Rating: Summary: A long walk home...from the Civil War Review: Even though "Cold Mountain" lagged in a few spots, for me the overall effect seemed to convey, not only the horrors of war, but the excruciating trek of an injured Southern soldier (Inman), who'd just up and left an Army hospitable, to hike back home towards the end of the Civil War.During his long, agonizing walk back to West Virginia's Cold Mountain, Inman encounters Indians, a preacher guilty of statutory rape and a degenerate farmer who hands him over to the ruthless Home Guard, a local militia authorized to dispatch with deserters and war resisters any way they saw fit. Meanwhile, his beloved, Ada tries to revive the farm her father left her on Cold Mountain. Just as it seems Ada is about to lose it all, a tenacious and wily drifter named Ruby appears to help her out. Ruby and Ada compliment each other perfectly, not only is Ruby as practical as Ada is a dreamer, they combine to produce all the skills needed to keep the place going. While the Cold Mountain homefront gradually improves, Inman's odyssey keeps on getting more and more tenuous as it moves toward Inman's final confrontation with the homeguard. I thought Frazier did a great job of recreating the brutal conditions that accompanied the Civil War. His writing's crisp and clear and his descriptions are vivid.
Rating: Summary: A Good Negative Review Review: ...I personally do not believe the book to be too long, but rather could have been extended even another 400 pages. The problems with the book are the bland and unexciting characters of Inman and Ada. The two most important characters are the ones with the least personality. I believe that Frazier's success is not in his plot, however, but the intricate detail of how he is able to describe the Tennessee wilderness. The whole book is centered around the scenery of the South during the Civil War. Frazier is able to cover every sinew and nuance of the wilderness and bombards the reader with this information throughout the book. Unfortunately, the reader is cut short, as Frazier provides no single plot twist throughout the whole time of Inman and Ada's journey. The ending is so predictable by Frazier's foreshadowing techniques that the book is unexciting and boorish, unless you are an extreme fan of nature, wildlife, and "spaghetti westerns." The story is more or less, predictable right from the start; a man will encounter many obstacles on his way to reaching his true love, he will learn a lot along the way, and in the end he will tragically die. Boo hoo. An intelligent reader would pick this up after reading the first chapter. It is of no surprise that the masses love this book, and the critics loathe it. Books about loneliness and longing have grown "out of style" and are only for those who feel self-pity in their life and want something to relate to. Frazier chose his main characters to be about as shallow as possible, with no sub-plots or intellectual stimulation in the novel. Inman can be compared to Clint Eastwood, slaughtering people in the wild for misdeeds, but without the pizzazz and quick wit of Eastwood (a good example is Inman's encounter with the Fed's who attack Sara). Fraziers book is way overrated. He is a master of words, but not of story-telling.
Rating: Summary: Delicious Review: How can this be a debut novel? You will ask yourself this again and again while reading this fantastic, rich novel. True, it is hard to ruin the Odyssey formula, but Frazier really builds upon the device. On character is trying get home to the world he understands, another is trying to find home within herself. Incredible prose, masterful pacing, layered characterizations, and a backdrop so vivid I believe I have been on Cold Mountain rather than read it.
Rating: Summary: how many misadventures does it take to write a book? Review: definitely a man's book; the tale becomes tiresome and has an unbelievably unhappy ending
Rating: Summary: I apologize Review: Turns out, ...Cold Mountain, the worst book ever. It is not one of the greatest american novels ever, and it will never be. No, Ruby is not one of the "sweetest gals" ever, ...! WE WERE RIGHT ABOUT THIS BOOK FROM THE BEGINNING, IT IS BAD, AND WE SHOULD RIGHTLY HATE IT. I hope that any other book we are assigned in the future will not be such trash as this. For some time now, my entire class has grown to, dare I say, loathe this book, and everything it stands for, and anything that stands for it. Granted, its a GREAT book for the old and lonely, but there are some of us that don't particulary enjoy being chained to this poor excuse for a novel. ... In conclusion, do not read this book.
