Stones from the River
by Ursula HegiSign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
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OK, yesterday I finished the book....... and I am having a very hard time choosing the stars and knowing what to say! Yes it is a very, very good book, BUT STILL it only received 4 rather then 5 stars. The positive first! The book is speckled with marvelous lines that get you thinking. For example - "by getting closer to a smaller world, she had found a larger world." Think about that and how true it is! Trudi, the main character's father has died. She says, "What she missed most ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Tatiana by:
caitlin
i really liked the idea of following this one small town through the 30-odd years between the end of the first world war and the end of the second. i found the father to be the most compelling character, oddly, more than the main character trudi, though i did think she was pretty well done. the book avoided anything cringe-worthy like melodrama (which is hard, considering, you know, nazis), and for the most part the narrative was clean and flowed. however i found the book oddly inconsistent a...more
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Read in August, 2002
This was an excellent book. I was astounded by Hegi's ability to capture both the everyday life of Germans over the 20-year span leading up to the end of WWII and the experience of a woman with dwarfism. Not once does she dramatize for the sake of Hollywood-like entertainment. Considering the standard treatment of both the topics of dwarfism and WWII, this is indeed a rare accomplishment.
I myself have dwarfism and am usually sick of the average portrayal of dwarfs in the media as either...more
I myself have dwarfism and am usually sick of the average portrayal of dwarfs in the media as either...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Tifnie by:
Sue LaCabe
This is a book that I would not have picked out for myself to read if it weren't for my mother in-law.
The story, set in German in the early 1900's, is about a courageous blond, blue eyed girl named Trudi Montag who just happens to be a dwarf. Over the course of 4 decades, Trudi, tells you the story of her town, her friends, her physical limitations, her jealousy, and most importantly the Hitler reign that sweeps through her town exterminating all Jews and anyone who tries to help them.
...more
The story, set in German in the early 1900's, is about a courageous blond, blue eyed girl named Trudi Montag who just happens to be a dwarf. Over the course of 4 decades, Trudi, tells you the story of her town, her friends, her physical limitations, her jealousy, and most importantly the Hitler reign that sweeps through her town exterminating all Jews and anyone who tries to help them.
...more
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Read in January, 2008
This was the first book I read with my new book club and I feel I need to rationalize the four- instead of five-star rating. The story is so important, and so deftly told, and the author does a great job of capturing the lives of citizens in a small German town from post-WWI through post-WWII. I felt like I came to know many of the characters personally. I cried several times. I had to really rethink what I know about history. And there were moments in the book where I literally had to stop read...more
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Read in August, 2007
I am lucky that I was trapped on a train for six hours going to Hartford and back, or I think I would have had a hard time getting into this one. Ultimately, it was a lovely and rewarding book-- but the first couple of hundred pages are all setup and a bit difficult to sludge through.
The book is about Trudi Montag, a young dwarf in rural Germany born to a WWI soldier and a crazy woman who grows up to defy the Nazis during WWII in her small town. The WWII portion of the book is fascinating a...more
The book is about Trudi Montag, a young dwarf in rural Germany born to a WWI soldier and a crazy woman who grows up to defy the Nazis during WWII in her small town. The WWII portion of the book is fascinating a...more
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Read in July, 2008
Some books disappoint on a second reading, but not this one. When it came time for my book club to read this book I was very excited, because I remembered that I really liked it the first time I read it. And I was not disappointed. I think I liked this book at least as much the second time around as the first.
This is a story with two contrasting themes. One is difference. Told mostly from the perspective of Trudi, a dwarf, who feels how different she is from the members of her community on a...more
This is a story with two contrasting themes. One is difference. Told mostly from the perspective of Trudi, a dwarf, who feels how different she is from the members of her community on a...more
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Read in April, 2007
When I first tried to read this novel during my early college years, I found that it wasn't enough to keep my attention, based on my other priorities . . . Now that school's over, I found the book on the shelf at Talking Leaves, and wanted to try it again . . . an idea that met with MUCH excitement from the woman who was working the register . . . she loved the book and couldn't wait to hear how I felt about it. This time around, I found myself engrossed in the story of Trudi and her fellow Burg...more
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Read in August, 2008
Thus far (page 118 of 525) the novel is tedious. What keeps me reading are two things. First, the novel follows the story of a a dwarf girl (not used in a macabre sense) in Germany from 1915 - 1952, and her character shows a beautiful yearning mixed with an ugliness that is quite sensual. Second, Hegi is brilliant, yet subtle with fresh language, such as "When the ice finally thinned, it tore in flat chunks that tried to mount each other like packs of wild dogs while the water hurled them d...more
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Read in January, 2008
I have really mixed feelings about this book. This author was recommended to me by my aunt and truly does have a very powerful style of writing with an amazing sense of detail. I originally started this book 5 or so years ago but got distracted. This time around it took me the first half of the book to really get into it, but at that point I was definitely captured. It's about a dwarf who's born shortly after WWI in Germany. The entire novel deals with her struggles with herself and being s...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Jackie by:
Annelise Aaro
Although I've read (and seen) many pieces on living during the Nazi regime, this is actually the first time I got to read it from a German perspective. The main character, a "zwerg" (dwarf) named Trudi Montag is a wonderful person to center the novel around -- as the hub of her community, we're introduced to a variety of characters. Sometimes, Hegi tends to characterize to extremes -- I feel as though everyone in the book is either all good or all evil -- I would have appreciated some ...more
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Read in July, 2007
First Impressions of this book: I'm not far into this book, but what I have the hardest time believing is the depth of thought of a 3-year-old. Okay, so some people can be old souls, but the philosophical depth and the interpersonal wisdom she has when she's dealing with her crazy mother is just over the top to pin on an almost 3-y-o kid.
