Stones from the River, by Ursula Hegi

Stones from the River, by Ursula Hegi was an interesting book. It takes place in the early twentieth century (1915-1952), in Germany. It descibes the life of a zwerg girl, or a dwarf, named Trudi Montag. From the very beginning of her life, from when she was first born, her mother knew there was something different about her. She wouldn't touch her own child for the longest time. Her mother suffered from severe post-pardoned depression, although it never actually clarifies that in the book. She would run away from her house in the middle of the night, and end up stark naked in from of the town church. She did that on more than one occasion, among other things. Eventually, Trudi's father had to lock her up to keep her from hurting herself or running around. That only worked for a time though, because she eventually learned how to escape from the sewing room that she was locked in.

As Trudi got older, her mother learned to accept her, and started treating her as a mother should treat their child. That only lasted for a time though, because she was in and out of asylums and then died when Trudi was around four years old.

Since Trudi is a dwarf, she is not accepted by the other children her age. She struggles with this for awhile, praying day and night for her to grow, and even trying to stretch herself out by hanging from doorways until her arms hurt. Her first friend, Georg Weiler, the neighbor boy whose mother dresses as a girl and is therefore unaccpeted as well as Trudi, is the only person there for Trudi. They would play games together and were basically inseparable. Then, once they started school, Georg befriends other, "normal" children and Trudi is once again left on her own.

Trudi goes through few friendships, and suffers through many hardships before learning how she fits into society. She learns that by becoming the town gossip, people will come to her for information about goings-on in the town and about other people. She has a natural talent for this, having been able to tell what people are really thinking, what they are really up to, right off the bat.

During World War II, Trudi watches as her lifelong neighbors, acquaintances and friends are taken from their homes in the middle of the night, simply for saying something about Adolf Hitler, the Furher, or the government, for supporting the Jews, or for being Jewish. She does what she can to help these people by finding out beforehand if there is going to be an arrest or offering to store their belonging in the pay-library that she and her father run.

As I said before, this was an interesting book. It was written in an odd style that is very descriptive rather than action-filled and exciting. It didn’t have the normal plot, with the problem, the climax, then the solution. It was more the entire life story of Trudi, and what she had to go through with being different. It also includes some bits and pieces of other people’s stories, as sidebars from Trudi’s life. I would recommend this book only if you were a very patient reader and had a lot of time on your hands to sit and read for long periods of time. Although, it was a very good book and if it weren’t so long I would recommend it for anyone.

Written and Published by Amy Sutton