Rating: Summary: Outstanding Work by Frazier Review: Charles Frazier not only wrote the book, he narrates on this audio version. The richly described fabric of his tale tells the story of a young man returning from the battlegrounds of the Civil War to the life - and love - that he left behind, and the woman herself, who, during the story, is in the process of learning the hardships of war and reconstruction. I was mesmerized by the detail of the storywriting in the unabridged version, and rarely found it too comprehensive. I actually began to think like the characters. The last time this happened in a book was with Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. This was a pure joy.
Rating: Summary: one of the best Review: This is simply one of the best books I've ever read (and I've read quite a few). The writing is exceptionally beautiful; the characterization is so well done. Frazier's subtlety is amazing. I hate to use a cliche, but I could not put this book down. I was entranced with the world Frazier recreates--the South at the end of the Civil War, and the characters bred in this time in history. I was haunted by the images of all these strange people lurking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And I simply fell in love with Ada and Ruby. I've been recommending this book to everyone! Bravo, Charles Frazier!
Rating: Summary: Cold Mountain: Good as Grits Review: Let me say first of all, this is one of the amazing books I have ever read. This year I have had my students read this novel as a part of our school curriculum. For some reason, with the exception of a few students, they all hate it. The story is thrilling, the characters are easy to relate to, and the text isn't that long. Tell ya though, if we were in Texas, I'd sure whip them into shape, that's for sure. Yee haw! Inman, the AWOL soldier on his journey encounters all sorts of lively characters, from a funny holy man to some pretty darn cool lady. Ada, Inman's love is back at the farm on Cold Mountain, where she is livin' with Ruby, who is just the sweetest gal ever. I wish my wife was like her. Anyways I give this one five stars gave it brings tears to my eyes.
Rating: Summary: There Are No Words Review: Cold Mountain is quite simply one of the best civil war novels ever written. Though it only spends moments describing or involving the actual war, its effects are felt everywhere. Charles Frazier is, simply put, one of our greatest current storytellers. In the vein of Hemingway and Cormac McCarthy, he is sparse with his language and his dialouge (notice those who call the book longwinded have no clue what they are talking about and just want to condemn this book, its actually quite the opposite). This terse and anti-prolix approach creates some of the most powerful fiction I've ever read. The dialouge is inadequate, but its meant to be. Its partly in what they say but mostly in what they dont. And that us what I and most readers find so amazing. Its a novel of understatement and lonliness and longing, and its reflected in the prose and in the characters and in everything. It blends together into this beautiful and heartbreaking song. If you leave the novel feeling unfufilled, then good. You should be. At least to some extent. That's the point of it not a criticism. Through the last couple of pages I felt this bittersweet ache in my heart. Sadness and then hope mixing like oil and water through my head. Its a feeling that is in large part ineffable, which again I suppose is the point of the book.
Rating: Summary: See Quote Below. Review: I wanted to use a quote from Dante's "Divine Comedy" for the title of this, but it wouldn't fit. Here goes: "It is by such stairs that we must take our leave of so much evil." Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain" is the story of two people who are wounded--whether in body, spirit, or both--and how they come to heal. Ada and Inman both have journeys to make at the beginning of the book, and they both must make them largely alone, although both of them have more help than they ever expect. For Ada, help comes under the guise of Ruby, a girl who knows more about running a farm than Ada does. Ada needs this knowledge because her father has died recently, leaving her a house, the surrounding land, and various investments whose worth has been reduced to precisely nothing by the Civil War. Inman has been fighting with the Confederate army for four years now, and his luck has finally run out. He is shot in the neck and barely survives. As soon as he is well enough, he starts walking home. I don't wish to spoil the story for you so I won't. But there are certain things I would like you to watch for. Watch for the preacher, Veasey, and Inman's reaction to him. Watch for Ruby's father and take a good look at what he does, not what is said of him. Watch for a firing squad that is reluctant to shoot because one of their targets is smiling at them. Watch for a peculiar old woman and her many goats and listen very carefully to what she has to say. Watch for Sally and Esco Swanger. Watch for a girl of no more than eighteen years with a baby and a farm to look after all by herself. Watch for a man called Teague. And above all, watch Ada and Inman. Watch for their feelings, their thoughts, their actions. And watch for one sentence, "He had something he wanted to say," and realize that he may well have already said it. Note: Most of the negative reviews I have read so far on this book complain mostly of it's slow pacing. Read it for yourself and ask if there was any other way it could have been written.
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