The Love of Stones

I think the reviewers who have rated this book low were disappointed because they didn't get what they expected: a fast-paced thriller. Tobias Hill was trained as a poet. THE LOVE OF STONES must be read slowly, like an epic poem. It's true the protagonist is somewhat distant from the reader, but that's because she's an abstraction; the true protagonists in this story are the stones themselves. If you're looking for a page-turner in the style of Dan Brown or Tom Clancy, you're looking in the wrong place. If you're looking for rich language, exquisite descriptions, and a suspenseful atmosphere, this book is for you. Take your time reading it. The scenes and characters---and stones---will stay with you long after you're finished.

The Love of Stones is a real-live treasure hunt, the story of a 25-year-old woman searching for The Three Brethren, a long-lost brooch of jewels. It's a fascinating read, terse and intense, going from one century to another, following the stones through the ages and following Katharine Sterne, the main character, in her search. Katharine is strange, tense, obsessed, uncaring. We never see her fully, but then, we don't really have to. It doesn't matter what she looks like. We never really learn why she is so obsessed to find and possess this jewel, but I think I understand. She is driven by the same thing that makes someone climb mountains, and another person paint. There are unanswered questions - where does she get the money to finance her five-year search? How did she learn of the jewel in the first place? Who were the people following her? Then, what happened after the narration stopped? Did she go see her sister & niece? Did she find Hikari? Was she content? The work feels incredibly... authentic, real. As if this really did happen, as if there really is a jewel called The Three Brethren that many people are searching for. Tobias Hill obviously did a great deal of research for this. He clearly lived in the places he wrote of - Turkey, Japan, England - or seriously immersed himself in literature and academic information from the area. And his knowledge and description of jewels and the jewel trade - in depth, believable. I wish the author had included a timeline. It got VERY confusing as to what happened when, and where Katharine was, and who had the jewel at what time. It would have been a nice reference to review as I wound my way through the story. The writing - amazing. Terse, descriptive. I could smell, see and feel the places described in the book. The author also did a great job of showing, not telling - for instance, we know that the brother, Salman Levy, is addicted to his opium, but never in the book does it actually say that. When Katharine was in danger, my heart rate increased. This book is very different than typical literature. Highly recommended.

The other reviewers have talked about plot and character and I agree with the positive things they've said. But I want to talk about something else: the language. Tobias Hill is an extraordinarily talented writer. His economy of language, his inspired word choices, his awesome power of description, his ability to create living people in a few deft phrases are not only impressive, they are writing to savor.Reading Hill's book is like eating truffles. You read slowly because you know there are only 396 pages and you don't want the book to end. I would offer sacrifices to the Gods of writing that Hill be prolific.One more observation: every page on this book contains surprises--surprising dialog, suprising events, surprising characters...the kinds of surprises that real life presents you with, if you're lucky. I know this is fiction, but it has a quality of reality that is rarely found in fiction. If I could give it six stars, I would. I find myself buying copies and sending them to friends.

Great language which balances out the rather technical features of the book. Interesting research and interpretation of this. Amazing climax in the end and it shows a great competency for timing and story telling.Bravo

I bought this book with trepidation because a novel I have written is also about a woman's quest and at its very heart is a spinel, the balas ruby of The Love of Stones. As in Hill's novel there are also two historical threads interwoven with and paralleling a present day story. I came to the conclusion that this was synchronicity as we must all be tapping into the vast collective where ideas and images rising simultaneously from the unconscious overflow into the imaginations of writers and artists. In reviews the only flaw in this gem of a novel seems to be the inclusion (to use gemological terminology) of its protagonist, Katherine Sterne. If Sterne is not a lovable character, at least she is an interesting one. As I turned the book's well-written pages I kept asking myself, "Since when must we like the protagonist?" At first I'd wanted to be cheering for Katherine, but before long I was following her quest in fascination. Kate Sterne is not as mad as the collector of John Fowles' eponymous novel, but total self absorption, toughness and sang-froid can be traits of a collector's obsessive personality gone awry. The author, in describing the diamond might very well be describing his Kate--obviously the cold, driven character he intended her to be. In this way Hill keeps Sterne's quest from becoming "a sentimental journey." "On the Moh scale of hardness the diamond is ten...but this is deceptive. For one thing diamond is the only gem which will combust, burning with a clear, quick white flame. It is as if the crystal were somehow organic...like skin and bone. And diamond is brittle as bone. There is hardness but no flexibility, and brittleness is an unforgiving quality."But Katherine is enthralled with rubies. Rubies are a warm stone, implying heart, feeling, passion, the rubedo of alchemy, the philosopher's stone. Unfortunately Katherine does not go through the step by step alchemical process to deservedly earn the rubedo. We see her transformation at book's end, when Katherine's character all too hurriedly, all too unconvincingly reaches a degree of wholeness. It is at this point in the narrative that I find a small inclusion, but not enough of one to warrant giving The Love of Stones fewer than the five stars it deserves. For those lured to the lore and arcana of gemstones, this rich, evocative and literate novel can be read and re-read. Like her or not, Katherine Sterne has remained with me. She will be included in my roster of memorable, if not lovable women characters, along with Lawrence Durrell's Justine and Edith Wharton's Lily Bart.