Johnna's review
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
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 and gripping. The large cast of small town characters provides an epic storyline and ample room for the author, Hegi, to play out a variety of dramatic wartime fates in creative detail.
Trudi's childhood, however, is less interesting and her post-war activity is almost entirely unmemorable (although such a short part of the book that hardly matters).
Ultimately, it is not a story of dramatic heroism, but about small and domestic heroic journeys -- which was very deftly handled. Certainly ...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 and gripping. The large cast of small town characters provides an epic storyline and ample room for the author, Hegi, to play out a variety of dramatic wartime fates in creative detail.
Trudi's childhood, however, is less interesting and her post-war activity is almost entirely unmemorable (although such a short part of the book that hardly matters).
Ultimately, it is not a story of dramatic heroism, but about small and domestic heroic journeys -- which was very deftly handled. Certainly ...more
