Rating: 
Summary: Something Missing!
Review: Since I always enjoy multi-generational sagas, I was most enthusiastic when I first picked up this book. But I'm afraid that I didn't enjoy this title nearly as much as I thought I would.Lippi's writings, at times, did invoke the spirit and solitude of the isolated Alpine farming village and the women who lived there. And these images and characters did fill the pages of the interlocking stories over an 80 year period. While the reader becomes familiar with these women's lives, losses and regrets, all of the stories weren't nearly as spirited or poignant as they could have been. And for some strange reason, the family trees appeared as endpapers at the back of the book and since I didn't see then till I was almost finished with the book, I felt that having them in the front might have made things less confusing and I also might have enjoyed the book more. I know that Rosina Lippi spent time in a village similar to the one she wrote about and I am sure this book was factual but I was hoping for stories with a bit more. I have since learned that Rosina Lippi also writes historical fiction under the name of Sara Donati. I now plan on reading one of these books to see if I like them better than this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Touching, Insightful, Brilliantly written...
Review: The author is so brilliant in the way she writes that sometimes she tells a personal story of a character that allows you to draw the conclusions on your own; and, sometimes she outright tells you what happens to a character. Either way, it is a moving experience. She actually makes you feel part of their little township.
Rating: 
Summary: I was engrossed in the thoughts and fellings of these women
Review: The more I read this book the more I wanted to read. I was thoroughly engrossed by the second chapter. With each new chapter not only is a new woman's story revealed to you but you slowly learn the endings of the women's stories that had come before hers. I was glad that the author, Rosina Lippi, put the clan chart in the back of the book. I often had to look back to figure out whose family or how someone was related. I would not have enjoyed the book as much without the chart. I would have be confused and frustrated.
Rating:
Summary: A superb tale of a village and the women who live there.
Review: The success of this marvelous book springs from the passion of the telling -- the writer's deep conviction that the lives of the people who inhabit this remote Austrian village are invested with meaning. Their stories come to us chronologically, beginning with the period of the first war and ending in the late 1970s. Their daily experiences are shown to be all at once prosaic and extraordinary. The featured players in this drama are the women who grow up and spend their lives in one small place. But the real protagonist is the village itself, as expressed in the slowly changing character of daily life as years pass and people come into the world and live and die. At the end, modern life has insinuated itself into the community somewhat, but the elements that define common experience have changed very little. The triumph is in the author's ability to render ordinary events in ways that reveal the humanity of the people she writes about. Wonderfully told, beautifully written.
Rating:
Summary: compassionate, deft, intricate
Review: The women in these stories reminded me of the women I grew up with in rural Minnesota. The external details are different (and engrossing) but I still knew and understood and came to love them. I am reminded of Alice Munro.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of my top 5 all time favorites
Review: This book is a gem. I didn't know I could identify so completely with characters from another country, time, and way of life. Lippi's writing gifts are responsible; they make every one of these stories evocative and memorable. I only wish she'd write more stories about the people of Rosenau -- not moving forward in time but paralleling the time she's already covered.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Book!
Review: This book is a gem. I didn't know I could identify so completely with characters from another country, time, and way of life. Lippi's writing gifts are responsible; they make every one of these stories evocative and memorable. I only wish she'd write more stories about the people of Rosenau -- not moving forward in time but paralleling the time she's already covered.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully written and touching story
Review: This is a marvellous book. It is the story of a small Alpine village over the course of 70 years told through the lives of the women who lived there. Each chapter is the story of an individual woman at a point in time, but the stories weave in and out so that you never lose track of what happened to them. I found the book deeply satisfying to read - at times it was funny, it was always touching and often very sad. I felt I was involved in the lives of these women (and their men-folk), there was great suspense and it was extremely well-written. I wonder what other readers made of the final chapter - it seemed to me that everything had come full circle. I would love to read this novel as part of a book club discussion. If you enjoy "literary fiction" this book is for you - you will not be disappointed. It entertains and it stimulates - what more can any reader ask for?
Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully written and touching story
Review: This is a marvellous book. It is the story of a small Alpine village over the course of 70 years told through the lives of the women who lived there. Each chapter is the story of an individual woman at a point in time, but the stories weave in and out so that you never lose track of what happened to them. I found the book deeply satisfying to read - at times it was funny, it was always touching and often very sad. I felt I was involved in the lives of these women (and their men-folk), there was great suspense and it was extremely well-written. I wonder what other readers made of the final chapter - it seemed to me that everything had come full circle. I would love to read this novel as part of a book club discussion. If you enjoy "literary fiction" this book is for you - you will not be disappointed. It entertains and it stimulates - what more can any reader ask for?
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: This is an outstanding book. Ms. Lippi has an extraordinary ability to make you feel that you know these women. Her descriptions are so touching and evocative. I couldn't put it down... even the second and third times I read it. I've encouraged many people to read this excellent book and every single person loved it! GIVE IT A TRY! You won't be disappointed.
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