Rating: 
Summary: A marvel of a first novel
Review: The parallell journies of the central characters of this novel are a beautiful rendering of what happens to people and relationships when circumstances out of their control alter their world. Reminiscent of the Odyssey, Inman and Ada's experiences ultimately remind us that life is a serious of twists and turns of fate that we must simply accept and move through. The story is unique in that it tells the coming of age of both a female and male protagonist simultaneously and is successful in doing it.
Rating:
Summary: Disillusioned warrior going home; classic character?
Review: Reading Cold Mountain, it occurs to me how often we read of the "Glories" of war, but not its real human cost. Perhaps this figure of "soldier going home" should become a standard stock character in more of our fiction? There is no problem beleiving that this was the exact mood of the time, and the disposition of those particular people in such terrible days. With the language, and the setting, I bought it hook line and sinker! I cannot recall ever reading a better story involving such a disillusioned and bitter soldier! I just finished Stephan E. Ambrose's book about D Day, and was appalled at the waste of so many fine young lives! Certainly one has to celebrate that heroism of 1944. Heroic? Certainly, but one might wish those who start all these wars would have more such characters as Inman to read about, instead of conquerers! I had trouble starting to read this one, because the opening was far too melancholy for me. I am glad I stuck with it, though, because I found it really grew on me. There were elments of the style that I greatly appreciated: Inmman's character is kept clinically abstract. We aren't given anything of his past, or personality, except what is demonstrated here. Strong silent deer hunter type. We are seeing the rest of the world only through his eyes, and can then appreciate all those other sights, sounds and characters so much the more. The way Frazier has of developing every other character into someone we really care about, instead of using cardboard background figures as other writers do too often, makes for the real excitement of the book. I liked so many people in this: The goat woman especially. Ruby. Veasy, the errant preacher. Stobrod the musician. And, of course, Ada, and her misguided preacher father, from Charleston. Ruby really captured my imagination, as the prototype of a modern environmentally concious person! The goat woman was altogether fascinating, and so mystical! I loved her. She reminded me of early visits with my own great-grandmother from the same historical period. It surprises me that, among all the reviewers here, no one compares Inman to a western gunfighter, or to a travelling Ronin! I had that feeling all the way through "Cold Mountain"; that I was re-reading some of the best of the classic Musashi stories from Japan! There are scenes in the wilderness which might well have been lifted right out of those classics! You have the same kind of toughness and stoic perserverance. Remember, this was over a hundred years ago. On the subject of toughness, I found those particular understated details of how Inman deals with his neck injury, and survives, to be compelling and real. Been there, done that. I know that the experience of starving, almost to death, is spot on. The proper thing here, is that this is writ with such understatement, rather than dramatically. I can surely appreciate that. Did anyone notice that all the people who actually helped Musahi, I mean Inman ;>) , were women? The men were mostly adversaries, or somehow very threatening to him. Right up to the end! Speaking of which; a lot of readers faulted the "unhappy" ending. I found it quite special and ironic that Inman relaxed, tried to trust someone, and gave the kid a break. The epilogue just brings it all home: life goes on, and these were our ancestors. Loved this book, and wil be re-reading it soon! I will watch for more from Charles Frazier!
Rating: 
Summary: My Wife's Gift I had to read!
Review: When my wife gave me the book for Christmas I was thrilled. I had heard so much about it - and #1! But I just finished it - plodded through it - and I thanked her for it but I will donate it to the public library. Maybe someone else will enjoy it. It was depressing and didn't really follow a plot line that I could discover. The words that were written came together nicely at places, but the whole was not complete. Nice descriptions of the mountains in winter. The book was COLD!
Rating: 
Summary: I loved the ending.
Review: As soon as the "bear" incident occurred, I could see what was going to happen - the bear was Inman's "totem" & when uncontrollable incidents conspired & ended with the death of the bears - well. I was thrilled at Inman's redemption, though, & what better thing could a woman say of a man "she doesn't need" - "I think I want him though". I really liked this book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I grew up in the area where this story takes place and can see in my mind the endless rows of blue tinted mountains. I took my time with this book because the words were so beautifully strung together and sometimes it would read like prose. Why the story had to end like it did is beyond me and I'll not spoil it for any of you who haven't read it yet. Teague and his band are certainly to be avoided and I tried not to read ahead to see when they be cropping up again.
