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Summary: weeewww Cold Mountain
Review: I was required to read a civil war novel for my history class this quarter and from my experiences last quarter I was very reluctant. I am very happy to say, although, I was pleasantly surprised. The book, Cold Mountain, is the story of two young people in love. Inman, the main character, was a solider at Gettysburg but was wounded severely and therefore released of his duties to his country. He decides one day to leave the hospital and walk across the country to his one and only love, Ada. Ada is the other character in this book. Her father has recently passed away and she is trying to manage his farm. She has no idea what she is doing but seeks help from a friend. My first thought was that it was very romantic to travel all that way wounded, and with nothing but the clothes on his back to his love. This automatically made me excited to start reading. He relied only on the people he met along the way to help him along and was not even sure if Ada would take him when he arrived. Several different things happen to him, he gets wounded again and meets some very..interesting people, but continues despite this. I think that this may have been one of the best books I have read this year. In the beginning it is very exciting, Inman first setting off on his journey and Ada, unaware, at home trying to fend for herself. Throughout the book I have to admit that I did get bored with the story. I feel Frazier dragged it out about five chapters longer than it should have been. I did not find the several parts of Inman's journey very interesting to read. And when i finished a chapter about Inman I dreaded to hear Ada's story next. The book was very action-packed but spread out too much and towards the middle I had to force myself to keep going. I am very glad I did though because I did enjoy the ending very much. The ending is what brought me to say it was one of the best books I've read. If the ending had not been as spectacular as it was I believe I would have felt like this book was a waste of my time. But, because it was put together so well and everything comes to together in the end I felt content. Cold Mountain is definitely worth reading and I absolutely loved it!
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Summary: CoLd MoUnTaIn - By: EmMa
Review: For our Advanced 8th grade history class, we were assigned to read a Civil War novel. A list was passed around and thus I selected Cold Mountain, due to the fact that it is an award winner. I started reading Cold Mountain, expecting a wonderful and exciting read. I was so very wrong. The story is about Inman, a wounded soldier and his journey back to his home town of Cold Mountain and back to Ada, his lover. I was a bit confused as to why this book is considered a Civil War novel, it only talks about the war a few times. And when it does, it only refers to the bloody battle of Petersburg which Inman tells to people he meets on the street. The gruesome details about this battle are quite. . . um well. . .detailed and thus I do applaud Charles Frazier for his talent of describing bullets hitting flesh.
When we are not hearing of Inman and his adventures home, the pathetic story of Ada, Inman's lover is taking place. Ada is a daughter of a preacher/priest who has recently passed away, leaving Ada and the farm alone. A life long city girl, Ada has no idea how to tend a farm so she hires Ruby, a free black woman to help her. Ruby ends up teaching Ada a lot about using her own two hands to work. The book then drags through their ...lives making the reader wish they had not wasted their money ...
Possibly I was too young to understand the significance of this book or maybe I lack the maturity to fully comprehend it, but to me, it was a complete waste or money and time. I suggest this book to Civil War fanatic, and no one more.
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Summary: Cold Mountain Review
Review: Cold Mountain Written by Charlez Fraizer is a pretty good book. I say Pretty good because there are a few flaws. In my mind there are two big flaws. The End is bad and Ada and Ruby are boring. This book does redeem its self with the travels of Inman. As i was reading the book i found i only liked half of the story. I always loved to read the parts on Inman. Ada and Ruby on the other hand was really boring. I mean they just sat around for Thirty pages. Also this book has the most boring ending possible. I mean nothing spectacular really happens he just shows up. I thought it was very boring. This book is very fun to read if you only read Inmans travel's. I would not buy it again, but if you have nothing else to read you may want to try it.
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Summary: Brittany's Review of Cold Mountain
Review: Cold Mountain was a great book. It had a captivating story which made me want to keep reading. It was not much of a Civil War book because it only mentioned a few things, like Confederates and Union soldiers, but that was about it. I thought their would be more action scenes but it's mainly about Inman's walk home, after he got injured in the war. It did, however, mention one gruesome scene that Inman had clearly remembered while in the hospital. I didn't want to put it down. The transition between the characters was interesting, I would say that Ada was my favorite. Ruby was mysterious and a little odd in my opinion. Although most of it was interesting, there were parts that I wanted to skip, but I didn't because I was afraid that I would miss something.
