Rating: 
Summary: A slow, yet mesmorizing read.
Review: The first 50 pages of this civil war story seems to drag at the beginning, but suddenly, I found myself in the flow of this undulating work.A confederate soldier has had enough and begins to head home to Cold Mountain. Meantime, the woman he loves, keeps her homestead going while waiting for his return. It is their individual experiences, while enduring the time before they are reunited,that drives the novel. While walking home, Inman, the male character, encounters a range of personalities. With subtle revelations, the narrator reveals the result war has on humanity. Ida, the woman he hopes to marry when he returns to Cold Mountain, maintaines a working vigilance, not knowing of course, that Inman is trying to reach her. War...What is it good for? Jerry Seinfeld once said to Elaine. It teaches us about humanity. A stunning revelation that kept me thinking.
Rating: 
Summary: Celebration
Review: What a glorious celebration of the English language this book is. A magnificent symphony playing the art of prose like we seldom hear. Softly woven into this beautiful chorus is not only the pain of the bleeding south, but, the heartbreak and misery felt by a generation of Americans in this blackest hour. So broad and stunning are the many messages between the covers of this book, that a comment on their depth and the expertise with which they are delivered is intimidating to this enthusiastic reviewer. Read this novel if you see words as a canvas and want to appreciate fine art. Read this book if you want to glimpse the souls of ordinary people facing monstrous challenges and odds, which, unfortunately, were common in that era. Read this book if you want to see yourself, or, your children, if, God forbid, it ever happens again.
Rating:
Summary: Cold Mountain
Review: Reading Cold Mountain was as much of an "experience" for me as climbing Half Dome was. It touched me more deeply than any book I have ever read and caused me to think of my own ancestors and the journeys their lives took them on. Knowing that the book was inspired by the real life ancestors of the author, I found myself reliving what I imagined the author's journey to have been...the day he discovered his great-grandmother's drawing of the bird by the creek, with the date noted on it...envisioning what her day had been like... Like many other readers, I was devastated by the ending. Having my own preconceived ideas (including the possibility that the author might have actually met his great-grandparents in his childhood, arousing his ultimate desire to study and recreate their lives in a novel), I was absolutely unprepared for the outcome. I wept inconsolably when I finished reading. Despite the tears and the many months since I first read this book, I still highly recommend it to all my friends. In fact, I have given away my copies and, today, am ordering yet another copy for my bookshelf!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent read
Review: Since there are many reviews with a number of criticisms--good and bad--I'll skip all that and tell you that if you like well-developed and interesting characters--prose that often borders on the poetic without being laborious--a tale that is believable for the most part with many deep and symbolic references--an old fashioned sort of story that makes it feel "classic" with enough action to keep one moving from page to page, you're going to like, nay, love this book. It certainly was a relief to read this richly detailed and deeply felt book after all the pretentious and meaningless crap I've been reading over the years. Even though I may harbor nagging negative thoughts about the civil war, the confederacy and slavery, this book helped me to feel a powerful sympathy with the struggle of the human being of which there must have been many during that awful period of time. . .
Rating:
Summary: Truly as good as it gets.
Review: As we all know, this is the story of an ordinary Civil War soldier who decides he has had enough, and walks home to North Carolina, not an easy trip. What you may not know until you read it, is that the writing is as good as any you will find today. For some reason, the title kept me from reading it for almost two years. Don't let it deter you. The book is magic, although the ending put me into a deep decline for a week. I don't know how they could make a movie from writing this good, so I hope they don't try (sorry, Mr. Frazier).
Rating:
Summary: A novel of beauty and wonder
Review: The farm work of Ada and Ruby, two central characters in this novel, seems a noble thing. It's a matter of real survival but the learning process Ruby submits Ada to is made a real thing of beauty by the author - as if Ada is awakening to the meaning of life and its meaning is found in the inherent detail of doing the daily things of farm work that are a drudge but are given a purpose and meaning. What seems a daunting even impossible task - running a farm in the wilds of of the mountains - comes a lesson on life. Ruby's secret is " not to get ahead of yourself. Go at a rhythm that could be sustained on and on. Do just as much as you could do and still be able to get up and do again tomorrow. No more, no less." Samuel Beckett would agree with this. Moving constantly between Inman's returning odyssey and Ada's waiting and life establishing work, the novel never flags in interest. Whether an aside concerns apple picking, or fiddle playing, or drawing a hog, or star gazing, Frazier makes it a thing of beauty and wonder - no mean achievement. A substantial part of his achievement is the language which is perfectly suited to the time and place and seems to catch the truth of the characters so effectively. One further example: Stobrod, Ruby's Daddy, is not an especially likeable character, a lazy irresponsible scallywag actually, but following the evolution of Stobrod's music, how he constructs his fiddle, learns to play, improvises melodies, and composes, is in itself a study in musical appreciation of the most sympathetic kind. The music created is not external to the maker but a natural and inevitable expression of his soul. " As the tune drew toward a close, Stobrod jacked back his head so that he seemed to be reviewing the stars, but his eyes were shut. The butt of the fiddle pressed against his heart and the bow worked in jerky, stuttering little strokes. His mouth flew open at the ultimate moment, but he did not hoot or squeal as Ada expected. Instead, he smiled a deep long smile of silent delight." This is revelatory writing. There are many such moments in this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: It's not that great
Review: Cold Mountain is an engaging portrait of how depressing it must have been to live in the South as the War Between the States wound down. The depictions of the major and minor characters ring true and the plot hangs together. The ending, however, was trite. To put this down as a great American novel does a disservice to the truly great ones.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic for your library
Review: An absolutely, exceptional, outstanding literary work. I have had to take a sabbatical from reading since I put this book down. Every book I have read since is only a weak attempt compared to Cold Mountain. One who fails to appreciate the work of Charles Frazier would also have no reverance to the works of Hemingway or Steinbeck either. Hauntingly beautiful. Certainly the best work of true literary art that I have read in decades! A must for every library which includes only the classics!
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: I loved the story, and loved the use of dialect to enrich the read. There are some books you hate to see end, this was one of those for me. Reading it was like hearing the music or the rich harmony of language in tales often told which marked my growing up spending summers in rural south eastern Ohio. I loved this altogether, and recommend it often. Some books I save to read again, most I pass on to others when I have finished. This one I saved to read again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Two different aspects of the Civil War.
Review: When I think of Civil War literature, great battle scenes and a lot of blood and gore usually come to mind. While this book has a taste of that, it is set in the backwaters of the south, devastated by the conflict's great need for fighting men. Ada is a woman of city society, stranded by her father's ministerial zeal to reach the uneducated bumpkins of the hills, and his unexpected death, on a farm she can never hope to run. Inman is a soldier, wounded and hospitalized, who has lost his taste for fighting. He knows that desertion is just as dangerous as battle, for any able-bodied man abroad in the south is assumed to be a fugitive from the war, and is likely to be shot on sight. Ada's road from helplessness to becoming a staunch farm woman and Inman's long trek back to Cold Mountain and the woman he loves keep the reader involved. The characters are well drawn, the historical perspective is enlightening. Civil War enthusiasts will enjoy seeing the different perspective of the times this book provides. While I don't care a fig about the Civil War, I was kept on the edge of my seat by the suspense of wondering whether Inman and Ada will ever see each other again. A good read!
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