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Summary: A long walk for a Moses tale
Review: It seems that the book goes on forever, lots of little sories joined together- some more interesting than others. Youneed the time and patience to read it all. I understand why so many people put it down for awhle at least once during their reading. Good if you have the time, patience and inclination.
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Summary: Simply one of the most enjoyable novels I have ever read!!
Review: Cold Mountain is an absolute joy of a novel. Set during the civil war, yet written as one man's quest 'home', it is written so luxuriously and vividly, that I often stopped to reread passages just to fully savor the scene described. Both harsh and compelling, it succeeds not only in telling an enduring tale, but also in describing the pure horror, ruthlessness and savagery of man during war and peace. However, Mr. Frazier does not dwell on these aspects... better, he sneaks them in to the story as you are trying to discover the next twist in this fascinating novel. This is not a story of a man and woman deeply in love for many years who have "lost their way." Instead, it is a complex story set in the most complex and saddest time of our nation. Read this novel... I hope you enjoy it one-half as much as I did!!
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Summary: too pretentious
Review: The author seems to be too busy trying to write beautifully to also tell a gripping story. I couldn't get through the first chapter and then got rid of the book.
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Summary: It Fairly Sings
Review: An adventure-laden trip home for the war-weary veteran. The apprenticeship of a young woman in petticoats to learn the ways of nature and how to live. A love story. Above all the language which fairly sings. Thusly so, it becomes a book that bears rereading to languish in the description of a brook, a leaf, a forking of the trails and wonder at where the words of the 19th century (if those are what they be) came to the pen in the late 20th century. A joy.
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Summary: This adventure will capture your spirit.
Review: There is an old saying that the universe is made up of stories, not atoms- which is why I prefer to read books like "Cold Mountain" than my old university physics books. Good stories' needs a good conflict, interesting characters and a narrator with imagination to keep you interested during the journey. Following the journey of the characters in Cold Mountain was at times a slow exercise but intensely satisfying in this tale of battling and surviving the elements, the social-economic conditions of the times and the individual will to push on. I noticed that many readers of Cold Mountain also enjoyed reading about the challenges of matching our strengths and limitations against the forces of nature in recent books such as "A Perfect Sea" and "Into Thin Air." I also enjoyed these reads because a couple times a year I like to head out into the wilderness to test my capacity to adapt to the conditions and to reclaim a certain perspective on life. If you enjoy these types of read then may I suggest that you find "The Lure of the Labador Wild" by Dillon Wallace.
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Summary: Slow down and soak in the beauty
Review: If you are a person who appreciates the beauty of a harvest moon that casts blue shadows, or of a heron taking flight, then you will savor this book. But if you drive past scenic turnouts because you want to get home in time to watch "Suddenly Susan," perhaps you will agree with those reviewers who found Cold Mountain too detailed, too long and lacking the usual happy ending. As I read Cold Mountain I found myself transported completely to the Civil War south, more so than I've ever been reading literature contemporary to the time. That's the genius of this work -- it shows us so clearly what has changed in the last 135 years by its mastery of things that remain constant: the natural world and human interaction. If you've spent time outdoors or on a farm, you'll recognize the truth in Frazier's writing and absolutely revel in its beauty and grandeur. I've not read a more deserving National Book Award winner.
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Summary: Excellent, but a victim of the hype?
Review: This book is a classic example of what happens when something gets overhyped. Read the reviews from June 1997--nobody says the book disappointed them because they weren't expecting what reviewers a year later were expecting. IF you can read this book without reading any reviews, and without knowing anything in advance, you'll enjoy it a lot more. I did not realize it was historical fiction before I started it. And I love a lot of description. I can understand why some people might have been disappointed, but I loved this book. And I didn't think the ending was at all predictable, but found it perfectly appropriate. Not the BEST book I've ever read, but certainly worth high praise.
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Summary: Willing suspension of disbelief, Victor Hugo on steroids.
Review: ...I agree with most of the comments about inconsistencies in writing & editing. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the novel immensely. I disagree with those who denied its power as storytelling. I couldn't put it down. Keep in mind that the raw material Frazier had to work with was basically an oral legend from family history. He manages to string it out for several hundred pages and still engage your attention and keep you in willing suspension of disbelief despite the plot becoming increasingly predictable and the events Inman survives becoming increasingly unlikely. Keep in mind also the genre he seems self-consciously to be following - that of the 19th century novel. His language IS anachronistic at times, but not distractingly so. And the plot itself is no worse than the great potboilers of Dickens, Hugo, Dostoevski, et al. In fact, he is writing in their style. Yes, it was unbelievable in parts, if you think about it for more than a few seconds. Yes, it was predictable, following well-worn literary grooves in its weaving together of the lives of its characters. Yes, it reeked of affectation and a shallow mixing of ancient Greek legend with animistic tribal mysticism. But that's what the 19th century novel is like. Above all it has that quintessential necessity for a good 19th century novel - a preoccupation with hopeless love and death. What we are dealing with is the Count of Monte Cristo on a diet of cornpone, Jean Valjean baptized with lard. (What the heck IS cornpone anyway?) The mood of the book captures the philosophical mood which has followed all great wars in the Post-Enlightenment Western World - a rejection of traditional religion and turning to a kind of bewildered nihilistic individualism alternating between ecstacy and despair. Final comment - the ending sucked, even when you do know the story of Baucis and Philemon. It would have been a more powerful novel without the Epilogue altogether - then it would have sustained the same philosophical vein throughout - that of bewildered wonderment at the 'changes and chances of this fleeting world' (as the Old Prayerbook puts it). The reader should have been left wondering completely. No resolution at all would have been more satisfying than the half-resolved ending he has provided - an ending which satisfies neither those who love tragedy not those who love happily ever after. But then Hollywood would have had to write their own ending, so I guess Frazier has saved them the trouble.
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Summary: Slow moving and very unexciting.
Review: I found the story very slow moving and uneventfull, I found Inman a very uninteresting person. There were no high points or a good build-up of a solid story.
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Summary: 1990's characters in a "historical" setting
Review: For the life of me, I can't see why so many people liked this book (which is why I read it in the first place). The author and characters are SO out of place with their times; the proto-lesbian relationship, the omnipotent secret-police NKVD Home Guard units, the goofy protagonist. The author's writing style is warmed-over Cormack McCarthy. I know it's his first book, which is why I didn't give it 1 star, but it is not an impressive first effort. All I can figure is that this would be considered "great literature" by people who mostly read "bodice rippers" and are members of Oprah's book club.
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