FOUND: A Precious Gem in the Hegi Books

"Books don't change people; paragraphs do, 

sometimes even sentences."

-John Piper in A Godward Life

Do you believe that words can change you? I do. I've seen the evidence in my own life. Words can show you a different side to a problem. They can inspire you and move you to take action when you needed a little nudge to get you going. Words provide beauty and art and remind you that this is indeed a "beautiful world." Similarly, words can destroy. They lead to war, hate, anger, solitude and indifference. Think about what Piper is saying in the above quote...for such a short sentence, it does dig deep into our thoughts if we let it.

 I found a gem in two great historical novels recently, the books of German American writer Ursula Hegi. In the past month I read her books, Stones From the River  and The Vision of Emma Blau. Both are historical novels set around the time of WW II, and they are epics in that they span large amounts of time and are full of twists and turns. I enjoyed these books more than any others that I've read this year so I highly recommend them. Stones From the River is a novel about a Dwarf girl named Trudi who was born into a loving home in Borgdolf, Germany, but her mother couldn't handle the fact that Trudi was different. Eventually this led to her suicide, so Trudi and her father, Leo Montag, were left alone to live above the Pay Library that they ran and operated as their sole income. Many of the people in the small German village wondered what caused Trudi's dwarfism, but they eventually came to accept her. In this book we see that Trudi longs for what most people want, to be treated normally in all things, even in love. She is a strong, lovable character who always believes in kindness and love, but she isn't perfect. She faces the same struggles that all of us face, so she is genuine and believable.

 Throughout this tale we meet many characters in Trudi's life, people like the butcher, Max, Georgg, and Eva. These people live before, during, and after the reign of Adolph Hitler, so their lives change drastically. They didn't have much to eat during Hitler's reign, and they lived in fear of being arrested if they said the wrong thing. Trudi and her father eventually hid a Jewish mother and her son, even though were very afraid of what could happen to them. Read this book to find out what happens to Leo and Trudi..you will definitely be glad you did so. I couldn't put this book down. No wonder it made it onto Oprah's list of great books!

I enjoyed The Vision of Emma Blau just as much. This book chronicles the life of the German immigrant to the U.S., Stefan Blau. He left Germany when he was a young teenager to seek a better life for himself. He began working in the kitchen of restaurants and eventually built a castle-like building in New Hampshire that he called The Wasserburg ("water fortress"). The building held apartments and a restaurant, and Stefan rose to be known as one of the most successful men in town. He had three wives, the first two having died in childbirth, and he fathered three children. He was married to Helene the longest, his third wife, and they worked hard to see that The Wasserburg continued to be successful. We don't meet Emma Blau until the later third of the book, which I found interesting, since her name is in the title of the book. She is the granddaughter of Stefan and Helene Blau, and she is the final caretaker of The Wasserburg. The story begins in approximately 1900 and continues well into the 1980's, so I also consider it to be an epic, but it's also an epic in that there are so many characters and conflicts throughout.  Throughout the plot we learn of Stefan's struggles to become successful and also to be treated like an American. He and his family are sometimes made fun of because they are from Germany, a country that began to be seen as evil due to Hitler's horrors.

This book is great because Hegi knows how to write about several generations in a careful and smooth manner, and her language is beautiful. The book flows so easily that, once again, you won't want to put it down. The Vision of Emma Blau is a tale about hard work, perseverance, jealousy, happiness, love, and family dynamics. While reading this book you will realize that it bridges to Stones From the River in that some of the characters are the same. For example, Helene's brother is Leo Montag, Trudi's father, from the first book. When I read this I was glad to learn more about the characters that I liked so much.

We saw a movie this weekend, Tom Hanks' new film, "Sully." We wanted to see it because it's based on a true story and because we like Tom Hanks so much. The movie is only about 1 1/2 hours long, and it basically only has one conflict in it, so I wouldn't call it a great movie. Still, I'm glad I saw it because I learned about some of the things that were going on behind the scenes in Sully's life, things that I wasn't aware of. Our young adult son pointed out that most of the people watching the movie with us were "seniors," so I'm not sure it will appeal to the younger crowd.

I read Faithful Place for my book club in ten days, and it was pretty good, but I wouldn't put it in the same category as Hegi's books. Faithful Place is a murder-mystery set in Ireland, so if you enjoy mysteries you might like this book. By the way, if you are one of my new readers you may not be aware of my "top five" books, so here is a list that I consider to be great books:

Novels:

1. The Poisonwood Bible
2. Edgar Sawtelle
3. Cutting for Stone
4. A Prayer for Owen Meany
5. The Kite Runner

Nonfiction:

 1. An Hour Before Daylight (Jimmy Carter)
2. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How y Mom Raised 10 ids on 25 Words or Less
3. Little Heathens
4. The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
5. Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, and Teacher Man by McCourt