Rating: 
Summary: Don't read this book if you know anything about country life
Review: First of all, you have to accept that a woman who doesn't know anything about living, much less living on a farm, keeps a cow from going dry for several months. Come on, she doesn't get out of bed until noon, can't weed a garden, and manages to let the chickens go feral, but her cow is still giving milk (and she knows how to milk it, even though she can't hoe a garden)? She's lived in the country for several years, with no one of her equal to converse with other than her father, and she's never bothered to ask anyone how to bake biscuits or feed the chickens? She's smart enough to read, and supposedly understand the great philosophers of her time, but she can't figure out that she can buy one of the plentiful "How to set up housekeeping" books available at the time and use it to keep things together?Inman, on the other hand, has grown up in the mountains, and is not a man of means, but he chooses as the love of his life a woman who can't cook or clean, much less live off the land? Remember, we're talking the 1860s here, not 2004. Not to mention that he can't seem to keep himself fed on his trip, and keeps stumbling into situations that put him in the way of the Home Guard. Come on, you did it once, learn from it. The only person with any sense is Ruby, and the author changes her personality so competely in the last few chapters as to make her a total loss, too.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful surprise!
Review: I heard a lot of buzz about this book, so I approached it with some hesitation. I was extremely surprised after starting it and couldn't put it down. At times I felt like I was right there with the characters because the character development is so good. It was a gripping read, and now I'm faced with the difficult choice of seeing the movie or not. Probably won't, the book was so good.
Rating: 
Summary: Anti-war Odyssey
Review: This book is inherently anti-war, en suite to Homer's second epic, The Odyssey, which tells how a soldier (victorious unlike his Civil War counterpart Inman) longs for peace and home after killing for nine years (The first epic, The Iliad). And to acknowledge another reviewer's unqualified remarks classifying the novel as anti-male, I'll expand this thought. I cannot understand how (in the CM scene, which echoes Odysseus' death by the hands of his son Telegonus) shooting a teenage boy would be a mark of manliness, as this review implies. Is it manly to kill? I can think of several famous female killers. That he doesn't kill the boy is consistent with Inman's disgust with senseless violence. A young boy is not a worthy opponent in Inman's estimation - again, a patently anti-war message. That the book is pro-women does not prove it must be anti-male, either. I am impressed that Frazier has successfully addressed the effects of war on the victims who suffer away from the battlefields, and I think this is why he focuses on Ada's life where she must learn to survive without a man because she will eventually lose hers (unlike her Ithacan counterpart Penelope, who ends up remarrying). This said, Cold Mountain is a worthy addition to any one's personal library. I carry graduate degrees in history, philosophy, and literature - and I cannot think of a better mix of these studies within any other book of American contemporary fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Richly detailed novel...far more than a love story
Review: While there's been a lot of excitement about this book generated by the recent movie release, this was a highly critically acclaimed by book from Frazier, his first book, when published in 1997. For those of you who missed all the movie promotion, it's a story set in the American Civil War about a Confederate soldier, Inman, who after being wounded in battle, literally gets up and walks away from the Army hospital and goes back to Cold Mountain. Cold Mountain is one of the tallest mountains in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, a fairly remote area in the south. His destination is Ada, a woman he had a brief courtship with prior to the war. After Inman went off to fight, Ada's preacher father died, and Ada is left to take care of the farm. Ada came to Cold Mountain from Charleston, where she was a socialite of some note, and is ill equipped to run the farm, which has fallen into complete neglect. A neighbor sends a young woman named Ruby to help run Ada's farm. Ruby was almost completely neglected from birth by her father whom she lived with, and so has developed exceptional survival skills that Ada completely lacks. The book alternates between Inman's slow, treacherous journey home, and Ada and Ruby working together to revive the farm. While the love story between Inman and Ada is central to the book, those expecting a passionate love story suggested in the movie promotion are going to be dissappointed. (I haven't seen the movie.) Instead, Frazier writes a richly detailed story of three people dealing with major hardships, mostly brought about by the Civil War. The detail Frazier brings to story is exceptional. We appreciate all the skills and knowledge required just to survive off the land in that time and place. The various characters and pitfalls Inman encounters on his way home are memorable, and the reader understands the enormity of his task. The story is a lot about relationships, and is more than just a love story between Inman and Ada. We see Ada and Ruby, people with completely different pasts, learn and appreciate each other as they live and work together and also see Ruby partially reconcile with her negligent father. Previous reviewers in this forum have criticized the ending, but I thought it fit perfectly with the rest of the book. The high level of detail Frazier brings to the book almost brings the story to a halt at some places, and for that reason, it was not always an easy read. But it is a rich chronicle of three people in a small corner of the United States in an extraordinary time.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Lyrical!
