Search - Stones From The River

Difficult to get into (about 100 pages), but worth it, once you do. I learned more about WWII reading this novel than I ever did in a history book (sadly). Hegi's characters drove home the pain of having war touch you personally, although you may not be politically involved. Her unique approach to the war descriptions was Shirley Jacksonesque - she presents rumors, bits and pieces, phrases -- and lets your mind assemble them into the horrors you already know took place. One by one, you are introduced to, grow to love, and read the fates of, each person in the main character's (Trudi's) life. Expect to form strong, sentimental attachments.

Every couple of years, I take 'Stones from the River' off my bookshelf and read it over again. I first heard about this book beacuse it was an Oprah's book club pick. 'Stones from the River' is about the life of Trudi Montag,a dwarf who is living her life in a small town in Germany. The book is from Trudi's childhood to her adulthood. She is such a great character and this book is an outstanding read. I wasn't disappointed at all. My favorite line from the book occurs when Trudi is talking to a man named Adolf, a Jew who is hiding in Trudi's house during WWII, and she is comparing the suffering that he and others Jews are going through to others and he tells her: "...But we can't do that-compare our pain. It minimizes what happens to is, distorts it. We need to say, yes, this is what happened to me, and this is what I'll do about it."

I got half way through and couldn't put it down! This Oprah Book Club book from 1997 is completely worth the read. It was very interesting and educational - letting you see the German view of WWII. I was, as many other reviewers, able to learn more about WWII than I had in school. I loved the character associations and seeing them 'grow' from childhood in the early 1900's to later on in life after WWII - seeing how they changed and how their families changed or were lost.
A book you won't regret getting into.

I thought it was very well written.Would recommend it.

I loved this book...Wonderful story. I could not put this down. A definite classic in modern literature. If you like historical novels pre and during WWII, you will eat this book alive. What a writer!

I found Trudi's personal story less interesting than those of her neighbors. The systematic dehumanization of the Jewish population through Trudi's eyes is well-told. It doesn't feel like a fictionalized account. The horror of how the war made people turn against eachother, even against their own family members, or how people just disappeared never to be heard from again, is unforgettable.

One passage made such an impression I went through half of the book to find it again:

' "I wish they'd make up their minds," Michael Abramowitz said to Leo when he bought his pipe tobacco. "Is Hedwig a witch or a Jew?"
"Why not both? The more labels they find for her, the more justified they can feel in what they're doing."
"Labels..." '

With this kind of wisdom and insight in her fiction, Ursula Hegi is an author I look forward to reading more from.