• We are going to meet...
• Nominations for future meetings.
• Discuss selected book.
• The "Sandbox"
• Books History (See below)

Our May selection is:
"Stones From The River"
by Ursula Hegi

Set in the small (fictional) German town of Burgdorf from 1915 - 1951, this compassionate novel centers on Trudi Montag, a bright, observant, and articulate young woman who is also a zwerg, a dwarf.  Born to a mentally ill mother who dies when Trudi is three, Trudi is at first bewildered by her small size, hanging from doorframes to "stretch" her arms and legs, praying that she will become more like other children, and believing that if she is truly good, God will help her.

Though a circus dwarf once comforts her by describing a fantasyland filled with gold and jewels, where everyone is a zwerg, Trudi finds that real life is not so magical.  She is physically and emotionally assaulted, and, as a teenager, watches in horror as the Nazis come to power and assault and later "deport" her Jewish friends, who are now considered "different".  Trudi's experience of her own "otherness" makes her a sympathetic friend and active supporter of the local Jews, and Hegi evokes great power by connecting the overwhelming Nazi horrors with the life of one small person in one small community.  Through Trudi, Burgdorf's citizens come alive--those who befriend her and those who reject her, those who support her efforts to help the Jews and those who don't, and those who pity her and those who are inspired by her.

Throughout the novel, Hegi shows the power of storytelling to influence lives.  Trudi works in her father's pay-library, and she is the community's best known storyteller, creating entertaining and lively stories that teach lessons, especially during the war years.  But Trudi is no Pollyanna--she also uses her storytelling as a weapon against those who offend her, wreaking her own brand of personal vengeance.  As the novel evolves, her childhood companions come and go.  Some remain stalwart friends, and some change with the times.  She matures emotionally, falls in love, and becomes part of the community's rebuilding after the war.

Hegi, who lived in Germany until she was eighteen, includes the small details of German life that bring the community and Trudi to life.  Her depiction of war-time horrors is honest, and the stories of Trudi's Jewish friends are heart-breaking in their realism.  Despite the sadness inherent in the times, however, Hegi is often lyrical in her celebrations of happiness, and Trudi's stories are often enchanting.  Incorporating universal themes of love and hatred, life and death, strength and weakness, and acceptance and rejection, Hegi creates a novel that is as powerful on its second reading as it is on its first.

Short biography on Ursula Hegi
Oprah's Book Club on Stones From The River
ReadingGroup Guides Study Questions

We'll be meeting on Monday, the 4th of June,
at Little Hills Winery & Restaurant
501 South Main Street
in Historic St. Charles 63301
phone: 636.946.9339
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