Some parts were just too graphic for my liking. Inman met many interesting characters on his journey home. There was a preacher, who tried to kill a girl, a man(whose name slips my mind) that he helps at his home, and the hog-eyed man that followed him and informed him about a girl who gave food and shelter, and a lot more, but those were the interesting ones. Inman becomes very brutal throughout the story. He kills a lot of people and doesn't really seem to regret it, but it probably comes and haunts him. I thought that the love story between him and Ada was a little weird because they only really saw eachother for so little but they were in love. Other than those few things, it was overall a good book.
I would definitely recommend this book, because this one is interesting and it was not a difficult or easy book. I really liked it.
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Summary: No Thanks...
Review: Starting out Cold Mountain, I did not have very many high expectations because of other historical novels I have read in the past. The beginning of the story was about the only part where I was actually hooked to it. The characters seemed interesting, and I could clearly picture what the scenes looked like. Towards the middle as well as the end of Cold Mountain, it was getting really slow and there was a lot of unnecessary information. For every twenty pages there were at least three full pages describing what the house looked like, or what the main character, Inman, dreamed about, or how they prepared a meal, ect. With so many needless facts, it made the book pretty tiresome and tedious to read. On a better note, with all the extra information, it did help me to clearly picture what was happening. What I also enjoyed about this novel was that it gave me a better idea on how harsh it would be to go fighting in a war or even stranded somewhere without any food or water and not knowing who to trust. To sum things up, even though there are some positives towards Cold Mountain, I would not choose a book like it or by the same author again.
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Summary: Yawn. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!
Review: This book is horrible! It is a Civil War novel? When does it mention the war? What was the point? I enjoy reading about the Civil War and this was a horrible representation of the tragedy that occured! Frasier spends more time writing about Inman's sexual life than he does in depicting the war. It says that Inman is a soldier. The only fights he gets into are battles against people that are trying to get him to return to the homefront. He is such a coward to be running away when his country needs him at this time. Okay, sure he is fighting for the wrong side anyway, but tha point is that he deserted when he was really needed. The only thing he seems to care about are his own pathetic life and his lover; drab, pathetic, city-girl Ada. Ada is too spoiled to know how to use her own hands for something other than fixing her hair in the morning, and she is totally dependant on her servant Ruby. Ruby runs the entire farm and spends the whole of the book getting Ada to get off her butt and help her. To top it all off, the book has the worst ending. If Frasier is going to put you through pain and misery to get to the end, he should have made it worthwhile. I really think this is the worst Civil War book ever written and I pity anyone who has the stupidity to say that this was a great book.
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Summary: Modern Day Mood Piece
Review: Charles Frazier has crafted with his first novel, Cold Mountain, a melancholy masterwork in detail. He has created a living, breathing world out of the last days of the civil war. Capturing the despair and gloom oh so well, he manages to describe into painful detail the mood of the dying dream of the Confederacy. While he does not bow into consummate and copious historical facts, the author instead winds up describing many mundane details, along with numerous, riveting recollections of the immoral and chaotic characters roving the decaying landscape. He allows this journey to happen via Inman, on an odyssey back to his beloved Ada. Following for the most part a Homeric tale, the novel actually falters only in the frequent switching between Ada and Inman, particularly because Ada's farming troubles only become interesting when Inman is meeting yet another vagrant or vagabond or varmint. While Inman's exploits only entertain when Ada and Ruby are busing fixin' chickens! But if I sound negative, it's only because the pace of the book, not that I didn't mind the fact that molasses moves faster, but that too much time was spent dwelling on the same mood. Add that to the isolated and clinical style of which it was written, Cold Mountain invariably leads one through hell at the pace of an old grandmother on a walker leading you with a piece of string. Though the scenery and imagery are worth it, just be forewarned at the fact that a child with ADD and ADHD and Tourettes like myself can not handle the monotony of melancholy. For those readers who enjoy reading slow books, with deliberate pacing, Cold Mountain will be worth it. Not just for the vivid and dreamlike detail or the well written flashbacks, or the fact that in all of its 450+ pages, you actually never are sure about anything. Which, is a twist on most novels in historical periods as the characters are on an odyssey. Which this book truly is, a modern day Odyssey described and written often in the style of a Romantic poet. With the desperation and evils being committed by the Union and Confederate soldiers along with simple civilians itself a truly grim portrait of the nature of war and its effects on humanity. The uncertainty and prevailing melancholy atmosphere more than enough qualifies Cold Mountain as one of the best mood pieces of the last 20 years.
