year ago. I found myself mesmerized by Hegi's metaphorical style and by the way the story spanned two generations in the lives of the characters in this small, German town. It was an artful blend of historical fact and fictional drama, and when I reached the end, I found that I had come to care about the characters so much that I didn't want to close the book and lose them. I reread the last 5 pages twice, with tears streaming down my face! Hegi is wonderful. I just finished another one of her novels (The Salt Dancers), and I recommend it as well.

Rating:
Summary: a great twentieth century masterpiece
Review: I don't think I can do justice to this novel, but I want to recomend it to others as strongly as I can. Of many hundreds of novels I have read, this is one of the best. Ursula Hegi gives us so much to think about in this novel it will reverberate in my mind for a long time. It is not simply a "holocaust" novel, although it does deal with how the Nazis implemented their programs a small step at a time until people realized it was too late. But far beyond that, the book is about stories and their power to bind, heal or destroy, about being different in the world, about learning self acceptance and growing to adulthood, about recovering from self hatred and learning to love, about the total tragedy of both world wars. Trudi is a great character, so is her father, Leo. Hegi also evokes a whole world here, her ability to place us in Trudi's world is, to use an overused word, awesome. The town of Berdorf is real to me, after reading this book, I feel I have lived there and known these people and their lives are now part of mine. That is great literature. Don't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly engrossing tale
Review: This is one of the finest written novels I have ever read. Although the characters are extremely complex and the setting and plot involve a difficult time in history, the author manages to create a wonderfully well-rounded picture (and at times deeply disturbing) portrait. The subject matter is so profound and yet as a reader, one feels completely involved with the story. Emotionally wrenching but not over sentimentalized, this book presents the voice of the narrator as pure, true and very real.

Rating:
Summary: Give it time
Review: I thought this was a very good book, but nonetheless, slow in the beginning. As you go the book does pick up steam and interest. It was also interesting to experience the other side of the story; that is, what it was like to be german living in germany during the war but not a nazi. Overall, it was a very good book, but you do have to stick it out in the beginning, if you do you won't be sorry.

Rating:
Summary: Like MaxwellHouse Coffee. . . Good to the last drop!!
Review: The main character, Trudi, is a pwoerhouse of wisdom, insight, sprituality, and strength. This story within a story, within a story, is deliously written. Hegi entices you to live this story. Her ability to put in words, the emotion, feelings, and thoughts of these characters is evidence of writing that comes from the core of the collective human soul. I've not thought of a author in that light since Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou. This is my first Hegi novel . . .It won't be the last!

Rating:
Summary: UNFORGETTABLE!
Review: It has been over a year since I read Stones, and I still find myself thinking of Trudy and her "visions" of true life during WWII. Although this is a time period that i enjoy, regardless of the story, Stones is by and large the best fictional account I have read to date. This is definately a book that will remain on my shelf, and more so, in my heart and mind for a long, long time. I am adding it to my own list of personal favorites.