Stones from the River (Paperback)

True enough, this is a work of fiction,but how much can a writer stretch fiction and thereby distort reality?

As a former Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, I object, for example, to Hegi's reference to the widespread demolition of Jewish property (p.262, pb) without pinpointing that this marked the outbreak of Kristallnacht, of November 9/10, 1938, the cataclysmic pogrom that swept through Nazi Germany. She does use the term subsequently (p.310), but the average reader should not be expected to connect the two events.

As a translator, I rebuff Hegi's faulty English rendering of German 'kinderreich' translated several times as 'child rich' when in fact it means 'fertile.' This is about the worst of several other mistranslations in the book. When in doubt, Ursula Hegi, consult a translator, although doubt is evidently not one of your priorities.

"Stones" is the story of Trudi Montag and her German town of Bugdorf. The story takes place from roughly 1915-1945, and chronicles Trudi's growing up, the lives of some of her townspeople, and most importantly, the challenges faced by Trudi and the rest of Bugdorf due to Hitler and WW2. The added "twist" in this story is the fact that Trudi is a dwarf. somewhat shunned by her townspeople and always feeling the void of her mentally ill mother's death when she was a girl, Trudi is a thoughtful, sometimes interesting, and always insightful character.

I know this plot sounds promising, but now is the time for me to point out some major flaws that spoiled "Stones from the River." First, there was just a general "dullness" to this book. Hegi's habit of using run-on sentences frequently and narrating in a "rambling" style full of boring information did nothing to futher the plot. Not only was the writing "flat"; it was further ruined by the use of phrases such as "dog sh--", etc. Needless to say, these phrases add no uniqueness or interest to the descriptions, they simply annoy the reader with the author's lack of writing skills.

The plot also suffers because of the general lack of suspense. I was extremely irritated when the text was filled with lines such as, "She saw John, who would be dead in 15 years." Okay, now we really are in suspense about John! It is obvious that these "futuristic comments" shouldn't be revealed early...the reader should be in suspense and SURPRISED when something happens. I kept waiting for some change in Trudi or SOMETHING...but then I was on page 524 1/2 and NOTHING majorly shocking or exciting had happened!

Last, and certainly not least, it really bugged me how every character had some major problem. One was gay, one was a glutton, some were unhappy with their marriages, one had a retarded child...and the list goes on! I know that nobody is perfect, but it is slightly unbelievable to have a whole cast of characters that are seriously warped.

Trudi isn't a bad main character, and the one GOOD thing she does is show how the average German responded to Hitler and HOW the Holocaust happened, but the many, many flaws in "Stones" overshadow any good things about this book. If you want an inspiring female character and a fascinating historical setting, look elsewhere!