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Summary: Quite The Interesting Story
Review: A starkly realistic portrayal (albeit not outstandingly written) of life during the Civil War Era, Cold Mountain does not shrink from the facts while following the lives of Inman, a Confederate deserter, and Ada, the girl to whom he journeys. Of the many good points of the story, I found the transformation of Ada an unexpected surprise. Her phenomenal character development takes her from carefree, ingnorant city girl to a mature, hardworking down-to-earth woman. The depressing, melancholic side of the book, however, almost outweighed what little happiness and knowledge there was to be gleaned. There definetly did seem to be an excess of the blood and guts factor, with both humans and animals butchered in graphic detail. Another thing to be forewarned of is the ending, which, while perfectly fitting to such a book, can be seen coming like a freight train on the prairie. Cold Mountain is a book that one must read repeatedly in order to FULLY COMPREHEND. Therefore, I would not recommend it to the slight of mind, or even those who prefer the more common action-adventure tale. While the book Cold Mountain had its highs and lows, I must say that it is for the most part a deeply moving read and an excellent historical fiction novel.
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Summary: Brilliant? No. Try Boring!!
Review: First of all, let me say that I did not read Cold Mountain of my own accord. I was required to read a Civil War novel for my History class, and Cold Mountain was at the top of the list.
But if you think this counts as a Civil War novel, there is something wrong with you. The story begins with the main character, Inman, in a hospital. He is recovering from an injury, and after recalling his horrible and bloody battle at St. Petersburg, he decides to go home instead of return to service. Throughout the rest of the story, Inman mentions the same battle over and over and that is all you hear about the war. So Inman begins his journey home, and we follow him through a few trials before learning about a few more characters. Ada is introduced as a pathetic city girl who's father was the preacher in Cold Mountain, but he has just passed away. Basically, Ada is not fit for farm work and has to choose between returning to Charleston or to risk starvation while waiting for Inman to return. She is in love with him and doesn't want to lose him. Ada is on the brink of starvation when Ruby shows up. Ruby is an independent black girl who comes and takes over the farm so Ada doesn't perish. All through the story we hear bland descriptions of scenery, people and the long drawn out story of Inman's journey and Ada's horrible farm life. Fraiser won an award for this? It doesn't deserve to be burned, much less to be in print. He needs to take Creative Writing 101, if he can find a teacher who will accept his crummy writing. In the story, Fraiser abuses morality, the Civil War, and the English language. It took me a long time to find anything interesting at all in the story, but eventually (at about page 150) I found something worth reading about. Anyone who can find this book exciting and gripping has no life at all! Do not read this book. I hope this review can save a lot of you readers out there time, money, and your sanity!
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Summary: A Must NOT Read
Review: For History class, we had to pick a book based on the Civil War for required reading. I decided to choose Cold Mountain because it looked interesting enough, being on top of the suggested reading list, and catching my interest with Amazon reviews online. It was also winner of the National Book Award. After I read it, I was stumbling over why it won this award.
Cold Mountain's plot is about two people trying to reunite after the Civil War. One is Inman, who is basically just wandering around meeting strangers throughout the whole book. Although not very often, he also recollects about experiences he had in the Civil War. This confused me because this book is supposedly about the Civil War, but in reality it was only mentioned it a few times throughout the entire novel. Ada, the other main character, needs help with the farm, which was passed down to her through her father, because she had never worked at a farm before in her life. Luckily, a girl named Ruby comes along and teaches her how to handle the farm. When the book focuses on Ada and Ruby, it is the same thing over and over again, Ada learning how to work on the farm, and Ada thinking about Inman. It all got very boring after a few chapters. Cold Mountain also had some sexuality included, which is inappropriate for middle school.
In conclusion, I thought this book was long and boring. I was hoping for it to mention the Civil War more often, but it rambled on and on with Inman and Ada's very sad lives. I'm still stumped as to why Cold Mountain won the National Book Award. I give this book one out of five stars. The book was so terrible; I used it to put me to sleep every night. Cold Mountain really dragged on about the same subject, which got really boring after the first couple chapters. If you have nothing better to do or have trouble getting to sleep at night, Cold Mountain is the right book for you.
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