Stones from the River
Author: Ursula Helgi
Amazon info
Trudi Montag is different, shunned, friendless, and abused. Wait, didn't I just read this book? No that was "She's Come Undone". Once I got past the "why are all these books so similar?!?!" I became absorbed in Trudi's world, which is a world of stories - the ones we read and the stories that she tells others. It is her storytelling that is her path to acceptance and I imagine there is some self-similarity between Trudi's stories and gossip of her neighbors and the story of the book. But I didn't figure out what it was, heck, I had a hard enough time remember the names of the characters. Perhaps it was the German names, perhaps it was just laziness on my part.
The book starts with Trudi's birth in 1915 and takes us through Germany wars and the times with Hitler. The historical backdrop and perspective made it more engaging to me than "She's Come Undone" and I found it to be more realistic while handling similar themes. Trudi's difference is that she is a Zwerf, German for dwarf. And unlike the overweight Dolores Price, Trudi will never grow to normal size. So her story might be about coming to terms with what can't be changed (while fight what can be changed, i.e. the Nazi regime). But it might be about something totally different. I should go back to reading books on programming.
Recommended to all: Special credit to someone who creates a list of characters.