Stones from the River

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Summary: Stunning novel of small town Germany in mid 20th century
Review: With her deft, lucid style, Ursula Hegi draws readers into the lives and secrets of the residents of fictional village Burgdorf, Germany. By masterfully weaving a tapestry of personal stories over 30 years (1920-1950) that are seen through the eyes of town librarian (and dwarf) Trudi, Hegi gives us a startlingly clear vision into the German culture that gave to the world Hitler and Nazism. Hegi draws characters that are true-to-life and shows us only too well how we are prone to protecting the secrets and shames in our lives with a carapace of lies and deceit

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Summary: One of the best novels I've ever read.
Review: This story is incredibly moving, as Hegi describes a fictional town in Germany as seen through the eyes of Trudi who is a dwarf. The characters are extremely true to life and well drawn. They will stay in your mind long after you've finished reading the novel. I especially liked the thoughts on the influence of religion on how people view themselves, and the courage people showed during horrifying times.

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Summary: An indepth perspective of humanities' qualities
Review: I found this story to delve into the basic person. Describing a variety of life styles and beliefs that gave the reader a bay window view of life and how the past affects our present and future actions

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Summary: Fans of Ursula Hegi might want to read her latest novel.
Review: SALT DANCERS is the latest novel from award-winning and bestselling author, Ursula Hegi. It is a contemporary novel set in America and although it is very different in tone, time and setting, it is as compelling as STONES FROM THE RIVER.

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Summary: A gripping tale of a sensitive and moving nature.
Review: Ursula Hegi is one of the most poignet writer's of our time. In this novel she explores the life a child growing up in WWII Germany. Her mother has died and she lives with her father who runs the pay library in the village. She also happens to be a dwarf. Hegi writes with such intuitiveness the reader would assume she was a dwarf, but she is not. It is a gripping tale that runs the entire course of her life including the Nazi occupation and her development into a woman. It is at once compelling and painful to read so realistic are the situations and experiences. All of Hegi's characters are fully developed and significant part of the story. Each adds something to the story and shows a different side of every other character. It is a long, but very satisfying read. It will stay with you for a long time to come.

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Summary: Dreadful. Let me count the ways....
Review: I read this book because I enjoyed some of Hegi's short stories in Hotel of the Saints. I'm wondering now if they were written by different people. Or, maybe she just had a terrible editor for this book.

It's long and plodding, with way too much detail that adds nothing to the story. The narrator and heroine is a dwarf named Trudi, who grows from an unhappy, mostly friendless girl into a preachy, gossipping woman. Her endless navel-gazing makes her a less than compelling character. She occasionally has a supernatural ability to predict the future but it doesn't seem to do her any good. I gathered that the theme of this novel was 'secrets' but never understood what that was all about. It ended abruptly, as if Hegi suddenly--finally!--ran out of steam.

I waded through the entire thing because of the historical information it contained. The descriptions of the lives of ordinary Germans between the wars and during the 2nd WW were good and I'll give this book an extra star for that.

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Summary: View of WWII
Review: I finally got around to reading this book! And I can say I AM glad that I did! While the book started out very slow for me- trying to become acquainted & care about the character of Trudi, a dwarf. I found the first 150 pages long and a bit boring. However, once the story got going, I was very glad I finished it.

The plot of the book is a bit hard to describe in simple terms. Basically it's the story of Trudi's life: her childhood, her relationship with her parents, her struggles with her size, her difficulty in making friends, and what her life became when WWII came about. I very much enjoyed when the book came to the central plot which was life during WWII in Germany among both the Germans & Jews. When the ending of the book came about, after nearly 525 pages, I felt like I'd read something of a epic.

I will warn readers that there are a lot of characters in the book, and especially in the beginning I wished I'd made a list of who's who. Mainly because of the German names (Mr. & Mrs.) which made it difficult at first to follow if you didn't know. One other greivance was that in the first 100 or so pages it annoyed me greatly that Trudi was only 3, 4, 5 and she literally spoke and thought like a 20 year old. It was quite the irritant. Ms. Hegi really should have edited that part that make it fit a child's mind. Overall though, I am glad I stuck it out and did enjoy the journey back in time with vivid characters & lives.

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Summary: Simple stunning
Review: I read this book years ago and I still use it in conversation as a perfect example story telling. The principle charector is an "other" in a time when being different meant death or subjugation. It is the witnesses view of the well spring of great evil and the indolent denial that allowed it to fester and flurish. Our witness was just so different that she stayed under the radar of the watchers. If you ever wondered just how could they let this happen in a civilized society, this story goes a long way toward enlightenment. It shows the true face of the destructive nature of denial.
The story is entirly absorbing and heartbreaking. It also speaks the truth of how the meek could just inherit the world.

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Summary: Definitely not the best book I have ever read
Review: I had to read this book for summer reading. I am a Junior in high school and i love to read but this this book was just awful and hard to read.the dialogue in this got so far off the what the characters were saying that it was tough to remember what situation the charaters were in. THe only interesting points in this book was during WWII and that started half way through the book. The book is so sad that it is hard to read because you know that Trudi Mpntags life really does not amount to a happy ending. Like I have said this is definitely not the best book I have ever read.

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Summary: A great summer read but not literary genius!
Review: I picked up this book without at first knowing that it was an Oprah pick or that it took place in Germany - coincidentally I'm staying in an apartment in small-town Germany at the moment and this was one of the few English books on the bookcase so I thought I'd give it a whirl. There is something compelling about this book - maybe it's the chance to get inside the head of a Zwerg which doesn't present itself very often, or maybe it's because it offers a well-written glimpse into WW2 from the point of view of those living through it which sadly wasn't offered to me in my European History classes either in high school or in Germany. Or maybe, it just really offers me a chance to glimpse inside the minds of the people walking around me who speak little to no English while I speak no German. I'm not sure. I do know that I found myself rushing through this book at times, staying up until 5am because I couldn't wait to find out what happens to Hans-Juergen or Georg, but just this morning as I was finishing the book, I found myself immensely annoyed and frustrated with Trudi. Annoyed with her desperate yearning to be liked, her endless gossiping, the way she tried to pretend Jutta's daughter was her own. And thus only the four stars. If not for anything else, pick up a used copy of this book to get a finely-woven story about a small German town before, during and after the war, and to remind yourself of the unspeakable horror that took place there.