Rating: 
Summary: Not Gunter Grass
Review: I am not one of the many fans of Ursala Hegi. I have several friends whose judgement and taste I generally respect who like her a lot. Not me. She seems trite, contrived, and obsequious to contemporary trendy themes. But, I have to admit, I've never managed to FINISH one of her books. There is that possibility that she has really strong endings. I wouldn't know.
Rating: 
Summary: Hmm, not very interesting
Review: This book was alright, I only finished it because I had nothing else to read.. The story line was pretty good, but it seemed like it was really drug out... I found my self wanting to skip pages because it was taking so long to get through certain parts.. I wouldn't say it was the worst I've read and certainly not the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe more like 4.8...
Review: The philosophy of Ursula Hegi's Stones From the River is unclear to me. The novel shows characteristics of the philosophies of all eras with little predominance in any one area.
For example, Stones From the River has many features of a romantic philosophy. Had it been written sixty years ago, it certainly would have been extreme political rebellion against the Third Reich. But it wasn't written sixty years ago.
I think Stones From the River is mostly pop art, due to its requirement of a learned audience (about Hitler and the Holocaust), its uplifting story, and its flat, stereotypical characters. It seems that for each resident of Burgdorf, there is only one unique characteristic, and it's a large one. While the characters are interesting, they are only falsely deep. This status of pop art points me to modern philosophy.
It is also my opinion that the characters in Stones From the River don't function independently, but rather as a collective, which supports the theory of modern philosophy.
There is also on awful lot of shallow, unoriginal introspection in this story on the part of the main character, Trudi, which might lead one to conclude that Stones From the River is a product of classical philosophy and high art. I personally believe that Stones From the River is a true-blue pop art attempt at classical philosophy. It mostly succeeded, apart from the ending.
In the end, Trudi Montag takes a stroll up the dike along the Rhein River and meditates on life. In a sappy attempt at depth and a total overkill of all the symbolism the book provides, Hegi tells the reader in a cheesy way what was quite apparent all along. The whole we-are-all-the-river-and-each-person-and-event-that-we-run-into-changes-our-path-but-eventually-we-all-come-back-together ending took a great book and made it into a bad TV movie.
Overall, it was a good book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes to read long, meandering epics of every event in a person's life.
Rating:
Summary: Loved little Trudi
Review: Like little Hanna, I loved Trudi, gossipy ways and all. Having the abridged sound recording to jump start and to help wade through some of the longer passages was invaluable and I loved Ursula's (the author)narration. Especially helpful were Leo's interpretation of sin (most of the time it is being human)and Trudi's discoveries of what is most difficult about loss and how to address loneliness. This book is a marvelous epic.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I just finished reading this book, and I loved it! Some people say it's 'slow', and well, I admit that if you want to read an exciting book with lots of action in it, this isn't what you want to read. But I thought it was very interesting. Of course I don't know what WW II was like, but to me this book seems like very realistic. But it's not just about the war, it's also about Trudi's life before it, when her mother goes crazy and dies, and lots of other things. What I think is so good about the book, is that it doesn't focus on just ONE problem, like the war. It's about the complete lives of people, which makes it much more realistic. It's also interesting to read how everyone's lives evolve and how the relations in Burgdorf (where Trudi lives) change and grow. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to read anything too superfacial!
Rating:
Summary: Where Was the Editor?
Review: "A brilliant book." "Can't put down." These words from critical reviews and a near-promise of an intriguing main character and a fascinating story were what lured me to this book in the first place. After plowing (yes, it was certainly an effort) through "Stones from the River"'s 525 pages, I can definitely say that these reviewers' words are a far cry from the truth."Stones" is the story of Trudi Montag and her German town of Bugdorf. The story takes place from roughly 1915-1945, and chronicles Trudi's growing up, the lives of some of her townspeople, and most importantly, the challenges faced by Trudi and the rest of Bugdorf due to Hitler and WW2. The added "twist" in this story is the fact that Trudi is a dwarf. somewhat shunned by her townspeople and always feeling the void of her mentally ill mother's death when she was a girl, Trudi is a thoughtful, sometimes interesting, and always insightful character. I know this plot sounds promising, but now is the time for me to point out some major flaws that spoiled "Stones from the River." First, there was just a general "dullness" to this book. Hegi's habit of using run-on sentences frequently and narrating in a "rambling" style full of boring information did nothing to futher the plot. Not only was the writing "flat"; it was further ruined by the use of phrases such as "dog sh--", etc. Needless to say, these phrases add no uniqueness or interest to the descriptions, they simply annoy the reader with the author's lack of writing skills. The plot also suffers because of the general lack of suspense. I was extremely irritated when the text was filled with lines such as, "She saw John, who would be dead in 15 years." Okay, now we really are in suspense about John! It is obvious that these "futuristic comments" shouldn't be revealed early...the reader should be in suspense and SURPRISED when something happens. I kept waiting for some change in Trudi or SOMETHING...but then I was on page 524 1/2 and NOTHING majorly shocking or exciting had happened! Last, and certainly not least, it really bugged me how every character had some major problem. One was gay, one was a glutton, some were unhappy with their marriages, one had a retarded child...and the list goes on! I know that nobody is perfect, but it is slightly unbelievable to have a whole cast of characters that are seriously warped. Trudi isn't a bad main character, and the one GOOD thing she does is show how the average German responded to Hitler and HOW the Holocaust happened, but the many, many flaws in "Stones" overshadow any good things about this book. If you want an inspiring female character and a fascinating historical setting, look elsewhere!
Rating: 
Summary: slow start, but pays off in the end
Review: I had a hard time really getting into this book at first. About 1/3 of the way through, I started enjoying the story and the characters. This book made me really try to imagine life during WWII and the persecution that people endured.
Rating:
Summary: it was ok
Review: My school made me read this for a required summer reading and i have to say this book was not that good. Yes it does show potential and wasn't completely a waste of my time, but it was quite dry and if i had to choose i wouldn't read it again. to reiterate it was ok, nothing spectacular and personally i wouldn't recommend it for anyone under 30.
Rating:
Summary: A "Big" Treat
Review: As a 14 year old when I read this book, I was amazed by the fact that I actually enjoyed it. Not being one for books set in foreign countries and different decades, I was expecting something boring and confusing. But oh, how incorrect I was! This book was great, entertaining and amusing. I would recommend it to anyone!
Rating:
Summary: Best Modern Fiction I've Read in a Long Time
Review: This is a stunning book...not an easy book, or a simple book, but stunning. Hegi's portrait of Trudi Montag is beautifully drawn. She is a fully realized character, with traits that we admire but with a hard edge of her own. Her perspective is that of an outsider, and as such any of us who ever felt on the outside of things can easily relate to her. The real main character of her book is the town that she lives in. Peopled with quirky characters, the edge in this book sneaks up on you. People who seem odd but harmless as the book begins become terrifying supporters of the Nazi regime. And those who seem odd but vaguely menacing, end up showing true heroism. Nothing is ever quite what it seems. Hegi's prose is rich and evocative. She goes for poetry over accuracy, hence her translation of kindreich as "child-rich" rather than as fertile. The equation of fertility with riches further heightens our sense of Trudi as an outsider. I must admit that the idea that Trudi, a dwarf, could actually survive the Third Reich bothered me just a bit. I ended up accepting it as a fictional image. Truth in fiction does not always have to mirror actual truth. Sometimes poetic truth can be stronger.
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