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Summary: Gunter Grass filtered through psycho-babble
Review: I suppose if you haven't read much holocaust literature, this is better than nothing. You'll get to ask yourself how it was that a village could turn against some of its citizens, as so many did. The author doesn't give much of an answer, however. Worse, the writing style is so weak that the story itself hardly holds interest. The author hovers omninscently, telling us what is inside the heads of her characters with such a consistently flat voice that she does not succeed in conveying any personality. The dwarf metaphor might be effective if she had really let go and given her character power, but instead she sounds like someone telling her story in a therapy session. The pacing is clumsy, perhaps because the author will not let us hear from her characters directly, but must narrate all from some distant point, so time is spent equally on all subjects, significant or otherwise. Perhaps because the characters are so flat, many events seem unbelievable. Story-telling and secrets are supposed to be the central theme of this book, but aside from the inference that the author likes to tell stories, there is really no story here at all, only a dreary recitation of mildly titillating events.
Rating: 
Summary: A literary oxymoron
Review: Mesmerizing yet dull. A page turner but slow. Trudi the Zwerg is rejected by all but accepted by all. Her peers don't include her in their school activities but confide in her. A three-year-old with a memory that is developmentally impossible. Oxymorons that make sense! An oxymoron. But throughout the book, I felt it was nisnamed. It was an Apologeia for religionists. Religion demands blind faith and makes vulnerable to manipulation those whom it entices. It was difficult to believe that the Catholic majority were so tolerant of the surprisingly sizable community of educated Jews in their midst up until the Hitler era. Hegi avoided the irony of the tryst between Catholic-dwarfed-love-shunned Trudi and Jewish-half-blind Max. Their love affair was not credible. Max was talented and ostensibly brilliant, but it was not enough that he loved Trudi because she was unique. It simply was not enough. George was three-dimensional from the time he was a long-curly-locked boy raised in girl's clothing. Her rose-chested friend (whose name I forget) was three-dimensional. Her friend's eventually-suicidal husband was. Even the dentist was. Ingrid was. But Max wasn't. He had been a teacher who was found out. Granted Max was not brought up on the village with the others, but it was not credible that Trudi would NOT have explored and learned his secrets as she did those of others . . . and should have shared them with us, the readers. It was as if . . . if even Trudi, this deformed woman, secretly immoral -- at least immoral as measured in that era -- could secretly love a Jew, Max, so could the rest of her fellow Germans. It's just that they couldn't, says Hegi, show their love or respect or concern for the Jews' safety because they were in fear themselves. Hogwash or does it wash? Ironically, the book's majesty is that it raises all these questions. It makes us think. Brilliant? No. Fascinating? Yes. Just not for the obvious reasons! It left me suspicious. Nevertheless, at least Hegi allowed her villagers to admit that they knew that genocide was taking place. That is more than the people from Dachau did, even though the camp Dachau was just down a straight road lined by slender trees (name I forget, begins with an "L" I think), bordered by a flat plane of farm acreage between the town and the camp, and edged by rows and rows of chimneys soaring out of the ovens and leaving an unbearable stench which lasted years after the camp was long empty. At least Hegi didn't say, We didn't know. But then she wasn't born during WWII, depriving her of the opportunity to learn about shame (none in her novel). It's possible, though, that she felt the rejection -- a young postwar German emigre -- that Trudi felt. Whence Trudi was born.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm glad that I read "Stones From the River;" A Great Story!
Review: Ursula Hegi, in this dark tale of a nation gone mad, explains how it was possible for the unimaginable to happen. She exposes aspects of Germany and Germans that must be understood if we, who weren't there, are to ever understand how the Nazis could have risen to power and nearly destroyed Germany and much of Europe. Hegi digs into the soul of "ordinary" Germans and finds evil and good, darkness and light, weakness and strength; she finds people like us and our friends, relatives and neighbors. I found myself asking: What would my family and I have done had we lived in post World War I Germany? Could anything like what happened there happen again? Given different times and circumstances, could it happen here? Thank you, Ursula Hegi, for telling a marvelous story that needed telling...
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Summary: We are all Trudi
Review: I found this book lyrical -- the more I read, the more I was drawn in by the writing and by the characters and story. When I finished, I was sorry that there was not more to read. To me, all of us who feel different are Trudis. Trudi kept herself separate from others because of her differences. Her real difference (size) is a metaphor for all of us who perceive that we are different from others and because of that, keep ourselves distanced from others.
Rating:
Summary: A book that touches the soul
Review: While Ursula Hegi's novel is so brilliant because of her realistic characters and gift of storytelling, it is even more so because she brings the reader to a time and place that defies the imagination. When I saw Schindler's List for the first time I was shocked at my own lack of outrage and sorrow; now I know it is because I was too far removed. No one can imagine that kind of pain unless actually experiencing it. However, Hegi forges an intimacy between her characters and the reader that is so strong that it is easy to forget they are just fictional characters. Also, Hegi does not depend on the tragedy of the subject matter to carry the story for her: She does not sentimentalize the topic and deals with it matter-of-factly and realistically. Because of these elements, this book really does touch the soul, the way an excellent book should.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling reading.
Review: Although the members of our book club found Stones from the River slow at the outset, the story captured both our minds and our hearts. Trudi the dwarf provides unique insight into the lives of ordinary people living in extraordinary times. As an outsider in her own world, she observes those around her and helps us to understand how the horrors of Hitler's Germany could happen.
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Summary: A different perspective on war-time Europe.
Review: Having read many books about the holocaust and the horrors that occurred inside and outside the death camps in Europe during World War II, I found Stones from the River a breath of fresh air. Hegi manages to let the reader know that these people are living in a terrible time without focusing on the gore. I think that many readers who criticized it missed the point. I've read some of Hegi's other books and find her a mesmerizing writer. This book is actually an expansion of the characters and story in Floating in My Mother's Palm, which I read after I read Stones from the River. There are a lot of characters woven through both books but one does not get confused or lost; their lives are intertwined in a fascinating way. I think it is a book worth reading if one is willing to look beyond the surface story of a girl who wants to be something other than what she is.
Rating:
Summary: Not what you'd expect
Review: A very moving book, which describes the other view during WWII. I enjoyed the book, it wasn't what I expected, but I am glad I had the chance to read it
Rating: 
Summary: Total fascination with Trudi's mind and author's insight.
Review: I found the author's insight into what would be Trudi's wall of defense between herself and others to show incredible insight. The ending of the story seemed to complete Trudi and her quest for love and happiness as she looked within to find acceptance of herself and her place in the lives of those around her. Through the struggles of Trudi, I could see the events that shaped our world and the attitudes that we still have trouble with today.
Rating: 
Summary: I couldn't make up my mind...
Review: Sometimes, I liked this book. Sometimes, I thought it was dreadfully dull. Sometimes, I thought it was rather unbelievable (for example, Trudi wasn't put in a camp). Sometimes, I was touched by Trudi's kind and brave nature in the face of truely horrible circumstances. By the end of the book, I was still undecided. I would conditionally recommend this book.
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