Rating:
Summary: A great, surprising, refreshing, and poignant novel
Review: The story of Inman, a deserting confederate soldier and Ada, his left-at-home girl friend is beautifully told through this fast paced, somewhat complex novel. The author uses historical factual evidence about the lives of people in the south towards the end of the civil war to give an exciting, moving, informative, and heart-tugging perspective of life in 1864. A novel with such a tremendous setting and unique construction could fall prey to a lazy cookie cutter plot format, but Frazier winds personal reflection of the characters with unique plot twists to keep the reader enthralled with every chapter. Read the book when you have some time to spend, it is truly a hard novel to put down!
Rating:
Summary: Cold Mountain: A Peak Experience
Review: Cold Mountain is a wonderfully engaging and moving novel. Although it is demanding of the reader's skill, it fully rewards his efforts. Charles Frazier focuses our senses on the details of life and renders them to great and subtle effect. He shows us the healing power of love, the consolations engrained in our earthly lives, and the spirit's resilience in the face of incomprehensible change and loss. There is a joyful sadness in Frazier's portrayal of the young widow's ragged song and the yearning dissonance of Stobrod's fiddle. It reflects our ability to find a new beginning in what seems like the end and to redeem our lives with an open hand and a caring heart. There is so much to recommend in this debut novel that I hesitate to offer any reservations. The only one I have is that occasionally Frazier imposes too many details upon our senses. When he insists that we see the world precisely as he does, he hinders the flowering of our reading imagination. However, when he refrains from such insistence, his mastery of tone, scene, and character invoke our own creative skills so fully that to partake of Frazier's world is a peak experience. Rarely have I enjoyed a book so much, and I eagerly anticipate Charles Frazier's next creation.
Rating:
Summary: A haunting and beautiful story of hope and growth
Review: I think some of the dustjacket blurbs and reviews have mislead people. I would not call this a "civil war" novel. Some compare it to the Odyssey. I agree and also suggest a comparison to the quintessential American novel, Huckleberry Finn. Mr Frazier has done for the landscape of the mountains what Twain did for the Mississippi River--he has made it come alive as both a natural and human landscape. But Inman's spirit has been much more scarred than Huck's. And Frazier does not allow us to be distracted from human folly with humor as easily as Twain does. But the hope and redemption Inman finds on his journey is much harder earned than Huck's. The Ada and Ruby story show us women encountering an internal journey to match Frazier's. These are characters with depth and great sympathy. This is NOT a "page-turner" in the usual best seller sense. But it keeps one awake at nights pondering its observations on the fragility and resilience of the human spirit. Give this a try!
Rating:
Summary: I want to thank the author for his brilliant interpretation
Review: I was glad to see the volume of response. This book is, on one reading, a classic old friend. I will re-read many times, and I seldom do that. On the theory that nothing is perfect, I rated it at 9, but it is easily one of the half dozen best books I have read, and I have read constantly since the age of four.
Rating:
Summary: I grew up with Rockbridge County VA family war stories
Review: I came lately to Cold Mountain, because I am writing another War between the States novel based on other Virginia family stories. I deliberately avoided it, till I completed my own first draft of my own book and read it to the Oregon writers workshop this fall, here in Oregon.Several members of the conference again, recommended that I read Cold Mountain. The consensus of the group, was my novel was more a young girls coming of age story, during the long hot summer of 1941, with an even scarier, larger global war looming. Her Pathe Newsreen fueled fears were remarkably mentored by a 90 year old neighbor woman who survived her girlhood war. My protagonist was Born 1850, 11 years old in 1861. the child she mentored was born 1930, by coincidence also 11 years old the summer before Pearl Harbour. The old woman is an amalgam of several people I knew as a girl and young woman. I did not read Cold Mountain till last week, as I did not want to be influenced by an author covering the same Blue Ridge mountain region place and time. I have only the higest praise for Charles Frazier's ear for the slow paced, archaic speech of the region. Ive known mountain people exactly like them. Outsiders, who are not familiar with southern family tale telling, undoubtedly will find the archaic language and pace less than 20th century jet propelled. But its accurate. so take your time, pour yourself a large hot toddy of good Kentuckey bourban--and settle in for a long, liesurely wintertime literary stroll. Its worth slowing down once in a while--to hear the rain, and obvserve the wet, chill and muddy wartorn world that todays couch potatoed world rarely sees on the videot screen in front of them. I was particularly moved by the abandoned chesnut log village. Read Sandoz classic Trail of Tears regarding the brutal removal of respected Cherokee neighbors. the characters seem slow to many reviewers, but in my opinion, those kinfolk and neighbors of my girlhood did tale tell and stroll along at just that pace.
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