Cold Mountain

Rating:
Summary: Would you like to go to sleep?
Review: The only reason why i kept this reading this book, is because i was hoping it would get better or interesting. This book had me very conceived. The characters were boring and not well written. Regardless that this book was written very well in language, but on the other hand, the story line was very stupid. At night or even during the day, i tried to keep my eyes open to read it, but the plot, theme, or whatever you want to call it, just made me fall asleep. My suggestion is to whoever is reading this, buy the cliff notes, and save yourself the time of reading this novel

Rating:
Summary: No more grits and lard please!
Review: I was very excited to start this book but 2 chapters into it I was wishing I had started another. However, as I kept reading it did improve. I enjoyed Inmans walk and all the characters he met but the descriptions were over written. I don't need to know about the crunch of every leaf. Also, what was with all the cooking stories? I understand that food was hard to come by but didn't people eat more than lard and grits and even if they didn't, how many times do you need to hear about it. I enjoyed watching the growth of Ada from prim, proper, and supposedly over educated for a girl to a real person having to work for a living, though why when she had silver bracelets and emerald rings was she being described as having nothing left. The silk dressed scarecrow was great! As far as Inman and Ada, I NEVER felt ANY connection between the two. Even when they finally felt they could be themselves with each other there was still nothing there. I never understood why Inman felt Ada would be waiting for him, as they never said much more then hello to each other. The book is lacking if you're looking for a love story but otherwise it's worth a look, just get beyond the first few chapters before you give it up.

Rating:
Summary: flawed charmer
Review: Maximum flavor of the rural South, similar in effect and resonance to Faulkner, but with a more digestible structure. An odd juxtaposition of melodrama and barebones cynicism.

Rating:
Summary: Cold Mountain -- Left me cold
Review: I wanted to like Cold Mountain. People I respect highly recommended it. However, I did not think it was very good. It was a "mountain" of arduous text and characters that left me "cold." Ada was a Scarlett O'Hara without spunk. Inman was more admirable and interesting but his journeys seemed impluasible. I would not say that Cold Mountain was bad, but I was surprised that I did not enjoy it more, given the overwhelming number of good reviews.

Rating:
Summary: Most overrated book I've read in a while.
Review: What was all the hoopla about? This was dull, dull, dull. Two bland story lines, one a little compelling, the other not at all. Episodes of extreme cruelty and brutality aren't any fun at all, though they do break up the monotony. I felt this author was too enthralled by his own writing, going on and on and on about, for example, how dark the night was. Okay, it was a dark night. Move on, please.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written but lacks drama and characterization
Review: I've been trying to figure out how readers can react so differently to this work. It seems to me that those who react very favorably do so because they are taken in by the beauty of the language and the author's great skill with description. Possibly, these readers also buy into the American myth that elevates "country values" of self-reliance, simplicity, stoicism, endurance, etc. above the "city values" of formal education, literature, formalized social convention, etc. The novel implies that Ada is too "citified" at the beginning (thus her helplessness) and it is a great advance for her character to be able to shoot turkeys. Country life is greatly romanticized here as if it were somehow nobler, and purer than life in the city. Those who find the book boring are reacting, I think, to the lack of drama and emotional intensity. There's very little passion expressed or even implied; consequently reader involvement suffers. If the characters had been more interesting, that could have supplied drama, but they seem to be American archetypes and not really unique individuals. Ada and Ruby at least interact and are foils for each other. Inman just keeps plodding along and instead of the characters developing, they seem to change without the necessary motivation. The author, like Annie Dillard, seems taken with the beauties of nature, but Dillard's novel The Living is a much better incorporation of this bent.

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Summary: Thoroughly transplanted me to another time and place....
Review: From the moment I started reading this book, the rawness and imagery took me from my warm spot in front of the fire to a time and place of such passionate violence and at the same time raw and unspoiled natural beauty. Inman's journey was so filled with the random lawlessness of the South during the Civil War that the occasions of simple goodness that he encountered along the way seemed all the more tender, and the characters who displayed such acts all the more lonely and desolate. Inman's odyssey, driven by love, the romantic love for a woman but as well the love for the virgin land on Cold Mountain that he could feel with all the power of his senses, introduced us to these odd, unique characters who, to me, in their ensemble formed a picture of a nation struggling to find a unified soul among disparate individuals each battling their own harships. Ada and Ruby respectively represented the elegance and grace of the South before the war and the determination and force which restored the nation after the devestation of the war. I found this book remarkable, the language stirring and emotional, and the ultimate climax one of the most powerfully moving love scenes of all time.

Rating:
Summary: highly overrated--very slow!!
Review: Even though this book is well received and supposed to be very good, I found that it is one of only 3 or 4 books that I completed ONLY because I kept hoping for it to get more interesting. It never did! I found it boring, slow-moving and it was a chore to read.

Rating:
Summary: Richly descriptive
Review: Cold Mountain is a nicely crafted novel with rich and refreshing description and characters whose personalities gain depth with the passing pages. It explores how war changes lives and how different people cope with those circumstances-not only the protagonists, but also the various secondary characters one encounters throughout the book. Contrary to what might be expected of a Civil War novel (endless stories of famous battles and glories), this is a looking glass into the lives of everyday people of that era, painting a picture of their hopes and fears, their struggles and personal growth.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Boring--Better Reads on this Subject Elsewhere
Review: I'm a lover of both good literature and words but this book left me with nothing but confusion as to why something like this would get so much attention, praise and awards and novels like Lee Smith's Fair and Tender Ladies are not as well-known but superior in all aspects. If you want to read about the mountains and if you want characters and writing that truly touch the soul, check out her books, available on Amazon, and leave this one behind.