Well, first of all I have never taken one month to read a book. By page 100, I was struggling and wondered if I should continue. I went back and reread the reviews, that inspired me to continue. As the story of the war became woven into Trudi's life, I became more intrigued how 'little' person Trudi would learn to leave her insecurities and gossiping behind to help others and find love and peace with her life. The second half of the book has been read in just the last week.

This tale follows the life of Trudi Montag, a Zwerg (dwarf) who we know spent at least the first 33 years of her life in pre- and post- WWII Germany. The changes in her town resulting from the horrors inflicted by war and time are all viewed through Trudi's eyes and the stories seem to be told from the perspective of a young woman whose differences set her apart from the other townsfolk from the moment of her birth.

As we are reminded of the atrocities committed in Nazi Germany to Jews and anyone who was not the Aryan ideal,Trudi's personal growth is explored as she spends her life coming to grips with her differences. By the time one reaches the end of this beautifully told saga, one realizes that while, on the outside, Trudi does indeed look different, she is not that different from most other people who have "stones" hidden beneath the "river" of their own lives.

Trudi is a remarkable character who used her gift of storytelling first for personal vengeance and later for the preservation of truth and soul redemption. And when it came right down to it, Ursula Hegi told the story of humankind's "longing for peace" and for the desire for that moment when "all the differences between people to matter no more... differences in size and race and belief ... differences that had become justification for destruction."

This wonderful book ends as fuel for my imagination. Since Trudi is still a young woman when the book ends, I can't help wondering what happens to her as she grows old. Her fate will occupy my consciousness for a very long time!

I've been having a difficult time getting in to this story. Maybe because there is too much detail. It's taking longer than usual to make any progress. But I've chosen to abandon the book, perhaps not permanently, because of two events that were too upsetting for me. I've read approximately 1/4 of the book.

An Oprah pick. Loved it.

A very good novel. It kept me up reading well past my bedtime several nights.
Once in awhile the author would quickly change scenes and it would take me a bit to find out who I was with and what was going on but I did get caught up after a page or so and I did adjust to the authors style.
Then I was caught up along in the flow, beauty and sadness of this wonderfully crafted, heart wrenching tale.
Really this took me into the town and lives of it's characters during Hitler's evil regime and
World War II.
Perfectly descriptive yet allowing me some freedom to use my own imagination asI pictured these lives in this charming community.
I fell in love with Trudy, her parents and their neighbors. Like all the town's women I was also falling in love with Leo the loving husband, father and librarian.
I still cannot shake these events or characters days after completing this they are on my mind and I already want to go back and experience this bitter sweetness again.
I seem to always be on the verge of nodding off when I want to attempt to write a review but I wanted to let you know, dear reader, I highly recommend this book.

My husband and I recently returned from a vacation in Germany and The Netherlands, and I always like to read fiction that takes place in states our countries that we visit. I re-read this book, which I first read 20 or so years ago, after reading another book Hegi wrote about the same little German town, Floating in My Mother's Palm.
The story takes place in Burgdorf, Germany, from the end of WWI until a few years after WWII. The main character is the dwarf, Trudi Montag. Her father returns home from the war crippled, and her mother descends into insanity after first giving birth to a dwarf and then losing her second child shortly after birth. Mrs. Montag dies while Trudi is still a very little girl. Trudi has early experience with denial of reality. She at first denies that her mother is dead, and is sure she will return soon. Later, she believes that, by stretching herself by hanging in doorways, she will grow as tall as other children her age.
Trudi is a lonely child because of her difference. But, after her initial experiences with denial, she becomes an astute observer of human nature, the town gossip and truth-teller. It is no accident that she and her father run the town's pay-library: a place where knowledge, information and dreams are available. Trudi manages to live a rich life: quietly but bravely defending her Jewish neighbors in WWII and briefly finding the romantic love that she longs for. She even vicariously experiences motherhood, and is honest with herself about the unhealthy aspects of her love for her friends' child Hannah. Trudi and Hannah's relationship is explored further in Floating in My Mother's Palm.
Like my reviews? Check out my blog at http://www.kathrynbashaar.com/blog/
Author of The Saint's Mistress: https://www.bing.com/search?q=amazon....

I picked this up from the book room at the high school where I work. I think this was the third time I’ve read it? So beautiful, so perfectly of a place. All the small town characters- the butcher, the taxidermist, the baker. I really love this book.

beautifully written but really, really long (over 500 pages long) at first i was enthralled by the writing but maybe halfway through i found myself kind of bogged down and bored. it's the life story of trudi, a dwarf, born in germany and who comes of age during world war II.

**UPDATE ** I changed my rating to 5 stars. :) I can't stop thinking about this book and I keep wanting to talk about it. I'll leave my previous review because it'll be informative if I ever look back on it, but this book definitely warrants 5 stars. I'm having Carter read it. The whole world should read it.

I should really be giving this book 5 stars--it was that good! It was just soooo sad. Really, really sad and hard.

