Rating: 
Summary: A novel you can put down. (But pick it up again!)
Review: A novelist broadens us by what he loves. What Frazier seems to love is the ways and rhythmns of nature. In terms of plot, the book can be faulted. As one reader below notes, there is little sense of the movement of time or building drama -- the hero gets there when he gets there, and as to his thinking and plans and fears before then, the author is almost as terse as the characters themselves. But Frasier gives a rich and convincing portrayal of nature, showing keen observation, added to a deeply moral, though rather anti-clerical (but you can come by that honestly) feel for life. A few quotes may help you decide if this is the book for you. "The smell of river hung in the air, about equal parts mineral and vegetable." It is a sensual book, in the sense that it engages vision and sound and smell extremely well. "Ada had tried to love all the year equally . . . Nevertheless, she could not get over loving autumn the best." There is an autumnal meloncholy and fruitfulness to this story, a feeling of death, but also thankfulness for life. "He was a solitary pilgrim, strange in his ways and governed by no policy or creed common to flocking birds." That is of a heron, or the hero, or the author, depending on how you interpret it. "She told Inman. . . about weather and plants and . . . All the ways life takes shape. You could build your own life on the observation of it." Just so has Fraser built his tale. If you like that kind of thing, read the book for its merits, even if it takes a while. If you feel comfortable with the pace of this book, but want to try something with a little more magic and a little less grey, I found George Macdonald's Lilith a good piece of mythological deprograming. Author, Jesus and the Religions of Man
Rating: 
Summary: BORED ME TO DEATH!!!!!
Review: Believe me when I say that I wanted to "love" this book as much as some of the other reviewers here. I've had it sitting on my shelf for quite some time and this past week I finally gave it the nod and began my journey along with Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier returning by foot to his beloved Cold Mountain. As we travel with Inman, the trek becomes grueling and so does the book. I didn't realize when he left the hospital that he was actually leaving without the Army's blessing so thus his journey becomes one of not only trying to get home but of hiding out from other soldiers who might perhaps view his journey as cowardly. Frazier gives the reader a poor feeling of time so it's hard to figure out how long he's been travelling. Along the way, he meets an assortment of seedy characters who think nothing of shooting someone without giving it a second thought. He also meets some needy people -- people he can help and who, in turn, can help him. He has one goal in mind throughout this entire expedition -- to not only get home but to return to the woman who is hopefully waiting for him on Cold Mountain. This woman is Ada, born and raised in Charleston but relocated to the Blue Ridge Mountains by her father, a preacher seeking better surroundings for health reasons. As the story unfolds, Ada is on her own journey trying to manage a farm with the limited knowledge she possesses. Along comes Ruby, a young woman left alone by her drunken father. Together they forge a friendship that works for both of them. Ruby is quite adept at survival and gets Ada on her feet and working towards making the farm a manageable operation. You will travel back and forth from chapter to chapter experiencing first Inman's travails and then Ada's and back again to Inman. I found the chapters concerning Ada and Ruby to be much more enjoyable. I think the main problem I had with this book, aside from the fact that it put me to sleep, was the fact that Ada and Inman hardly had much of a relationship before he left for the war. Since it is her image that keeps him going, I found this implausible. Perhaps if there had been a wonderful love story between them that was interrupted by the war, I would have been pushing Inman along myself in his quest to get back home to his beloved Ada. Since this relationship was never even developed by Frazier, I couldn't root for their reunion as much as I would have liked to. For all I knew, she wouldn't even know who he was by the time he got home. The bottom line is that this just isn't my kind of book. It won the National Book Award so who am I not to like it. For that matter, I didn't care for In The Fall by Jeffrey Lent and Plainsong by Kent Haruf -- two other slow moving stories. If you like that kind of book and like the two books I've just mentioned, then you'll probably like Cold Mountain. Otherwise, I'd just pass and move on to something else. I wish I had.
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Summary: OH MY GOD!
