Stones from the River

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Summary: Like the Enegizer Bunny
Review: I read The Vision of Emma Blau before I read this. That book had made me want to know more about Trudi Montag, who was mentioned briefly in Vision, and this little German town and its characters. I now fear I know too much! The author creates, then discards characters like they are used tissues. She talks about this person's mother-in-law, then that one's niece; if you put the book down for a few days, then pick it up again, all of these third string characters sort of blend together. No one stands out except for Trudi - perhaps that was the author's goal. A geneological chart at the end would have been helpful.

Rating:
Summary: After........
Review: discussing the book with quite a few people, I was the only man I had found that had read this book. Predominately Oprah's viewers are women so that might explain that. I found Trudy and the people in this novel fascinating. A true character that you care about what will happen in her life. The time period, village and men in her life make very interesting reading. I highly recommend this book for men and women alike.

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Summary: Poignant and Memorable
Review: I read this book after reading Ursula Hegi's "Tearing the Silence" which referred to it many times in the introduction. I found it highly readable and moving. The mood created is at once mystical and potent and the book has many well-drawn characters. Trudi, herself, of course, and my favourites -- her father (I forget the name now) and the unknown benefactor -- all of them contribute to the uplifting of the story and highlight the strength and generosity in the human condition amidst a very cruel world of senseless destruction. What is refreshing is the ability to discuss the very sensitive topic of the holocaust using the novel form and Hegi should be congratulated for the depth of exploration she put into the characters and the juxtaposition between personal trials and deprivation against the larger difficulties and crimes of the age. Some parts of the story are corny and predictable, but the book as a whole is good, as Hegi has masterfully weaved the lives of her characters with our own. I should be picking up "Floating in my Mother's Palm" soon to give myself a more rounded and complete picture of the story of Burghof.

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Summary: Answers so many questions
Review: As an avid reader of non-fiction Holocaust literature from the Jewish perspective, I did not expect to be so mesmerised by a fictional work from the German viewpoint. But it is a compelling, masterly work, and I could not put it down. At last I could begin to understand how 'good' Germans could not only stand by and witness persecution but also participate in and instigate Germany's shameful stain. Hegi's book should be required reading for all us who cannot fathom what it must have been like to live in Germany before, during and after the Second World War.

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Summary: Long Winded
Review: I found the book to be boreing until about page 250. Up until then it is merely about a dwarf girl growing up in a small german village. Beyond page 250, up until the last chapter, the book is very exciting and hard to put down. Unfortunately, to get to the good part, you have to read the first half of the book to get an adequate background on the chanracters. The ending is very vague and you never really find out what happens to the drawf. Overall, the story is long winded. I did enjoy the book for the in-depth cultural understanding of Germans it provided. I found that it helped answer the question, "How could German's stand by and let the Jews be persecuted?"

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Summary: typical boring new-age writing
Review: i couldn't get into this book, much less finish it, and take my word, i love to read, and read widely on just about anything.

i just found the style annoying and dull, the plot flat, the characters emotionless.

my recommendation for this book - tie some stones to it and fling it in the river.

Rating:
Summary: Take a step into another life, a different one
Review: A wonderfully woven story about a young woman born a dwarf in pre-World War II Germany. The story chronicles her life by setting the stage before her birth to a mother with a light grip on reality. It continues on through the aftermath of World War II in a small town in Germany.

TRUDI MONTAG WAS DIFFERENT IN A WAY THAT WAS VISIBLE TO OTHERS: This she reasoned was why; she was rejected early in life by her mother and why; her mother went crazy. Though she finally realized she was not to blame for her mother's problems, she took many years to come to grips with the fact she could not change what she was and in fact being different had some advantages. Trudi had an opening in everyone's life in the town of Burgdorf, in the sense than many considered themselves more fortunate than her. For this reason, they often revealed more of themselves to her, to show that they were not so fortunate in the end. Due to this, Trudi developed a stronger sense of who every one was in this small town and was an intricate part in the grapevine, dispensing her stories to gain as much information as she delivered..

