Cold Mountain

Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: This is a book for someone who wants to soak up the fabulous writing and imagine the scenes the author so brilliantly decsribes, and not for someone who wants to zip through the plot. The beggining is slow, but you learn to grow with each Inman, Ada, and Ruby. This is truly a classic.

Rating:
Summary: Great historical fiction
Review: Slow and deliberate, equally sad and uplifting, can be read, put down for a while, and easily picked up again. Great book for travelling.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written; Couldn't put it down
Review: This book was so well-written - the way novels used to be written. It definitely qualifies as literature. The author's talent for writing elaborate descriptions made me feel like I was there in the middle of all the hardship and struggle. If you like historical novels, this one is for you.

Rating:
Summary: Flowing prose and thought and emotionally provoking.
Review: It has been a long time since I've read and enjoyed every word of a book. Each chapter is like a self enclosed story to be savored like a fine wine. A full bodied story brimming with emotion and realism. If you like more action and thrill, then read King's new Bag of Bones, his best work in years or Brad Steiger's new Alien Rapture which is rumored to be a blockbuster movie. Each is a different sub-genre, but never-the-less, excellent reads. I recommend these books highly!

Rating:
Summary: Captivating story with a perplexing ending
Review: I cannot understand why the author would so greatly build up the reunion of Inman and Ada only to have it end in death. There is something sad and yet beautiful about most tradjedies, yet this story left me confused and searching for meaning - Can you help me ?

Rating:
Summary: Haunting. Lyrical descriptions, slow at first-pace picks up
Review: My comments of praise would largely duplicate what other readers have stated, I'll add what I've not much heard about this book., that 'Cold Mountain' brought to mind Homer's 'Ulysses'.... the paradigm for all personal heroic journeys. The ending departs from the Homeric model of ultimate victory over all obstacles and return to the beloved, and to the personal paradise. The ultimate happy ending particularly resonates in the American spirit, for we believe that in overcoming all travails, our efforts and bravery will be handsomely rewarded. The ending of 'Cold Mountain', therefore, strikes a deep cord of fear......that despite all our strivings, we might not end up in our personal Ithacas, or in this case Cold Mountain. However, the ending does reflect the ironies of life. Having surmounted the insurmountable, to be cut down by the seemingly benign threat is perversly unfair....and we rail against this.... ruminating over the ending makes it haunting, and engenders discussion, and personal reflection....all to the good.

Rating:
Summary: A captivating and heart-wrenchingly lovely story
Review: I simply could not put this book down. I was drawn in by the author's descriptions of characters, actions and settings, and not at all put off by his form (which I felt gave "authenticity" to the story in its time). I have no stake in the history or its outcomes, and felt that the story transcended its particular setting. I found this to be a satisfying and very moving story of love and friendship -- and discordant alliance -- in the most difficult circumstances.

Rating:
Summary: Go Slow, Savor it...it will reward you
Review: Almost every sentence was so well crafted and constructed. although at first I thought it was too flowery, I realized how descriptive, authoritative and beautiful the writing is. As someone relatively ignorant of that period of history, it was rich in lessons of the times and also of nature. All I could think of when reading it was how special a work it is. In some ways, the book reminds me of Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, another special story.

Rating:
Summary: Should be on reading lists with Hemingway
Review: Once I became accustomed to the style of writing Frazier used, I was truly captivated by this novel. The style of writing actually made it a lot easier to read and the descriptions of the characters were so specific. I agree with a review from Europe that it seemed far-fetched that Inman would survive so many catastrophes. I was especially upset with the ending, because it seemed that a person who survived everything up and until the end shouldn't have ended up the way he did. I was expecting a much more breathtaking ending. In any event, I expect this novel to be on educational reading lists with Hemingway and Shakespeare in the near future.

Rating:
Summary: Fine Fiction
Review: This beautifully written novel is not unflawed, but that doesn't keep it from being a highly entertaining and in many ways quite marvelous read. I recommend it to friends, and to you, gentle reader. I have returned to the "star field" a couple of times, changing my rating from 5 to 4 and back. For overall pleasure, for quality in these quality-poor times, I have to come down on the side of five. But just to unburden myself, and on the off chance that the author himself may seek out this criticism and benefit from it for future work, which I certainly do hope to see from him, here are my caveats. "Cold Mountain" is a bit disjointed and lacks sustained momentum. It has some feeling, in places, of incidents patched together to give a whole rather than of a coherent, continuing, and compelling vision. It seemed to draw together a bit better and pick up speed in the midsection. But here, too, it often had a patchy feel. While I loved the goat woman section, this and other incidents smacked of self-indulgent sidetrips rather than story progress. 2) I was interested to read another "reviewer" say that he thought it was perhaps a man's book. Oddly, I, a woman, found Inman, the male protaganist, uncompelling, opaque, and, quite frankly lacking in distinct personality, whereas Ada and especially Ruby, the female protaganists, had a heck of a lot more reality. But finally, I must say that despite these quibbles, the merits of the work--the beautiful language, the generally careful crafting, and the basically successful attempt at historical versimilitude make it definitely well worth reading. I would read Charles Frazier's next if it is as good!