Rating: 
Summary: This is one of the best books I have read in recent years.
Review: Once I got past the first chapter of this book I had trouble putting it down--I awoke early, and rushed home from work at night, to give myself blocks of time to read it with the concentration and care it calls for. The central characters are people I quickly came to care deeply about, and their story drew me on: Inman's grim, determined odyssey, and Ada's growing self-sufficiency and strength. Its brooding picture of the senselessness of war and the moral ambiguities that confront people on BOTH sides of any conflict reminded me of many John LeCarre novels. I felt the Civil War's grip on the lives of little people, yet the story of how Inman and Ada persist through that sense of helplessness and frustration is marvelous. I haven't cried over a book in a long time, but at the end of the wonderful final chapters of this book I did.There's a kind of Robinson Crusoe feeling about Ada's story that I particularly enjoyed, as she learns from Ruby how to do so many things. The other thing I really enjoyed was the detail about the natural world. Often when I read I tend to skip over "scenery" descriptions, but I did that seldom here, because I felt that--like Ada--I was learning about that world as I read. Reading the natural world was so important to the characters that it became important to me too. This book and these characters will stay in my mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Civil War era American comes to life - vividly and painfully
Review: Scarlett O'hara be gone. This is no sugary story about southern belles and heroic, dashing young men going off to war in 1862. This is the story of 2 ordinary people, a man and a woman, who struggle to survive, literally, the barren and desparate Civil War years. Through the use of vivd images, archaic words, and thorough research, the author is able to bring to life the horrors, pains, hungers, discomforts, and, yes, sometimes even the simple joys of trying to survive in rural southern states during the Civil War. Clothing scratched, and did not always fit well, luxuries were rare, medicines poor and not available, sanitation non-existant, and food avaiable to those who could find ways to produce it. Ada and Inman, seek to survive and find each other again - but they must survive not only the elements, but raiders, the Home Guard, Federals and Confederates. Encounters with interesting and unique characters throughout the story provide fascinating studies of how different lives were in the 1860's. It was not Tara.
Rating:
Summary: Frazier is an artist among writers.
Review: This is one of the most amazing and wonderful books I have ever read. In my mind Frazier is a DaVinci of the literary world and this book is his Mona Lisa. The entire book was developed in such a way that it made you feel as if you were walking along-side Inman or struggling with Ada through every page, paragraph, and word. I became totally engrossed in this novel and am planning on reading it many more times. If you appreciate the art of the written word this book is a must. No matter what age you are, just pick it up and prepare to be transformed. I read it last year when I was 15 and my father read it after me and he is 54 and we both loved the book. Do yourself a favor and open your heart and your mind to this amazing work!
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: use of period language contributes to the poetic feel of this walk through carolina and through the lives the characters
Rating:
Summary: fascinating in a boring way
Review: There is a type of book (I would put Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace in this category) in which not a whole lot happens, but it happens sublimely. Cold Mountain is such a book. It took me forever to finish it, but even if I read just a few pages at a sitting, it was time well spent. The author's descriptions of the natural world made me think about the fact that before there were movies and TV, nature and the seasons were entertainment. There were probably those individuals, like the characters in Cold Mountain, who experienced the world around them in this fashion. This is a book which no one seems to be on the fence about - one loves it and ranks it among the best books ever written or finds reading it to be practically loathesome. I think people's reactions are a more interesting commentary on the people themselves than on the book which inspired them to write.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, endless, pointless walk through the south.
Review: I never could understand what drove the two main characters to behave as they did. It was boring and pointless. And too long.
Rating:
Summary: Bored to Tears!
Review: You got to be kidding me with this one. Boring is an understatement. If they make a movie from this book it'll be fours hours of this guy walking thru the woods and then me sleeping. Just shoot me please. How books like this become such a rage is beyond my comprehension. Words like tedious, straining and laborous come to mind when trying to describe this. I would definitely say it is a woman's book. Guys really can't get into garbage like this. Some will of course but the majority? No way. Save your money. Read "Blackhawk Down"
Rating:
Summary: An excellent read!
Review: With such disparate reviews I have to weigh in in support of this fine novel. It reads like a magnificent landscape painting with fine detail when viewed up close and a sweeping epic granduer when viewed from afar. It takes patience to read but it well worth the effort. After the first three chapters, I was hooked and I read it in two or three sittings.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious, starts to get interesting then falls.
Review: I thought the first few chapters of this book were really boring. It takes getting through the first few chapters before the book gets a bit interesting, but I still think it was somewhat slow throughout the whole book. The first night I read the book I put it down after a few pages and didn't get back to it till the next week. Finally after the first two chapters I would say I read it more often on a frequent basis.
Rating:
Summary: It must be marketing genius.
Review: Where was the plot? True, the author turns a pretty phrase and gives a vivid description of what life was like during the Civil War. I think he got so caught up in those tasks that he forgot the plot. I really tried to read every word carefully, but found myself skimming the lengthy descriptive parts while searching for the next "plot" (and I use the term loosely) development. The ending was the worst.
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