I'm so glad I read it and I'm really impressed by the author, Ursula Hegi. She delved into what it means to be a human in society--what it means to be a friend, a lover, a victim, or a bully--with fearless honesty. It was incredibly refreshing and wise, and it taught me a lot. I've never read anything about WWII from this perspective and I found it fascinating.

It was just so sad. Its ending was profound but also SAD. So, while it was inspiring and amazing and has maybe made me a better person, I ultimately put down the book feeling super down and not much else.

I need to say, though, that I LOVED the writing. I am a fast reader and I usually finish books really quickly, but I soaked up every word of this one. It took a long time for me to read it, which almost never happens for me. I loved how it bordered on magical realism at times and how the descriptions had meaning. It was all very beautiful to me.

I read this book years ago and so can't provide a fresh and well detailed review. However, what I do remember is coming away with a keener perspective of what it was like to be a German (non jewish, not necessarily Nazi by choice) citizen under Nazi rule - something I really hadn't thought much about. We have of course read so many accounts of the horrors as related to the beleaguered Jews. This book, however, opened my eyes to how harrowing it must have been to be a German citizen trying to tiptoe through the ever changing maze of political correctness, be true to one's sense of humanity and yet keep self and family alive.

Other reviewers have done a great job explaining who the narrator is and how that works and so I'll not try to recreate that wheel. I had forgotten, or perhaps never learned well, that any that that were slow, or handicapped or different were potential "enemies" of the Nazi state, potential pollutants of the Aryan gene pool, and therefore subject to arrest. Those who felt differently were suspect by association...

I think I read this during the 2008 US Presidential election which spawned such hateful rhetoric. I remember thinking that the book illustrated so well how droves of people could be scared into genuine hatefulness when manipulated into believing their very survival is at stake. Hate mongering is a dangerous thing...

This was a good read. Intelligent. Thought provoking. Eye opening.

"E se vivevi abbastanza a lungo nel corpo di un mostro senza sentirti un mostro dentro, che cosa potevi fare allora perchè il tuo corpo non trasformasse anche il resto in qualcosa di mostruoso?"

Un bellissimo personaggio. No, Trudi non ha nulla di mostruoso rispetto al vero mostro che si nasconde nell'ipocrisia e nell'indifferenza di chi la circonda. Una Germania in cui pian piano si annida il seme dell'intolleranza nazista, ma prima ancora un paese come tanti, dove la vera mostruosità è il pregiudizio.
La maggior parte degli adulti non guardava Trudi negli occhi, si comportava come se fosse invisibile. I bambini la evitavano. Solo l'uomo-che-si-tocca-il-cuore, il matto del villaggio, infondo anima pura come lei, era uno dei pochi che guardava Trudi dritto in faccia..

"Ogni notte si addormentava pregando affinché, durante il sonno, il suo corpo si allungasse, crescesse fino a diventare delle dimensioni di quello di altre ragazzine della sua età [..]. Per dare una mano a Dio, Trudi si appendeva agli stipiti delle porte, tenendosi fino a quando le dita non diventavano insensibili, convinta di sentire le ossa allungarsi; molte notti si legava i foulard di seta di sua madre attorno alla testa - uno intorno alla fronte, l'altro sotto il mento- per evitare che si espandesse".
"[..] il suo corpo cresceva, ma, come se le sue preghiere si fossero trasformate in un orribile scherzo, non si allungava verso l'alto, come lei pensava avrebbe fatto[..], ma si espandeva nel senso di una solida larghezza.
A quel punto Trudi era già arrivata a capire che pregare per qualcosa non faceva sì che quella cosa accadesse. Era così e basta: non c'era un Dio magico, lei era bassa e lo sarebbe sempre stata, un giorno sarebbe morta, e qualunque cosa le fosse successa, da lì al giorno della sua morte, sarebbe toccato a lei decidere."

Sometimes I get to read a book that is not only great, but is also life-affirming a and life changing. 'Stones from the River' is that kind of a book.

This epic-like novel spans from 1915-1952 and takes place in Germany. Told from the vantage point of Trudi, a 'zwerg' (the German word for 'dwarf'), she recounts pre- and post-war Germany in her small town. Because she is tiny in stature she is often discounted and thought of as childlike. This is far from the truth. She is intelligent and wise. Because others often discount her, she gets to listen in on conversations and make observations without others paying any attention to her.

She observes and weaves mythic and morality tales to explore the diversity of the human spirit. Her tales of Germany during World War II were eye-opening for me. Because of the Holocaust, I did not have any particular desire to visit Germany prior to reading this book. After reading it, I have decided that I really want to visit Germany.

Trudi does a lot of self-examination and tries to understand the actions of her friends and acquaintances during World Wars I and II. She looks at the people who stood proud and with honor, many of whom acted with courage and faith. Many of the people in her town acted with exemplary courage and they are pillars for all of us.

Though this book is in novel form, Ms. Hegi knows her history and I even wonder if she experienced some of this firsthand or had these stories told to her by family members or friends. This is a book that I recommend for everyone. It will bring you to tears, laughter and ultimately show you the best that resides in all of us.