Rating: 
Summary: Dreary
Review: Do not waste your time with the Audio Cassette. I have listened to probably 100 books on tape. Contrary to what the above description says, Charles Frazier's slow paced, drawled, sing song, no inflection reading of his "masterpiece" only made a long, rather dull book almost unbearable. Don't be suckered into buying these tapes. If you must, get the book and read it. Although, I wouldn't even recommend that. I found the book to be a chore and very uninvolving.
Rating: 
Summary: A golden statue with clay feet
Review: A decent novel, if not one worthy of all the praise surrounding it, Cold Mountain eventually falls victim to the most common of ailments: the first-time-writer's strong desire to make "a statement." If you read everything but the last two chapters of the book, you might take something away from this ... if not, you will only be frustrated.Without giving away the ending, let me say that it is a definite mark of lack of skill for a writer to go through the convolutions Frazier does to keep a character alive in the most ridiculous of circumstances, only to kill that character out of hand. The rather implausible scenes of escape previously (barely) accepted suddenly ring horribly false. Furthermore, the ending is a maudlin, unpolished mess that feels tacked on. I am reminded of the painter's dilemma: whether they should stop painting or continue mucking with their work. Generally, the former is preferred; mucking with the work endlessly only ruins it. Frazier falls victim to a similar dilemma - he tacks a second ending onto a much more powerful first ending, and that second ending drags the whole soggy mess down with it. I still would recommend this book, however. It is extremely lyrical and an intriguing read, if a bit amateurish and fanciful at times. I would, however, remove the last two chapters from whatever copy I lent out ... So, a three-star book and a zero-star ending.
Rating: 
Summary: A brillant American epic!!
Review: I found myself reading and rereading so much of this extraordinary book, because of the author's use of language and descriptive passages, it was as if I were trying to commit it to memory. Not since my first reading of "Gone With the Wind" have I been so engrossed with a book and its characters, and so admiring of an author. I cannot wait to read his next book. I believe Cold Mountain is destined to become an American classic.
Rating:
Summary: A lengthy and BORING travelogue.
Review: When I get to page 60 of a novel and still cannot make heads nor tails of what is happening, something is wrong. This has got to be one of the most over-rated books in modern history. When action scenes require, well, action, what do we get??? Descriptions of the moon for several pages. Give me a break. This is not a Civil War tale, but a lengthy and boring travelogue. And why did the author not use quotation marks to set off dialogue? Some artistic thing?--or was the key on his typewriter broken? Obnoxious and hard to follow.
Rating:
Summary: Unreadable
Review: This book is not only awful, but it is entirely unreadable. It is purely for pseudo-intellectuals and those who aspire to become one.
Rating:
Summary: A Waste of Time
Review: I had this book on my must read list and when I finally got around to reading it I was thoroughly disappointed. I struggled to get through it figuring that somewhere along the way something would spark the slightest interest, which would enable me to recommend this book and pass it along to my friends, but this never happened. As a matter of fact, when I finished the book, I was actually annoyed with myself for having persevered.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier is an excellent novel that I enjoyed because of the vivid imagery and theme Frazier incorporated into this text. The imagery in this novel really helped me imagine and visualize what was going on. I loved the way the author described everyone Inman met. He didn't just describe their outside appearances but also let the reader see into these characters personalities as well as some of their souls. In this book it seems like all of the characters are making a journey to better understand themselves and the people around them and the imagery used in this novel helped me better understand the journey each character was taking. I also liked the way the author described Stobrod. "Even Stobrod's love of liquor failed to make a farmer of him." All of the characters added substance to the book and made it a more enjoyable and easier read. The theme of soul searching and understanding one's self is definitely evident in Fraiser's novel. I especially enjoyed when Ada tries to see herself in the well to understand the events after her father's death. "The various images bounced against each other until she felt a desperate vertigo, as if she could at any moment pitch backward and plunge head first down the well shaft and drown there." The idea of intertwining the characters stories and showing both Ada's trial and struggles as well as Inman's all the while having them search for each other is done very nicely. I liked how each chapter alternated between Ada and Inman and how even though the two characters were in different situations they were both heading toward the same goal of trying to understand themselves and the situations they had been thrown into. All in all I really enjoyed Cold Mountain and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys romantic adventurous novels.
Rating: 
Summary: Drops the ball
Review: Frazier promises to deliver on the carefully written story of his hero's trek back home. He builds beautifully, then caves in to a maudlin four page epilogue that, were it not for the strength of the foregoing prose, would have ruined the book completely. No doubt that Frazier has written a fine book. Given the content, though, it's too long. As Cervantes said, and with the killer whale length of Don Quixote, he should know, "...an abundance even of good things causes them to be little esteemed..." The best chord in the book was its anti-war stance and its accurate portrait of Lee as the killer he was. The natural details and the unbelievable realism with which Frazier describes everyday life is thoroughly absorbing. Worth buying, and worth reading, too.
Rating:
Summary: A "can't stop reading" story.
Review: This is such an enjoyable book! It is the kind of book that once you get started, you become more and more entwined with the characters with each turned page. Having just traveled through some of the same territory this summer where most of the story takes place, it was extremely entertaining to recognize landmarks and towns/cities that I just visited. I have to disagree with one of your reviewers who stated that it was unflattering to southern people. I am originally from the south and I was not offended in any way. In fact, I thought it showed how strong southern people (especially the women in this case)were during an extremely difficult period of American history. I recommend this book highly!
Rating:
Summary: Too much fanfare, too little on delivery.
Review: Spare me, who cares? This was the biggest waste of time and money I have ever spent. It was chosen by our Book Club and (after all the hype) caused more disappointment than any book I have read in many a year.
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