THE GROWTH OF THE NAZI PARTY IN GERMANY WAS NOT WELCOME BY ALL, BUT TO OPPOSE IT, WAS TO BECOME A TARGET OF IT. This story through Trudi and the town of Burgdorf, lets the reader see, how Germany with the leadership of Hitler was duped into embracing a philosophy, that not only energized the nation, but enslaved it. People in the town like Trudi who were different were more immune to the process than those who were mainstream and wanted to stay that way. This book does a wonderful job of making the reader understand how such a horrible philosophy could be so embraced.

URSULA HEGI'S ATTENTION TO DETAIL BRINGS THE CHARACTERS IN TRUDI'S WORLD TO LIFE. While reading the story of the day-to-day details of Trudi's life, from her thoughts, to the actions of the townspeople, you begin to see the undercurrents of the town in her eyes. From the not so pious "fat priest", to her friend Eva with the birthmark and the unknown benefactor all the characters come alive and you see through Trudi's eyes the potential of their future lives.

This is an artfully crafted story, done as a prequel to the book she previous wrote: "Floating in my mother's palm", where her story of Burgdorf is continued on in one of the characters born toward the end of Stones from the River. If you want an opportunity to step back in time, to another life in another place, this one offers amazing insights.

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Summary: No Easy Answers
Review: Through the past several years, I have been able to read a great deal of important Holocaust literature. While some other stories have greater historical or literary significance, this book stands apart for me. It is the first book that has truly forced me to question what I would do in this situation.

The protaganist of the book is Trudi Montag. Trudi is born a Zwerge - a dwarf - between the two World Wars. Her difference sets her apart from the other villagers, and while they feel sorry for her, it also gives her a certain power over them as she is able to learn their secrets. The girl comes of age just as Hitler's pronouncements begin to threaten the Jewish residents of her town, and of all of Germany. Trudi has difficult ethical choices to make, and these decisions shape her for the rest of her life.

While the war years are the most significant part of the book, Trudi is also followed in the post-war years. She begins to see how guilt and confusion begin to engage the members of her community in an elaborate denial of the tragedies of the war years.

The book is beautifully written, and is sure to be a book you will treasure.

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Summary: An impassioned look at life thru the eyes of a German dwarf.
Review: While this book did a slow-burn at the beginning, I felt compelled to keep reading because I knew it just had to get better. Hegi's spinning of the tribulations of the war and Trudi's love affair with Max Rudnick proved to be the most potent and entertaining parts of the book.

However, I was extremely disappointed with the ending, which was little more than a confusing flashback to thoughts of an old friend mentioned only periodically throughout the book with little suggestion that he was a main character. The many deaths and odd circumstances surrounding the various residents of Burgdorf kind of mesh together in some places, and you quite often find yourself confused about who is who. The last forty pages of the book suggest that maybe the author was trying to write to fill a required number of pages. I couldn't make sense of her ramblings, and I'm sure SHE probably dozed in front of her typewriter a few times.

All in all, the book is interesting, if only to get a glimpse into the life of a zwerge (dwarf) who becomes an accomplished storyteller and who triumphs over adversity. Read it, but if you suspect it's not going to hold you for long, you're probably right. Borrow this...don't buy it.

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Summary: Glad I finally read this!
Review: Since this book was published seven years ago, I have consistently promised myself and others that I would finally read this book. And whie I read all of Ursula hegi's other books, thsi one managed to elude me. But this time around I was determined to finish it. And so I did. Now I wish I could go back and be reading it again for the first time.

By now many readers are familiar with Trudi Montag, the dwarf born shortly before WWII in Burgdorff, Germany. In many respects the first part of the book are a series of character studies of other inhabitants of Burgdorf. We come to know about their daily lives, their secrets, their hurts and their loves. And all the while we are learning about these people from Trudi's eyes and lips. Then as the war threatens and becomes a reality, Many of these "good Germans" are faced with a moral dillemma. Who do they help and what do they think about the actions of others from the town> And as we continue to read we learn of the courageous acts of many of these villagers, led by Trudi and her father, to protect Jews who are trying to escape from Germany and remain alive.

As a reader of novels pertaining to WWII and the Holocaust, I found Ms. Hegi's book to be a masterful work. It was also so timely to rearead Floating in My Mother's Palm after this title and reamember back to some of these characters from Stones from the Rivers. Ursula Hegi is to be congragulated for writing what surely will someday become a classic.