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Feb 16, 2009

Rilla rated it:

This is a collection of stories revolving around the people, mostly the women, who live in a small rural town in the mountains of western Austria in the early to mid-20th century. Reminiscent of the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, the book is full of women's stories, conflict, hopes and dreams. Few leave the small town in their lifetime, but that does not mean they do not have rich and fulfilling lives, some with secrets to keep.

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Feb 17, 2011

Ruth rated it:

I almost gave this book five stars as it has left an impression on me. After reading the stories I felt I had grown to know the families over the generations. Lippi cleverly weaves the inter-connected tales in chronological order and thankfully gives a family tree at the front of the book. As I was finishing this book in the Swiss Alps it has helped to enrich my experience of life in the mountains especially as I walked up to some of the remote hamlets in winter.

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Jan 12, 2011

Charlotte rated it:

I've read this book four times now over the last several years and love it more each time. Each chapter focuses primarily on a different woman in the same Austrian farming village over a span of 70 or so years of the 20th century, based on true stories the author was told in such villages. Some of the women's stories aren't fully told until they pop up in a future chapter of another woman, often a relative. A moving look into the challenging lives of women (and men) in rural Europe through war More...

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Feb 13, 2009

Nancy rated it:

Although this was a quick read and I was able to keep track of characters using the clan charts at the back of the book, I feel like I never really got a complete story—too many questions. Who was the mysterious postcard from at the book's beginning? Why did the Wainwright marry Theres after being repulsed by her shameful act? Why does the author kill off Martha? I'd like to see more of a story about her and about the romance between her mother and the Italian deserter. Why does Katharina f More...

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Mar 24, 2011

Anne rated it:

I didn't want it to end and have added it to my favorite books. Maybe because of the setting, a mountain village set somewhere in Appenzell or the Austrian Alps, the story is about the relationships within this small community. The setting is just before, during and after WW2. The characters are true and well thought out, each with their own history with each other, their associations with the past, and expectations for the future, realized or not. A definite read especially if you love the ski More...

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Jun 10, 2009

Anne-Michelle rated it:

This story was beautifully written, but I really expected more out of it. It was a series of short stories about various women from the same village who are all somehow related. It had the potential to be very juicy, but there were so many people involved that it was hard to keep track of their stories. The mystery behind many of the stories was lost. (Too bad I didn't read the Table of Contents first to see that the family trees were charted in the back of the book! Argh.) I enjoyed the first h More...

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Dec 05, 2009

Janet rated it:

Found this book on the Essex library, Librarian's picks shelf. Loving this book, bit of a lull in the middle and then it picks up again. Wish I had known there was a family chart, name pronuniation guide and golssary of local terms at the end of the book (I would have if I had read the table of contents). They answered several questions I had while reading the book. It is a Pen/Hemingway award winner. These are linked short stories about the same alpine village and families starting in 1909 and More...

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Jul 25, 2007

Marie rated it:

One of my all time favorite books.

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Jun 17, 2011

Elin rated it:

I was slightly daunted by the three family trees at the start of the book, once I got into it it was surprisingly easy to follow and I really enjoyed it.

It tells the story of a number of women living in the small rural village of Rosenau in Russia between about 1900 and 1960. The book is split up into a number of short individual chapters, one about each woman, but each are interlinked, leading to a novel that works well both as a whole and as a collection of short stories.

Ea More...

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Apr 18, 2011

Katherine rated it:

I found it difficult with the mass of names to figure out who was who and how they linked to everyone else. Luckily, the author thought about this and included family trees - but that means flicking to the front of the book quite frequently.
The story itself is beautiful- detailing the life of those in the Austrian hillsides and their lifestyle. The pure, simplistic and rural life proves a great environment for the novel and it's fascinating to witness through the text this different lifes More...

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Nov 07, 2009

Marilyn rated it:

This collection of stories about the women of a small area of Austria during the first seventy years of the twentieth century is rich with lovely prose and well rounded characters. Trapped by tradition and expectations, we soon learn these women lead a complex double life of lust and secret passions...of subtle bargains for position and power. As the years pass, loose ends come together magically as old mysteries are solved and relationships come full circle. A beautifully written little book More...

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May 31, 2009

Libby rated it:

I really liked this. It was an interesting way to reveal life in a particular area, in the eyes of women who lived there in different generations. It also gave you a great picture of how small the town was and how every body knew everybody else. At times, I couldn't remember all the relationships and once I had finished reading it and noticed the family charts in the back, I wished I had known about them while I was reading. It would have made a few things more clear in my mind.

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Jun 14, 2011

Chrissie rated it:

NO SPOILERS!!!

This novel is about the relationships between women in a remote Austrian village. It starts before WW1 and continues through the 1970s. The central theme is the women's lives and their relationships to each other, many of which were tied by family bonds: mothers, daughters, grandmothers, cousins, half-sisters and as the years pass great-great-grandchildren. As in any family there are the grumps, the beauties, the intellectuals and each is accepted for what they a More...

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Nov 25, 2011

Begona rated it:

Don't even remember how I came across this book. It's been on my book shelf for years. Tired on seeing it and saying i would read next time I gave it a chance. I was not disappointed.

