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Summary: Brilliant
Review: A great work of literature that is unforgettable and haunting. I just finished reading it for the first time and can't wait to start again. There are so many memorable things about this book, and so many moments of profound sadness. Not to be missed!
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Summary: The tape edition was outstanding...
Review: The reader on the tape editon was wonderful. His slow reading added to the beautiful writing. He captured the southern writing and life. I don't think I would have finished reading this book, had I picked up the hardback. I realize some people think listening to the book is cheating, and in some cases I get shortchanged, but I believe in this case, I got the better end of the stick.
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Summary: One of the few books I will read over and over.
Review: This novel is without a doubt the finest book I have ever read. The lyrical quality, his wonderful, descriptive words and phrases. The subtle use of humor. Ada and Ruby's relationship. Colorful Stobrod with the beauty of his music depicted in sharp contrast to his persona.This book will make you laugh, cry and grimace. It is beautifully crafted. Let it seep into you as you read it again and again, learning its subtlties as you would appreciate any piece of fine art. I anxiously await his next writing!!
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Summary: A spiritual book!
Review: I don't know what you reviewers are thinking to give it a 1 or 2 stars for a review? That is stupid. This is the most heart feeling novels ever. I am 13 years old and I understood it clearly. This is a wonderful book.
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Summary: No finer example of story-telling.
Review: I have never encountered such a vast array of interesting characters. I was totally enthralled with meeting a new "eccentric" on every page. This is not a book about the Civil War, rather it is about the strength of the human spirit. Fortunately, Frazier combines this intense message with some profound story-telling.
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Summary: Sad book, hard to follow as so gloomy
Review: Not my favorite book, I have lived in the South and feel it was a put down to great people.
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Summary: The beauty of Cold Mountain - themes raised
Review: Although at first I found Cold Mountain quite slow moving and full of detail, by the time I finished it I realised that those were the reasons I had enjoyed it so much. The beautiful detail of the prose makes Cold Mountain a pleasure to read, and many clear images are formed in your mind, particularly of the landscape. The characters and their thoughts and emotions are described thoroughly which is quite an achievement considering there are many characters brought into the story during the course of it. The vastness and often empty loneliness of the mountains made an appropriate backdrop for Inman's lonely journey home. Throughout Cold Mountain Inman and Ada are constantly thinking of each other - how they have changed since they last saw each other, whether their feelings for each other will still stand when they meet again, when they will meet, etc. so this contributes to a feeling of inevitability, that they will eventually meet. The reader is kept waiting to see when Inman and Ada will be reunited. When they do meet again, each finds that the other has changed, which is one of the themes of the novel - development of character. "Certainly neither she nor Inman were the people they had been the last time they were together. And she believed she liked them both better now." Only a small section of Cold Mountain is concentrated on the time that Inman and Ada actually spend together, as most of the story is about their personal journeys while they wait for each other, so there are not many quotes about love (although their romance is the predominant theme of Cold Mountain and provides the suspense of the novel) - also their love for each other is more of an understanding, rather than spoken or written. Another major theme in Cold Mountain is war - the senselessness, stupidity and waste of life which is revealed to us through Inman's recollections of his time in battle. "Men talked of war as if they committed it to preserve what they had and what they believed. But Inman now guessed it was boredom with the repetition of the daily rounds that had made them take up weapons. . . He had not been immune to its pull. But sooner or later you just get awful tired and just plain sick of watching people killing one another for every kind of reason at all, using whatever implements fall to hand." Overall I found Cold Mountain a really beautiful and worthwhile book to read.
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Summary: The human side of the Civil War
Review: Charles Frazier has opened the door to the human side of the Civil War, through which battlefields are a bitter memory and simple existence is key. Inman's journey home leads him past a quizzical cast of vagabonds, scallywags, and folks simply caught up in hard times. Ada learns independent living from scratch, sometimes humorous, sometimes horrifying. Allow Frazier to come at you in a completely different way, and Cold Mountain will be a book that haunts you for a long time. Want sex, gratuitous violence, meaningless relationships? Go elsewhere.
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Summary: A love story surrounded by the realism of the Civil War.
Review: Charles Frazier transports the reader to a period in US history that no doubt was a defining moment,the Civil War.Ever after we would bocome an industrial,not agrarian society. Casting his hero and heroin as small players in this struggle we are allowed an intimate look inside what was very likely life as it was for most ordinary citizens.I was left thinking that Frazier could have placed his characters on either side of the conflict with equal effect and we would have encountered equal amounts of confusion among the participants as the war ground on.The character development is superb and I constantly found myself wondering what Ada was doing while we were spending time with Inman,and vice versa. If I were ever to take up the craft of writing I would be more than pleased to be compared to Charles Frazier.
Rating: 
Summary: too slow to start
Review: I never managed to finish this book,it may be a fine piece of literature,but unfortunately the fineness of this gentlemans writing ,did not hold my attention,for me the beginning was too slow ,yes it was quite detailed but my enthusiasim wained quickly. I was dissappointed that for me ,this book did nothing,after I had read good reviews. My view must not reflect on the quality of the written word by Charles Frazer it just wasnt for me.
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