Customer Reviews

Stones from the River

5 star:		(192)
4 star:		(90)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

A friend insisted I buy this book, telling me what a masterpiece it was. I was at first sceptical, and I must confess it did not grab me within the first few chapters as I had hoped that it would. The main character is a dwarf, the child of a mentally ill mother and a father disabled in World War 1, and whereas her life looked as if it would be interesting, if filled with angst, I was confident that this itself would not hold my attention for the whole of the book.

How wrong I was, becuase it is not Trudi's life that grabs you, it is the world she is living in - the horror of Germany between the wars. It is difficult to find words to describe how that world changes, with the rise of Adolf Hitler, and the slow and deliberate persecution of the Jews, and the terror of ordinary citizens who barely dared to question what was hapening to their lives. The story becomes shocking, unimaginable and utterly compelling. I also think that it is something that everyone should read, and I like my friend, will recommend it to everyone.

It is not an easy story to read, and Trudi, the main character is spiky and independent - not always easy to identify with. But is an important book because it also chronicles the life of everyday Germans who were caught up in unspeakable times, and it is with these characters that our sympathies lie.

I am pleased that I took my friend's recommendation. Again, not an easy read, but a picture of history that cannot be ignored. It is a truly compelling and magnificent novel.

Written in 1994, and set in the small (fictional) German town of Burgdorf from 1915 - 1951, this compassionate novel centers on Trudi Montag, a bright, observant, and articulate young woman who is also a zwerg, a dwarf. Born to a mentally ill mother who dies when Trudi is three, Trudi is at first bewildered by her small size, hanging from doorframes to "stretch" her arms and legs, praying that she will become more like other children, and believing that if she is truly good, God will help her.

Though a circus dwarf once comforts her by describing a fantasyland filled with gold and jewels, where everyone is a zwerg, Trudi finds that real life is not so magical. She is physically and emotionally assaulted, and, as a teenager, watches in horror as the Nazis come to power and assault and later "deport" her Jewish friends, who are now considered "different." Trudi's experience of her own "otherness" makes her a sympathetic friend and active supporter of the local Jews, and Hegi evokes great power by connecting the overwhelming Nazi horrors with the life of one small person in one small community. Through Trudi, Burgdorf's citizens come alive--those who befriend her and those who reject her, those who support her efforts to help the Jews and those who don't, and those who pity her and those who are inspired by her.

Throughout the novel, Hegi shows the power of storytelling to influence lives. Trudi works in her father's pay-library, and she is the community's best known storyteller, creating entertaining and lively stories that teach lessons, especially during the war years. But Trudi is no Pollyanna--she also uses her storytelling as a weapon against those who offend her, wreaking her own brand of personal vengeance. As the novel evolves, her childhood companions come and go. Some remain stalwart friends, and some change with the times. She matures emotionally, falls in love, and becomes part of the community's rebuilding after the war.

Hegi, who lived in Germany until she was eighteen, includes the small details of German life that bring the community and Trudi to life. Her depiction of war-time horrors is honest, and the stories of Trudi's Jewish friends are heart-breaking in their realism. Despite the sadness inherent in the times, however, Hegi is often lyrical in her celebrations of happiness, and Trudi's stories are often enchanting. Incorporating universal themes of love and hatred, life and death, strength and weakness, and acceptance and rejection, Hegi creates a novel that is as powerful on its second reading as it is on its first. n Mary Whipple

I usually try to avoid Oprah's picks for literature. After I finished She's Come Undone, I unknowingly picked up Stones without realizing that it, too, had Oprah's stamp of approval. The first few chapters--the ones dealing with Trudi's mother--bored me and I started to wonder why everything Oprah picked had to do with mental illness of some kind. Once I became engaged in this book, I could not stop reading it. I am amazed when I read other reviews by people who say that this novel is trite or that it's difficult to care about the characters. Not many Americans could relate the experience of the Nazi regime from the inside. Hegi stunned me as she gave me a clearer insight into World War II Germany (which my high school history classes failed at miserably). This piece works on so many different levels. Trudi's disability, if that's the word for it, is an allegory to which almost every other element in the novel can be compared. Stones connects a "biography," a story of a community, and a compelling account of a horrific time in world history. You don't have to care about Trudi, but didn't anyone feel for Alexander or Frau Abramowitz? I'm giving it four stars; Hegi lost my last star for making the first few chapters way too difficult to get through. But this book is definitely rewarding once you get into it.

