Rating: 
Summary: Patience will be rewarded
Review: The premise of showing"ordinary" people in extraordainary times was very intriguing to me when I read this book. I very much wanted to give it a 5 star rating right up to the end, but was unable to. The book can easily be broken up into3 segments - before the rise of the Nazis, the Nazi terror and the aftermath of war. That is perhaps what causes the feedback from other reviewers on this page regarding the beginning-middle-ending being either interesting or not interesting. That is also what requires patience on the part of any reader. The majority of the book is hard to put down, but to get to that point, you must first make it though the first 200 pages, and then try to retain direction in the final part of the story. Still a recommended read.
Rating: 
Summary: Trudi
Review: The book was good, but a little too graphic in some places. Other than that, I thought it was well written and had a good storyline. Trudi was a character that you could connect too. I felt that it was the saddest part near the end-but I won't give it away.
Rating: 
Summary: Stuck on page 300
Review: I started the book knowing that I had to get past the first 100 pages and I did. But, for the last few days, I've been stuck around page 300. The story has great potential, but there's too many "little" details to keep in your head. I love the character of Trudi and how she interprets what is happening. Her point of view is a very powerful one, but I think it gets lost when it's intertwined with so many other characters!
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful stories
Review: I just read through people's comments and can't believe that readers weren't more universally moved by this book. The fantastic descriptions of a small town and its people woven into the history of Germany during WWII on several levels simultaneously is brilliant. And yes, the immediate theme of "outsider-ness" is, I would think, easy for any reader to immediate perceive and find applicable throughout the story.
Rating:
Summary: Gave it an Honest 125 page try!
Review: At times, I found this book interesting, but it would frequently drag me off to irrelevant unknown places, too many characters that I was uninterested and lost! I tried, but after 125 pages, I couldn't imagine going to the 500 or so!
Rating:
Summary: Be prepared for a powerful read...
Review: I can usually read whatever I choose, but this book touched me so profoundly that I had to put it down. Later I attempted to pick it up again, but had to abort my effort to read Ursula Hegi's "Stones from the River". The writing is beautiful, the story is compelling. And, someday it will again come off the shelf.
Rating:
Summary: indeed good till the end
Review: This book is outstanding, it was recommended to me by my grandmother. i am only 13 years old and ever since learning about the journal of anne frank i have gotten an intrest of learning about WWII. i found this book very hard to put down and would recomend it to anyone that would like to read a good book
Rating:
Summary: Very moving!
Review: Stones from the River is one of the best books I've ever read. Ms. Hegi is a brilliant and gifted writer, and her exposition of the politics of the "other" or "outsider" was one of the best I've ever come across. The characters are extremely well developed; I felt an instant connection to Trudi. It was especially refreshing to read about the human, personal stories of World War II-era Germany. The novel compelled me to think about these people and their choices, or lack thereof, in a way I'd never considered. I would recommend this story to anyone. You won't regret it!
Rating: 
Summary: Patience is a pre-requisite for this book
Review: Patience is a pre-requisite for this book. Just so you know, you have to be prepared for a very slow moving book, with a lot of wordiness and only so-so visual imagery. I usually like recommendations from Oprah's book club, but this one was not as good as the others. I expected more from this book, maybe because it is set in between WWI & WWII, and had so much potential to have so much happen, but it doesn't. Instead, it goes on and on about Trudi's thoughts and aimless plots, and not about what's going on around her. Some people might like this wordiness but I prefer a faster, edgier moving paced book.
Rating:
Summary: One of my top 10 favorites
Review: This is a rich, colorful story written for everyone who has ever felt that they were different. Hegi brings to life a time and place known to most only through stark newsreel footage.
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