Review: Cold Mountain is a beautifully written book, eloquent in style and rich in story. Above all, it is a story of friendship, values, and endurance. I admit, some events in the book are pure fantasy, but, hey, we're reading fiction, right? Another wonderful Civil War book is the Pulitzer Prize winning "Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe better to hear than to read?
Review: I have been listening to the audible.com downloaded version of this book, which is an unabridged reading by the author. Though I have not read the book, only listened, I have a sense that the recording adds qualities to the experience. The author unerringly captures the melancholy, bleak, and poetic quality of his own prose. He has a soft southern accent which suits the tale, and a resigned tone that perfectly fits the narrative. As they say in the movie blurbs "Paul Frazier *is* Inman." The book has a symbolic quality, all of the hellish experiences of the trek back to Cold Mountain remind me of Pilgrims Progress. Every encounter is both itself and an allegory of life, and every character is both himself and an emblem. This is so hard to do well, and so gracefully done in Cold Mountain, that I am just stunned at Frazier's skill. This is a great recording of what sounds like a great book. I think there is a good chance that I would not have responded so positively to the book alone, so I highly recommend the recording.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical and moving Epic
Review: Cold Mountain is a magnificent tale. It approaches the Civil War in a way that makes one understand the impact on individual lives, and avoids the usual historical lessons of the national politics. This is a book for serious readers who can appreciate a book that explores the human condition without all the sensationalitic hoopla that marks a lot of modern fiction. This is literature, not the usual best seller drivel. Obviously some of the people who have written reviews need to stick with Grisham or Koontz. Cold Mountain is for the discerning and discriminating reader.
Rating:
Summary: utterly pointless -- and anti-male
Review: It's difficult to imagine a more-pointless novel -- except perhaps Mishima's "Sea of Fertility" tetralogy. When we reach the end of those works, we learn that all that went before never "really" happened -- and doesn't matter, anyway. What's the point of putting characters through situations that force them to find their own courage, and grow in the process -- and then deny them a meaningful consummation? And not because they decide they don't really want or need each other, but because (plot spoiler) the author arbitrarily kills off the male character? This is one of those stories that has you muttering "Stupid, stupid, stupid" as you read. Inman's adventures as he attempts to return home are preposterous. A mother bear attacks Inman and falls over a convenient cliff as he steps aside. Nor does he have any trouble defending himself against hordes of Confederate militia trying to capture him -- but he lets a beaten-up teenager lying against a tree pull a gun and kill him. As he's facing the kid. And holding his own gun. Duh. Can you say "implausible"? Sure you can. Ada winds up without her man -- but it makes no difference. She's become prosperous, confident and self-sufficient -- and has the (presumably non-sexual -- but who knows?) love of a good woman (Ruby). It's difficult not to interpret "Cold Mountain" as anti-male -- and it was written by a man. I agree with the reviewer who suggested that if you were a man, you should tear out the last chapter and write your own. I can't believe the MS wasn't returned with a request that the author come up with a plausible way to motivate Ada and Inman's separation. Perhaps another reviewer's remark that you have to understand oriental philosophy to understand "Cold Mountain" is true.
Rating:
Summary: Agreed - agonizing and tedious
Review: Not too mention endless. This book went on and on and on and on until it climaxed, if you could call it that, with a disappointing ending. Don't waste your time - there are too many other good books out there waiting to be read.
Rating:
Summary: A struggle to read
Review: I agree with one other reader who posted a review here. It was very tedious and without a payoff. I struggled all the way through this book and was disappointed with the story. Hope the movie is better!!!!!
|
