STONES FROM THE RIVER

Rating:
Summary: Long on character, short on plot.
Review: Having attempted once to read this story of a German community, I forced myself to try again. I should have followed my instincts and put the book down. While the character studies were excellent --- Trudy Montag emerges as an almost heroic woman --- the plot was aimless. Nothing ever quite reached maturity: not Trudy, not the various neighbors, not the relationships, not the plot. Virtually every vignette was left hanging and the point of the book --- that everyone has a flaw --- was underscored by the flaws of the book itself. This book cries out for an editor to impose some closure and to give the reader a reason to keep going. The only reason I finished the book was to discover if there was a hidden plot. There wasn't. If a reader has nothing better to do, this book is worth reading. If there is anything else to do, by all means, do it.

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding statement about grief, war, life
Review: I read this book over a year ago and thought it was magnificent. Recently, I heard Hegi read the book on audiotape. Wow. It was even better in some ways. She has a lilting German accent, and it just makes everything come alive. There are two passages in the story that truly stand out: the suicide from the rooftop and Trudi's grief after the lose of her father. When will Hegi give us another gem?

Rating:
Summary: hmmmm...
Review: When I purchased this book, the clerk said to me, "oh, you are going to love it... it is going to be a classic". It took me so long to actually get involved into the characters, and even afterwards I would find myself loosing track and spacing during the middle of a page. We have all heard numerous stories of the horrors of WWII; I wish that Hegi had concentrated a little more on Trudi and her character development.

Rating:
Summary: Audio book review.
Review: I listened to the unabridged audio book version, read by the author. It was very moving, hearing it told with the author's accent. I think anyone who feels they did not quite "fit-in" with the norm would really enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Tour de force!!!
Review: This is definitely my favourite book of all time. I have never read a book that made me feel so good while reading it. Even when I had finished it, I secretly wished that it wasn't over. Trudi is a character that will stay with me forever and I am eternally grateful to her for giving me a new and interesting perspective on life.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: Perhaps I was expecting too much, having read so many glowing reviews; but I stuck with it, thinking, ah, it will pick up, and towards the middle it does, but then it seems to lose its energy again... I liked Trudi and really felt for her but I was simply not compelled by the story, so much of it was predictable, a foregone conclusion... Maybe I'm just jaded, having read too many WWII stories by now, and watched the entire soap "Heimat"... There is a novel about WWII by Erich Maria Remarque, A Time to Love and A Time to Die, which is the best "German point of view" novel I've ever read, and I'm afraid to say that Ms Hegi's book paled in comparison.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent! Couldn't put it down!
Review: What a wonderful writer Ursula Hegi is! She's created a fascinating, multi-layered character in Trudi. In fact, the entire town is a character in this book. I've never read a book told from the P.O.V. of ordinary Germans during WWII, and it felt very real, and very moving.

Rating:
Summary: A great way to learn some important history!
Review: I finally could put myself into a world I had always wondered about. The displacement of friends, relatives, and lives--vividly told. Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Non del tutto convincente.
Review: Mi sembra che questo romanzo alterni momenti più riusciti ad altri meno felici. Nella fattispecie, mi pare migliore la parte relativa a Trudi bambina, mentre quando l'autrice tende a dare una dimensione corale al romanzo, allargando la focalizzazione all'intero villaggio, i risultati sono meno brillanti. Penso anche che alcuni personaggi minori avrebbero potuto essere meglio caratterizzati. Tuttavia, non bisogna dimenticare che vi sono alcuni momenti di sottile suggstione.

Rating:
Summary: Not my type story --- moves along very slowly
Review: I really wasn't expecting much from this book from the start so I got what I expected and wasn't disappointed. A lot of it was sappy and depressing and if it weren't for the fact that it was a required read, I wouldn't have gotten past the first chapter. Once you bypassed the slow beginning, the story gets a whole lot better. Then you get towards the end and you think this book is going to have a lousy ending. What exactly is the climax of the plot?