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.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. The story is woven into a rich and vibrant fabric. There are those who would criticize it as an apology for German attrocities and compare that time in history to our VietNam war. Not the same. VietNam was brought to us in living color every night on every TV in every home. Telecommunication in Europe in the '40s was a lot slower and during that time in Germany news was sifted, sanitized and doled out in small portions via press and radio. Never mind that. Other critics complain that 3 year old Trudi could never have been so "knowing". Ha. This is ... hello ... FICTION! That notwithstanding this is a wonderful book. I thought Trudi was a brilliant character, full of pathos and humor, and very, very human. It is not perfect literature. It's not an accurate historical account of pre- and post-war Germany. It is a very readable, thought-provoking book; an interpretation of history by a gifted writer. I particularly enjoyed the metaphor of the "stones" and the river: ever changing, always the same. Doesn't make sense? Oh well, that's life. I would wholeheartedly recommed this book to anyone who appreciates a good story.

I read Stones from the River almost a year ago, and it is still resonating with me. After reading other reviews, most of which I agree with wholeheartedly, I felt compelled to voice my opinion, and response. Those few people who did not enjoy this book clearly did not understand the statement Ms. Hegi was making. Comments about self-pity and lack of compassion for a dwarf are offensive; the book beautifully chronicles the human condition in wartime Germany. I hope for those of you who "didn't care" about Trudi Montag that you never find yourself faced with persecution; Trudi Montag wasn't just short, nor was it just about Germany in the 30's and 40's. Ms. Hegi is speaking about greater themes that affect the entire human race; Trudi is judged BECAUSE she was born with physical deformity, and because she was born into Nazi Germany--this book could have spoken about someone in Africa, born blind. It is a universal message, highlighted by the atrocities of war. Comments calling the book "retarded" have obviously come from someone who has missed the beauty and depth of this piece, and doesn't grasp the insight behind this examination of the human spirit.

In Stones from the River, set in wartime Germany, in the fictional town of Burgdorf, Ursula Hegi sets the theme of her book early on through Trudi's mother, Gertrude. She allows her young daughter to run her fingers across the scars on her thigh, feeling the grains of gravel beneath, telling her, "People die if you don't love them enough." The grains of gravel paralleled the stones in the river (hence the title) - they were sins people committed that, like the ripples in water from a stone being cast in, showed their scar on the surface for only a short time and then disappeared, but the stones remain beneath, unseen, like the sin. Already one can see the relevance this will have regarding the upcoming events in the novel, regarding the atrocities under the Nazi regime.

Trudi is a zwerg girl, a dwarf, who at first puts her faith in prayer, wishing to grow taller. She is confident in the divine power and, especially after meeting another zwerg woman named Pia, a lion tamer, feels more positive about herself and the possibility of "normalcy." However, after four abusive neighborhood boys find her too different and repulsive to even rape and instead humiliate her and disrobe her, she loses all faith in prayer, and from then on seems to take nothing for granted, developing an early conviction of justice.

By the end of the novel, after the World War II horrors have come to light and Germany begins to put itself back together, Trudi and the allied forces are able to finally deal out their justice. As the Americans move in it is now the Nazi supporters which are the ones being investigated and ostracized, as they had done to the Jews and dissidents. Once again, the themes of the stones in the river/gravel beneath the skin are set upon the town. People try to forget and pretend like the atrocities of war didn't happen, though beneath the surface the effects are still potent and permanent, as Trudi is determined to remind people of it. Remembering her mother's quote, it was people's lack of empathy and compassion that allowed such a horror as the Holocaust to occur.

Stones from the River offers the reader insight and understanding into this important era of history, whose hometown experiences of prejudice, denial, and hysteria are not entirely unique. The novel traces the hardships of several families in Trudi's small town with varying degrees of emotional impact. The story seems to slump and meander at times, particularly in the beginning and ending of the book, which makes the overall experience anti-climatic. Patience is required. Instead the story's greatest strength lies in the middle, and it is this portion that makes the endeavor worthwhile.

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.

Not an easy read by any stretch, this book is well worth being tenacious. Trudi,the amazing dwarf/woman living a courageous life in Germany during WWII, left an indelible mark on my conscience and heart. It is difficult to understand what it must have been like to be Trudi. But Hegi did a masterful job sharing Trudi's life and struggles with us from her baby days through her adulthood. The book can be very sad, very wistful, and very hard to continue reading, but it is a triumph. A triumph of spirit and hope. A complicated maze of odd characters who struggle together during anything but normal circumstances. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Not for readers who like light stuff. This one will make you work but the rewards are many.

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.