Rating: Summary: One of the greatest books I've read in a while. Review: I'd heard mixed reviews of this book. My parents said it was too slow. That seemed to be the only complaint I heard. I read it for a class. It is, without question, one of the greatest books I've read. It paints the Civil War in a way I've never seen it: that is, a white southerner who actually doesn't glorify it. Which I thought was good, great even. Contrast it with the people Tony Horwitz interviews in "Confederates in the Attic" and you'll see what I mean.Farrell
Rating: Summary: Good, not great Review: Cold Mountian is a book that: -Takes a while to get into. -Uses no quotation marks to indicate dialogue, but rather uses dashes (like the ones I'm using for each point here), which is a little rough to get used to. -Paints wonderful pictures of the landscape, of the way war looks, feels and smells, of the thoughts of the characters. -Spends a lot of time in flashbacks. It seems that some chapters were only written so that one character can either be stuck somewhere and have to tell someone else about their past, or be stuck somewhere alone and get lost in thought in order to remember part of the past. -Uses a very consistent language, one that I am sure was time-specific, except for the occasional use of profanity that seems out of place in narration, especially since I don't recall any of the characters using it. -Is a good book. Not great, but worth a look. I don't feel that I wasted my time with it, but at the same time, I spent part of each chapter thinking about what I would get to read once I was done with this.
Rating: Summary: A great book, one of my all time favorites. Review: I really liked this book, all of the descriptions, and everything else in this book make it come alive to me. I really like the beginning, how Inman escapes, and Ada is slowly starving to death. THis is one of the greatest books ever, and I recommend this book to everyone.
Rating: Summary: Slow to Warm Up, Still in My Thoughts Review: This is not an easy book to get into. I read a chapter, put it down and waited a week to come back to it. Am I ever glad I did! It's definitely a story that slowly entangles you. I couldn't care less about the characters until a third of the book had passed, but I'm still thinking about them -- vividly -- more than a week after finishing the novel. I think about Inman especially, perhaps because of the strength of the "hero's journey" storyline that we know so well, and the briefly spotlighted, yet so lovingly written Veasey. Stick with this story.
Rating: Summary: Wonderfule novel Review: Charles Frazier has written a novel that succeeds on a number of levels. The story itself is interesting; following the Oddysey-esque journey of a man fleeing the Civil War (and the man it turned him into) to recapture his life. We also meet the woman he fell in love with before the war interrupted everyone's lives. But the true success of the novel is the language. It is beautifully written, perfectly capturing the mood the writer is looking for. If you are looking for a book that will briskly while away a few hours, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a beautifully written account of life during the end of the Civil War, buy this book and enjoy.
Rating: Summary: Love it or hate it Review: This book came pretty highly recommended to me, so although the beginning did not seem especially promising, I made a valiant attempt. I got as far as the end of page 135 and gave up. My rule of thumb is, if the book hasn't grabbed your attention by 1/3 of the way through, don't waste any more time. Everyone seems to have a different opinion of the main characters, but I thought they were both flat and boring. However, I'll admit that it's a matter of taste, so let's move on to something more important. The format of the dialogue is WAY distracting! I guess Frazier's trying to write in a streamlined, "modern" style, but I'm used to dialogue that has quotes around it, not just dashes in front of it. And if the dialogue occurs in the middle of a paragrah, there is no indication of where it begins or ends! Even if it were the best book in the world I would have trouble getting around that. However, it is not the best book in the world, so I had to give up and move on to something that's a little more worthwhile. So I started Les Mis. So far, I think I made the right choice.
Rating: Summary: One Of The Best Books I've Read. Review: "Cold Mountain" is a Civil War tale about a wounded soldier named Inman who making conflicts with people on his way back home to his love, Ada. You will find the characters living in your head for a long time and it is thrilling and finely detailed. I strongly recommend this book to anybody who likes adventurous books. It has a very powerful story and it is very moving. Cold Mountain is a "Grade A" novel.
Rating: Summary: Will be on your list for the rest of your life Review: There are few books at the very top of my list, and Cold Mountain, along with Confederacy of Dunces and Phantom Tollbooth, is firmly lodged there. Without leaving your bed or couch, your brain gets taken to places it would not normally go, gets beaten, run to within an inch of exhaustion, delighted beyond words, and sent to bed tired and aching and dying for more. Get it, love it.
Rating: Summary: Slow, Pointless and boring Review: Can someone please expain the point of this book? I got 80 pages into the book and realized I had no interest in finishing the book. I could care less what happened to these characters. I heard they are making a movie out of the book and if that is the case, go see the movie if you need a good nap.
Rating: Summary: Wonderful Novel, But Some Things Are Amiss... Review: If you ask me, I'd say blame Kaye Gibbons. Her blurb on the back jacket of Cold Mountain said it was the best CW novel since Killer Angels (a personal favorite of mine) and that the writing compares favorably to that of Shelby Foote. Well, that worked on me. I just had to read it then. Since then, I've read the novel twice. It's very good and its long residence on the bestseller list I thought warranted and it was nice to see a novel high in literary quality and originality garner a large readership. Despite its excellence, I thought that there were some things Frazier could and should have done differently. Bear in mind that my suggestions probably wouldn't have much if any effect on the overall story. My differences derive mainly from Inman's war service, while a minor thing, but it still bothers me. Inman's regiment is never identified and his skepticism of the leaders of the Army of Northern Virginia don't ring true. Also Frazier uses "withering fire" which in the words of Stephen Cushman in Bloody Promenade, is "one of the top five cliches in Civil War battle writing." But the thing that bothers me most is that Frazier never mentions is if Inman has a close friend. Being a veteran, I know that friends and comrades are what makes service life bearable and the idea of a man, a veritable loner, making it through three plus years of war without friends is stretching the limits of credibility. Also if Frazier had mentioned this friend being killed at Gettysburg or the Wilderness, I think Inman's disillusionment and his reasons for deserting would have been much more believeable. Again, it's a minor thing. All in all, I found myself enjoying Inman's physical journey as well as Ada's own internal journey to self discovery. I myself can't wait for Frazier's next offering.
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