Rating: 
Summary: If you liked "Undaunted Courage" you'll love "Cold Mountain"
Review: What is it about Frazier's prose that invites you right in and makes you feel at home? I was completely enthralled with this novel from the first page. Inman's adventure is so gripping that at first I thought the alternating chapter motif would bother me for taking me away from him, but instead, I became equally fascinated with Ada's side of the story. Some people have faulted the novel for too much detail but I found the detail enriching. It's been months since I read the book, but I still flash with pleasure on minute pasages like the deep woods shepherd woman who sold her animals but stole back to retrieve their bells. The ending is tough but the epilog is kind to the reader. I frantically counted the characters in the epilog then matched them to the eight plates Ada had set at the table. Only then did the awful tragedy of the last chapter sink in but Frazier's tidy clue in the age of the daughter was somewhat soothing. Cold Mountain's woodsy, agrarian story makes me long for a way of life I'll never know. I want to be able to live off a forest, be able to identify trees and curative herbs, be able to raise food and animals. I think we all long for the lives Inman, Ada and Ruby led. Reading this wonderful novel, Cold Mountain, may be the closest we can get to it.
Rating: 
Summary: Interestingly Depressing.
Review: I read this book as part of a recreational reading group here on the island of Saipan. Although depressing, the author captivates the reader. Inman was indeed depressing.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I ever read
Review: It's a vivid and realistic account without moral dilemmas or judgments of travel back home of a soldier in the American Civil War. It is a journey and a love story, characters are alive in a historical remembrance of forgotten hard times for basic necessities. I loved this novel because it talks of solitude and endurance. You have the characters in your soul for the rest of your life, few novels have that essential Magic of masterpieces.
Rating:
Summary: I am obsessed with this book!
Review: I am obsessed with this book! I saw the paperback version in a bookstore while on a quick trip and decided to check it out at the library. When I was half-way through it I knew I needed to have my own copy to read over and over again. I finished the book two days ago after week of reading instead of eating and sleepless nights wondering about the characters and what would happen next. I am going to begin the book again today. I loved the subtle language and desciption in the book - How Inman's surroundings are dismal and ugly as he begins his journey and how he reads Bartram to remind him of home. I liked the way the characters were developed, that is slowly. I thought that Inman was one surly, bitter man and was surprised to find that he was compassionate and very lonely. I enjoyed seeing Ada change from a woman who spends her time painting and reading to a woman desparately trying to find eggs because she is starving and has no idea how to prepare food and then to a woman content with her new life. I was touched during many parts of the book. I could see Ruby as a four year-old crying and scared in the woods and then feeling peace. Odell and his search for Lucinda saddened me, and I cried when Sara asked Inman to sleep with her. I felt that you could cut the loneliness that both Sara and Inman felt with a knife! Being a romantic, I especially liked the way that Ada sensed the loneliness in Inman and was able to drop her Charleston upbringing and give him the affection and love that he so desired, however briefly. I cried and cried at the ending, and I still cry when I think about it and I read it over and over, hoping that it's changed sinced the last time I read it, but I don't think the story could have ended any other way. The romantic in me would have like to see Inman mentioned in the epilogue. I wanted to see that Ada thought about him, even if she was done grieving. I would have liked to see her take her daughter to the tree with the Indian arrow to measure the decay of the shaft and how deeply the arrow was imbedded in the tree. Oh well... This book is destined to become a classic. Thank you Charles Frazier!
Rating:
Summary: cold mountain is a wonderful book; a journey of two souls.
Review: Having seen this book on the best seller list for so long i finally had to read it. Not along the lines of tom clancy or stephen king; it is a book that requires real reading...once you are into it, it's easy to become lost in civil war times. I have read mixed reviews and disagreed with most of them..i found the descriptive passages about inman's travels griping, and the formal somewhat stiff relationship between inman and ada--rang true to the times and seemed so much more poignant when taken in overall. I thought this was one of the best books i have read in recent years...and i recommend it to anyone...
Rating: 
Summary: A hard story, well worth reading.
Review: About half way through the book, I read through a couple of these reviews, and was dreading the ending-- thinking it was going to be 'unfair' and 'hard'. Well, it WAS hard, but it was just, and poignant, and fitting for the 'big picture' of this story. The maddening cycle of war -- our ability as a people to declare war a 'horror' worth fighting to end, while almost moments later, declaring 'new' ideals worth fighting for. This is the first time a story 'about' war has held my interest, because it was really about war -- not battles and generals and strategies, but about the psychological/emotional effects of war on the people left to live through it. My only wish was that we felt more from the lead male character-- but perhaps that was 'his' wish too...
Rating:
Summary: Captivating, Even For Young Generations
Review: Although most of us youngsters have difficulty comparing and expressing our feelings towards what little we(likely) know about the War, Frazier's sense of humor and description in Cold Mountain can leave people of all ages with a sense of "being there." I especially enjoyed the narratives from both Ada and Inman's point of view. Being only 17, I have yet to understand what intrigued me to buy this book. However, I have ALSO yet to find any regrets. I didn't particularly enjoy Frazier's "missing quotations," however, I eventually came to realization that doing without quotations helped Frazier express his characters better, and not blockade their thoughts within....it helped his thoughts flow clearly. All in all, this is one of the best books I have yet to read. I recommend this novel to anyone with enough enthusiasm and adventure to travel back a hundred years and come back with a better sense of the way things used to be. Thank you Ada, and thank you, Inman.
Rating:
Summary: "Cold Mountain" Makes You Feel Cold!
Review: All right, I fall prey to hype easily; I'm a child of middle-class America, so anything in a shiny new package attracts my eye. The reviews of this novel were excellent, so I read it (along with Roy's "The God of Small Things") on vacation last year. This novel was nothing short of gloomy; it was the literary equivalent of an audit or a trip to the dentist. The characters were painted very wide and cold (hence the title?) and it was difficult to identify with them. Nonetheless, it's a book that captures your attention and holds it all the way through; now that's the talent of a real author. Reading the novel, you feel the oppressiveness of the war bearing down on everything, even though the author makes few direct references to it. The ending is very dark and "cold"; unsatisfactory, even, to those of us who stick to it all the way through. Warning: don't read this book if you are hungry! Frazier's detailed descriptions of killing and preparing your own food are vivid, primitive, and sensual. A great and engrossing book.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a chance
Review: Cold Mountain kept my interest throughout each chapter and once and a while threw me. The characters are all very believable and the reader can relate to each of them. I would say this was a nice story of strength, hope, and reality. Take it for a spin!
Rating:
Summary: A magnificent book
Review: I just finished _Cold Mountain_ -- and it was a majestic, heart-breaking, wonderful book. I can honestly say it's the best thing I've read in years. I avoid looking up too many reviews before reading a novel, so I was rather shocked to see all the mixed and negative reviews here. I didn't understand until I saw the review by the fellow who found it flawed compared to books by Clancy and Grisham...and I can agree. If you like Clancy, you won't like this book. If you demand a plot that moves you along with a good kick in the pants, this isn't the book for you. On the other hand, if you're willing to immerse yourself in the writing and just enjoy each chapter as it comes, then this is a great book. A glorious read. And the ending? It's perfect...but boy, does it hurt. This is a book that will make you feel pain and anguish and grief.
|
