STONES FROM THE RIVER, for which author Ursula Hegi received a
PEN Faulkner award nomination, is the story of an unusual child who
grows to womanhood in Nazi Germany.Trudi is born in 1915 to Gertrud and Leo Montag, who own a
pay-library business on the first floor of their home in Burgdorf,
Germany. Gertrud dies when Trudi is but four years old, and
neighbor Frau Blau steps in to help Leo raise his
daughter.Trudi Montag is a zwerg, or dwarf. Rejected by the town
children because of her small stature, Trudi attempts to stretch
herself by hanging from a door jamb until she drops to the floor.
But no amount of body stretching will overcome her plight as a
dwarf. When she is humiliated by a group of boys who taunt her when
they catch her swimming alone in the river, she hurls stones
against the riverbank in revenge. From that time on, she seeks not
to blend into society but to survive with her handicap.The
author uses the pay-library setting as a vehicle for Trudi to
mingle with the townspeople. There, she absorbs gossip, everyday
life stories, events, and truths. She embellishes the stories and
becomes a source of information; Trudi is a loyal friend and a
sympathetic listener.Trudi is especially drawn to underdogs like herself, like the
now persecuted and hated Jews. When politics of the larger German
society filter into the small town and young people become members
of Hitler's student movement --- invading Trudi's life the night
their bonfires burn all banned books in Germany --- Jewish friends,
now marked, become Trudi's passion.Hitler's rise to power, its effect on the lives of ordinary
people, and the chances Trudi and her father take to right their
society's wrongs are the fabric of this book. Trudi's stories mend
differing political realities and change lives. When she seeks
meaning, relationships, and wholeness, she befriends Pia, an adult
zwerg working for a carnival and Max, a man who accepts her as an
equal. But Georg, a boyhood friend, ultimately betrays
her.Hegi's characters are "German" to their roots, believable and
understandable, because she develops her story in real German
history. Trudi's character as a dwarf gives the added dimension of
the perspective of a handicapped person living in a time and place
of great persecution. Her transformation from child to adult is
symbolized when she builds with stones from the river rather than
throwing them away.Of
loneliness, Pia tells her, "None but you can change
that."This
book is a must read for students of history and personality; one
small individual opens our eyes to history with a worldwide
view.(c)
Copyright 2001, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.