Cold Mountain : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: Cold Mountain has only two flaws: the ending and the fact that it alternates from gorgeous, splendid, magnificent writing to merely gorgeous, splendid writing. It's quite unlike anything I have ever read before, extraordinarily well-researched, lyrical, beautiful, you can touch the snow and taste the coldness of the creek water. I often find myself thinking about it even though it's been three months and nine other books since I read it. My great-grandmother, who lived in the same general area, was 20 years old at the end of the Civil War. Like Ada, she too was educated, came from a well-to-do family and also had to wait until the end of the war before she could be with her betrothed. My great-grandparents' story end differently but but reading Ada's story made me taught me a great deal about what daily life must have been like for my great-grandmother.

Rating:
Summary: Moving Story
Review: I do not know if Charles Frazier is a good writer, as I am not a writing critic. But I do know that his story moved me and that I still think about it. I think about Inman alot, how he suffered on his walk home, of how he never gave up on his dream of going home and of finding out if Ada returned his affection. I loved the story of the Shining Rocks. Perhaps that is really where Inman belongs given his experiences at war and in his long walk home. Most of all, I admired Ruby for her knowledge of her world of seasons and of growing things. She was a true student of nature and she charted her path in accordance with the movements of the universe. It makes my every day seem so artificial. I think about this book the most when I run in the hills. Like Ruby I acknowlege the power of the mountain. I go slowly, looking at the trees and plants around me, and I take it one switch back at a time. And when I reach the top I think about the Shining Rocks and that other world where we can go if only we believe. Remarkable.

Rating:
Summary: depressing and pointless
Review: It is slow to start and goes downhill from there. I read on and finished it only because the reviews had been so good. I kept thinking that it would get better, but in the end it was very disappointing and unsatisfying. The reviews were misleading and I'll never again buy books that those reviewers recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Went on too long for me!
Review: I appear to be a minority after reading some of the other reviews. I had to read this for a book group and started it five days before. I had a hard time staying awake every night to read 70 pages. The descriptions although vivid got tiring to me. I guess I like a story with a little more action.

Rating:
Summary: Best book Ive read so far this year
Review: Its all been said. The author's dry style may put you off for the first 4 pages. Dont let it. Could be a perfect world if they based a mini-series on this novel.

Rating:
Summary: Gifted writer in need of a story
Review: I won't spoil the ending for you(the author will do that himself), but I would have gladly suffered through a few more chapters if it meant finding a reasonable outcome.

Rating:
Summary: Destined to become one of my top 10 favorites!
Review: This was a wonderful read, right to the last page. When I was finished, I couldn't wait to share it with friends, but as I sat there holding Cold Mountain, I wasn't at all sure that I was going to be able to phyiscally part with this book for quite awhile. Not many books have made me feel that way. I loved it, start to finish!

Rating:
Summary: A sweet, sad, allegorical, memorable and masterful tale
Review: I have done my recent duty and waded through "The Information" and "Underworld" and "In The Beauty of the Lilies" and have, in turn, loved each of them. However, I have devoted the last thirty years of my life to the pursuit of the works of increasingingly irrelevant and obtuse writers......and along comes Charles Frazier. This is a great story. This is an uplifting story. This is a love story. This is a story about America. As an Australian, I can say that this is a story that every American should read, and from it take pride in his/her country and it's storytellers. I will read and reread this story.

Rating:
Summary: Rewriting Cival War History?
Review: It was fun to see what that kooky preacher Veasey would do next, but I was a little put off about the discriptions of the Confederate Generals on Maryes Heights. The authors agenda was to make them look like war mongering asses who thought of the men more as chess game pieces than soliders. "The two generals spent the afternoon up on the hill coining fine phrases like a couple of wags." I guess Mr. Frazier is more of a CW expert than Catton, Gallager, Robertson, Sears, Headley, etc...

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Love Story
Review: This was a beautiful love story in the tradition of great Breaux novels. I cried every time I read the third chapter. I would like to have seen more written about Herren.