This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could.
There’s more fiction telling the story of the Second World War from the German point-of-view these days but when Ursula Hegi’s Stones from the River was published it was a rarity which is perhaps why I was so struck by it at the time. Spanning the years 1915 to 1952, it’s a complex portrait of a small town seen through the unflinching gaze of Trudi Montag.
Trudi is a zwerg, a dwarf, struggling to bridge the gulf between the way she sees herself and the way others see her while her hometown tries to deal with the crushing defeat of the First World War and ever-worsening economic conditions. As Trudi becomes an adult, a target for the insecurities and prejudices of those around her, she empathizes with the humiliations inflicted upon her Jewish neighbours when the newly established Nazi regime begins to flex its muscles. At great risk to themselves, Trudi and her father provide a hiding place for Jews, friends and strangers alike. When the war is finally over, the people of Burgdorf are faced with the shame and guilt, not only of a second defeat, but also of the atrocities of the Holocaust and the implications of their own part in it.
Born in Germany in 1946, Hegi was taught nothing about the part her country played in the war, amazed to find that her Americans friends knew far more about it than she did when she emigrated aged eighteen. Much of her writing, both fiction and non-fiction, was written in an attempt to understand her parents’ generation and their inability to confront what had been perpetrated by their country.
What about you, any blasts from the past you’d like to share?
You can find more posts like this here.
Well. On the strength of thos review, I’ve just ordered a copy. And not from the library either.
Bingo! Hope you enjoy it.
Sounds like an interesting book. I imagine responding to the denial of the past and its atrocities and traumas can be a difficult terrain to navigate as a writer. There is more literature emerging in this genre, be it being about war or types of institutional abuse. One of my favourite fiction books on this particular theme is The Reader.
Difficult terrain, indeed. I remember The Reader well. Interestingly, it was published in Germany in 1995. Much later, Timur Vermes satirised Hitler in Look Who’s Back which was a German bestseller.
This completely passed me by! It sounds really powerful and an ambitious novel to write.
I think she felt impelled to right it. Such a legacy to shoulder.
This sounds excellent. As for blasts from the past, one novel that had a huge impact on me at the time was The Bone People by Keri Hulme. I know it got a lot of press and was added to school curricula in NZ, but I don’t know how many people read it today.
I remenber reading that when it won the Booker. So many years ago that I’m sure it would stand a reread, Good to hear that it became a set book.
I have the Bone People on my TBR stack. It’s a big book, hopefully get to it soon.
Winter reading, perhaps
The author’s story is fascinating! I’ve never heard of her before. I’d like to learn more about her.
I don’t know if she’s still writing but I found this novel so enlightening, not to mention that she grew up in Germany with little or no knowledge of the war.