A book about village women may sound dreary and boring but it wasn't. Rosina managed to make a life so different from the city life I lead interesting, full of complexities and details. The characters are all rounded and compelling and you end up caring and wanting to now more.

Besides the ch More...

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Dec 14, 2010

Tricia rated it:

I read this book because I know the author from a different context, and I was startled the first time I saw her name attached to a work of fiction. The book is a series of chronological, chapter-long vignettes, each focused on a different woman living in a small Austrian village. The book spans much of the 20th century. For many reasons, I can see the sociolinguist (Rosina Lippi-Green) at work in the text. But even so, it is very evocative and well-written, with many lyrical passages.

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Apr 02, 2009

Suze rated it:

I chose this book simply because I loved the series this author wrote (The Wilderness Series) under the pen name Sara Donati. It was interesting, but a bit depressing, giving a view of what life was like for a number of Austrian women in the early to mid 1900's. Sure made me happy I was born in a more modern time where women have actual choices about the life they wish to lead!

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Feb 03, 2009

Michele rated it:

This wasn't a book I would have ever chosen on my own, to read (I read it with my bookclub). It was confusing, hard to keep the characters straight. But I actually wound up enjoying it. Ms. Lippi has a writing style I so enjoy. She writes beautifully. I loved the words of the book. It was a beautiful book, full of wonderful characters.

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Jan 14, 2012

Bachyboy rated it:

Set in the Austrian alps and spanning from 1909 to the 1970s, this is a wonderful look into the lives of three families. It traces their passions, loves, losses and hardships over the years - their lives are governed by the cycles of farming and the seasons. Multiple characters made the family trees at the beginning of the book very useful.

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Feb 01, 2009

Howard rated it:

Connected stories about the women of an isolated village in the Austrian Alps that span most of the 20th century. The stories are earthy, written in nearly elegiac tone, but not entirely satisfying. There is an anthropological sensibility to the author's voice, but I never really believed in any of the characters.

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Jun 18, 2011

Diana rated it:

Although there is no doubt that R Lippi is a great writer and the premise of this book was interesting, it wasn't a favorite. It was interesting to see what changed with the next generation, but my preference is to get into an in depth story. As each chapter was a different generation, it isn't possible with this book.

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Dec 03, 2011

Isabel rated it:

'Homestead' is not the sort of book I usually read, but I found it interesting, as it was set in a remote community with a distinctive culture that I knew nothing about. It is a set of short stories about the lives of women living in an isolated village in the Austrian Alps between the 1900's and the 1970's.

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Feb 18, 2009

Adrien rated it:

This a beautifully written collection of stories that takes place in a vinty village in the mountians of Austria. Each of the stories is about a woman in the village (or around it) and spans the 20th century. I was surprised that such a rich book was such a quick read.

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Mar 13, 2011

Jenny rated it:

Absolutely beautiful writing! With each story, I'd think "this one's my favorite," then I'd read the next one and think, "No, this one is!" I loved the interconnectedness of each character's story. Lippi ties these women together over a period of sixty plus years through their family relationships, tragedies, loves, fears, traditions, all with an emphasis on place: their homesteads. I started re-reading it as soon as I finished because I know I missed some subtleties the fi

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Aug 02, 2009

Callredgci.net rated it:

Short stories with common thread . . . community in Austria, and the lives of women as they intersect. Story of war and difficulties of what these women endured over an 80 year period. Again, slower read, but I was drawn in by the writing and stories.

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Nov 17, 2009

Amber rated it:

I had to read this book for my English class and it wasn't to bad. Though I found it hard to try and make all the connections between the different generations... who was who... who had who...who married..etc. But it was an interesting look at both the world wars and how it effected one small rural town in Austria.

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Nov 24, 2010

Vickie rated it:

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I love Lippi's writing. She moves seamlessly through time and character in this novel, creating women so real that I am certain they will watch me with curiosity when I walk up the road to their village.

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Feb 28, 2010

Nadia rated it:

Sad at times but beautifully written. Covers a village's history in Austria from the early 1900s through the 1970s, through the voices of the women in the community. Each chapter is told from a different woman's point of view.

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Aug 11, 2011

Pat rated it:

Some of the chapters about the village women were movingly tender. Yet I don't like books that skip in time. In spite of the clan diagrams provided, I found it difficult to follow the relationships through the years.

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Jan 21, 2009

Lauren rated it:

Okay, this little book is an almost unanimous favorite of my bookclub. However, I would say that it is a book for women. It is NOT "chick lit" by any definition, but I don't think a man could have the same emotional chord struck. I am not sure if I can say why I loved it so much.

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Jan 29, 2008

Beth rated it:

I believe this is one of the books I got from my Mom's shelves -- possibly from her bookclub. It is a short and moving read and also very interesting -- particularly if you are interested in the lives of women and the commonalities of these lives across a span of years. Again, I had to get the atlas out to see where the Vorarlburg region of Austria is and I learned some new geography of a region I thought I knew a lot about. These stories are all interconnected and told by different women in More...

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