Review: This book is an alright book for reading in class but not one I would want to read on my own. It was torcherous and excrusiatingly mind wrenching. I do NOT reccommend this book for the average reader and would never recommend it for anyone younger than an eleventh grader. It's hard to understand and no one in this time period can really relate to it. Other than that the book is fine, I guess.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully told, ultimately manipulative
Review: Cold Mountain's unqualified strength is Charles Frazier's voice. Reading the first chapter, I immediately trusted the author's tone and the fictional world of the book. I think that's at the heart of this novel's good reputation; Frazier's assurance, his tone, bring you along effortlessly.There were several moments in the book, though, when I thought the author's voice overrode the integrity of his characters. A 20-something, illiterate mountain girl points to a farmyard chicken and solemnly intones "There's your sustenance" -- that's jarringly wrong. And then there were winces (for me) at forced symbolism: bears implausibly running headlong off cliffs in their desire to serve as metaphors for Inman, and so on. When you've inhabited the world of a novel for a while, you feel those missteps. They're painful. I won't "give away" events, but the close of the story epitomizes the sort of compromise I went through as a reader. While the final chapters of the book are poignant and affecting, they also just plain jerked me around as a reader. For example, the little epilog clearly intended us to mistake the actual outcome of the plot for a moment. It was like Frazier was playing a little shell game with his characters: Oh, you thought I was talking about Inman? I reread the thing, to see if I'd missed something. No, he just clearly intended us to make a mistake, so he could fool us a bit. When you really trust an author's voice, that sort of thing feels abusive. Suffice it to say that I don't think this is a perfect book. Mr. Frazier's gifts as a storyteller are its best side; when he used those gifts to manipulate me, to contrive characters or events, I was disappointed. Whatever its failings, though, Cold Mountain is a convincing little world. This is a book to linger in, and I wished I had been allowed to.
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Summary: A Sublime Love Story
Review: Cold Mountain is the story of Inman's quest to find himself following the trauma and dehumanising experiences he had in the civil war. He decides to attempt this, by trekking back to the mountain that he loves, to find the woman who he thinks he loves and hopes desperately will ease his pain. The reader is left in no doubt that what he has, is at best, a very tenuous hope that Ada has feelings for him and will in fact provide the comfort he seeks. His journey is testimony to the power of the human spirit to want to create some order out of the absolute chaos of war. Charles Frazier does a brilliant job in developing the characters of Ada and Inman. The rich description of cold mountain is masterly and evokes images ranging from grand gloriously uplifting landscapes, to those of bone chilling cold, hunger and fear. This is a different sort of love story. It's a masterpiece, to be read and relished over and over again.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad
Review: Pretty entertaining. Frazier has definitely done his homework - the time and place are evoked quite well. Major are a little shallow; minor ones are much better. It's not diet soda, but it's not fine wine, either. Good vacation read.
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Summary: Every Life a New Story
Review: The beauty of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain goes beyond the basic narrative of the soldier walking back to his home and the troubles of the woman he loved who is now engaged in a struggle of her own. Both these characters are wonderful but the real joy is found in the stories told by all the people they encounter. Each person has a story and each time people meet they, along with the reader, have the opportunity to learn something. The stories are all fascinating, some horrifying and most touching. They are spun together nicely. It is to the author's credit, as well, that interest in the two main characters does not diminish throughout the book, particulary the character of the powerfully written Ada. A wonderful way of looking at America in the Civil War period from many different perspectives.
Rating:
Summary: Cold Mountain
Review: Finally a book which can be classified as true literature. A rare talent and certainly destined to become one of the greats. Charles Frazier's literary gift is a rare phenomenon. Frazier's use of the English language has been elevated to an art form. Only an artisan such as Frazier can keep a reader spellbound with so depressing a subject matter. Unforgettable and possibly to be savored again.
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Summary: A tedious walk
Review: Far too much description to keep my interest. The author should have hired someone other than himself to be the reader. He has a dreadfully boring monotone. This audio version dragged on and on.
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Summary: In sight of Cold Mountain
Review: I grew up almost within sight of Cold Mountain. It was my hills this fellow was writing about. I've read enough poignant tales about poor mountain folk (and heard enough Beverly Hillbillies jokes) make me touchy. Especially when I know the culture has been franchised into oblivion during the last twenty years.... so I picked up this book with trepidation. A strong aversion to war tales and graphic horrors added another dose of mental caution. I forced myself through the first 100 pages. Some stories require telling. Some stories require reading. This one required both. I made peace with my own aversions. I recognized a master storyteller spinning a good tale. I settled in for a good read. It is a story as twisted and turning and determined as creek coming off the Blue Ridge. I saw a scene I still see today... an educated, well-refined soul finding themselves facing life on the mountain -- learning store-bought luxuries and book-learning do little to prepare one for the cold winds and hard winters, or even the overwhelming beauty of a perfect summer day. Frazier captured the culture lost -- authentic and proud. And I understood Inman's simplistic desire: if you get home to the mountains it will all be ok -- no matter how bad it is. The story sings of dichotomies: the flatlands and the hills; the mountain young'un teaching the city-wise young lady; the tales of war -- the cruel and the bad and between it the tender and good; mountain life -- bitter yet serene, hard-scrabble poor yet rich to overflowing; and the oldest dichotomy of all: the dichotomy of love and pain. And the dichotomies stayed with me long after the good read was over. It was my hills this fellow was writing about.
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