After reading it: I was compelled by the story to keep reading, but there were so many things that bugged me. There were too many characers. She lapsed...more
After reading it: I was compelled by the story to keep reading, but there were so many things that bugged me. There were too many characers. She lapsed...more
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I found this book at a library sale, and ended up buying it because I like the way the first page read. Unlike many of the people who have reviewed this book I loved it from the beginning. Trudi's insight into the world is amazing, and while very mature for her age, with a slight mental leap, completely believable.
Ultimately this is a book about differences. When we begin the story, Trudi and her friend Georg are the outcasts, but as the plot progresses-- as the Nazi's gain more power a...more
Ultimately this is a book about differences. When we begin the story, Trudi and her friend Georg are the outcasts, but as the plot progresses-- as the Nazi's gain more power a...more
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Read in March, 2008
Slow moving but stunning. One of those books that stay with you.
It is set in the small German town of Burgdorf from 1915-1951. and centers around Trudi Montag, a dwarf. Trudi's experience of her own "otherness" makes her a sympathetic friend and active supporter of the local Jews.
I've never been someone with a lot of sympathy for what the German people suffered during WWII. After all, what had they suffered compared to the Jews? But this book made me see the Germans in a new l...more
It is set in the small German town of Burgdorf from 1915-1951. and centers around Trudi Montag, a dwarf. Trudi's experience of her own "otherness" makes her a sympathetic friend and active supporter of the local Jews.
I've never been someone with a lot of sympathy for what the German people suffered during WWII. After all, what had they suffered compared to the Jews? But this book made me see the Germans in a new l...more
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Read in March, 1999
When I first picked up this book I was a bit put off by the main character, she's a dwarf, but it took no more than a few pages to become completely engulfed in the story.
The plot takes place in Germany before and during the war. It is about being different, considered less than human. The struggle and the toll it takes on people who are different either by religion, ethnicity, looks, size anything less than the norm of what was then considered acceptable.
I would recommend this book to a...more
The plot takes place in Germany before and during the war. It is about being different, considered less than human. The struggle and the toll it takes on people who are different either by religion, ethnicity, looks, size anything less than the norm of what was then considered acceptable.
I would recommend this book to a...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Gayle by:
Cindy Hindsleyrecommends it for: everyone
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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I think that I read this book about 10 years or so ago, but I remember it having a profound impact on me. It is based during WWII in Germany (if I am remembering right). The character is a dwarf (yes I know that is politically incorrect, however that is what she is called in the book)and she is ,of course, unhappy with her differences especially her body. Through out the book she learns that everyone secretly has differences. The other part I liked is it describes her harboring Jews in her cell...more
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Trudi is a dwarf and the town librarian of Burgdorf, a small German community in this novel that takes place around the time of WWII. Although Trudi is the main character, Hegi details the lives of all of the people in the town with care. Hegi does a superb job of showing how the innoucuous (town gossip, thirst for conformity) soon rises in intensity as Hitler takes hold of the country. Trudi, who has lived her entire life as a misfit because of her dwarfism, watches and must decide where she...more
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Set in a small German town called Burgdorf from 1915 - 1951. This was the period that saw Hitler's Brown Shirts rise to power and their attitudes towards any differences develop and take over the common people. The story is told by one of those with a difference. Trudi Montag was a dwarf but she is also the town's librarian. From her earliest days she understood how a story or the village gossip could shape attitudes. Trudi is one who learns to survive in times that tested many. She is not witho...more
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A story of life and relationships in a small town in Germany during the time leading up to World War II. The holocaust was a crime against humanity that defined the 20th century. Hegi's tale is told from the perspective of Trudi - a "zwerg" (dwarf) who individual struggle of finding identity is told against the backdrop of neighbor turning against neighbor. The book neither glamorizes nor trivializes the events. Instead, it opens a window into the lives and choices of real people, choi...more
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