Rating: 
Summary: didn't live up to the reviews or my expectations
Review: Because this book has been on top of the Best Sellers list for so long and because it earned rave reviews from many participants on National Public Radio's Book Club of the Air, I bought this book. But I had difficulty picking it up and sticking with it. Inman's story was extremely slow-moving and I kept waiting for all of the characters he met along the way to MEAN something. The only thing that kept me going was the occasional flashbacks on the relationship between Ada and Inman and their eventual coming together. Then the end was a BIG let-down. One thing that would have greatly improved the book would have been Frazier's use of quotation marks around the characters' speaking parts. It was much too narrative for my taste.Ironically, the book I'm reading now also uses Charleston as a central location -- Beach Music. It is much easier to read and stay with. Still, my favorite book of all times is "The Color of Water" by James McBride. Read that one!!!
Rating: 
Summary: this book makes the grade
Review: I expect Cold Mountain will be around a long time, certainly long enough for a wide range of self-proclaimed literary critics to debunk its merits...which is, after all, a good indicator of its literary value. Simply put, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain takes you there. Where, you ask? Not necessarily to the Civil War. It takes you to the core of your humanity. And whether or not you like what you see when you get there is very probably reflected in your estimation of it. Thanks, Chuck.
Rating:
Summary: Descriptive, engaging, but limited, depiction of Civil War
Review: Cold Mountain makes excellent use of descriptive writing to give the reader a believable description of the Civil War, and its horrors. Apparently well-researched, the author juxtaposes the viewpoint of a Southern soldier with an intellectual preacher's daughter, both weakly committed to the cause of the Civil War. Both rescue their own self-worth through the strength of others, hers positive, his negative, but both powerful images. The book takes unpredictable twists and turns as it jumps back and forth between the two worlds created by the separation of war. The reader who enjoys detailed, graphic description will be enthralled, and will take with them a deepened understanding of the sacrifices of war, as well as the specifics of existence during the Civil War. This book requires a mature but adventuresome reader for true appreciation.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written and very moving.
Review: Cold Mountain was a revelation, since it is of a genre I normally avoid. But reading it was a pleasure - an occasionally harrowing pleasure - but a pleasure nonetheless. Adventurous and romantic, it presents us with two heroic figures in Ada and Inman, and the realization of their feelings for one another is profoundly moving. I was impressed by Frazier's skill, his knowledge historical and geographic, and his interweaving of these into this lovely tale against a nightmare background. Superb.
Rating:
Summary: A peerless mountain
Review: This is the most magnificent writing I've ever experienced. So conversant in wisdoms from the forester's shadowed paths, the tiller's learned hand, the beleaguered soldier's haunts. So elegant in ascent to a place where the reader parts from cherished intimates having been stirred and stolen from, but, as in morning, revivified for an onward trek.
Rating:
Summary: A haunting glimpse into the past...
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this story and was sorry to see it end. I admired the spirit of the main characters and their ability to cope with hardships. Inman's perspective of the life of a Civil War soldier was realistic, his character admirable, and the long journey home heartwrenching. I was also fascinated by the personal development of his sweetheart back home, with the help of a talented mountain woman who teaches her how to survive. Even the bittersweet ending was suitable. This is an outstanding first novel, and I am looking forward to the author's next.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest books I have read in the last few years
Review: Without questions, Cold Mountain deserves all the praise, and recognition, it has garnered. It is a novel that demands a great deal of concentration from the reader in order to appreciate it fully, but oh, how worthwhile it is...Serious readers will find this book a treasure to keep near the heart. Perhaps the most satisfying and realistic fictional Civil War odyssey I have ever picked up, the intricacies of life during this tumultinous time in American history spring from the page to embrace the reader with vivid, believeable detail. As the descendant of several Civil War soldiers, I find a special interest in the realistic, humanistic portrayal of life in a time so close, yet so far removed, from our own. In short, it is a tale that transcends time, and should be included, without question, among the ranks of truly great literature.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book that could have been great.
Review: After hearing and reading such wonderful reviews of Charles Frazier's debut novel, Cold Mountain, I ran out and bought it last year. About half way into the novel, I put it back on the shelf. A few weeks ago, I picked it back up again, dusted it off, and finshed it. What a depressing book! The characters were wonderful and likable. The plot was such an orginal one. The prose was at times so beautiful it made me ache. Yet, all in all, I finished this book and felt depressed and glad to be done with it. It is a good book. It's a very dark book. Worst of all, it could have been a great book, but it is so bogged down with such heartlessness and cruelty and death (which may have been the author's intention), that I can't say I really liked it. Worst of all, I felt like this could have been such a great book, it had come so close to greatness, that I was very sad to see it fall so short of greatness. The ending, which could have redeemed this book, was such a sho! t in the heart, such a waste, that it sealed this books fate to just above mediocrity. Yet, to Charles Frazier's credit, he shows tremendous potential and he writes like a poet. Maybe next time he will write a novel that at least gives us a glimmer of hope and doesn't leave the reader feeling that all is pointless and all is lost.
Rating:
Summary: strong emotional feelings of pain and hope
Review: This is one of the best books that I have read in a while. I could not put the book down until I finished it. I was really concerned abot Inman. The suspense if not knowing whether or not he would make it home kept me going. I grew up in the Asheville area so any historical fiction prtaining to Western North Carolina and that time period interests me. I would recommend this book very highly. PS The book was so good that I read it in about 16 hours.
Rating:
Summary: Overall disappointing.
Review: I looked forward to reading this book; as I got further into it I was struck with the constant references to excrement, human and otherwise; graphic killings; and a series of distasteful, totally unredeeming characters that Inman meets along the way. I stuck it out til the end hoping the end would be worth it; it wasn't. I had suspected the outcome; and was disappointed to find my suspicions correct. Pluses for the book were the female charcters, Ada and Ruby. Also the extensive research and authenticity with reference to vocabulary of that time, names of flora and fauna, and things like kinds of tools. The brutal treatment of ordinary citizens during that time and the efforts taken to hunt down the outliers do have a lasting effect on the reader. But overall, I was disappointed in the actual story.
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