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Summary: Not a typical love story
Review: Cold Mountain...I really enjoyed this novel. It was a beautiful love story between two individuals with nothing but distance separating them. The novel starts out fairly slow, but begins to pick up after the first thirty pages or so. The novel is written from two point of view: Ada and Inman. Inman and Ada had once lived in the same town, but Inman was called off to battle and had to leave Ada behind. When the war ends, Inman makes the treacherous journey back to Ada and along the way he meets a number of interesting characters. Meanwhile, Ada's life is taking her places she neevr thought possible, and her whole life is transformed. This is a fairly quick read, yet not a typical love story
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Summary: Cold Mountain- Keepin it real
Review: Cold Mountain starts off rather slow, but as it goes along it picks up speed, as well as excitement. Overall it is a very good book. It is well written, and seems to effectively capture a more personal side of the civil war. The author is extremely effective in bringing the characters to life. His writing is very descriptive, and beaitifully portrays the nature and scenery of cold mountain and its surrounding area. Frazier shows the different affect that the war had on both the men, and women. He has a very enjoyable usage of language. Throughout the course of the book he shows how both of the primary character, Ada, and Inman, struggle to get over the past, and push through their far less preferable present. Over all it is a very enjoyable, and informative book.
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Summary: Review!!
Review: This book, was a good book, but the beginning was very slow. I was about to put it down while in the middle of the first chapter. If it wasn't for the teacher telling us tha we had to read all of the book, I wouldn't have read it. I'm happy that the teacher pressured us as much as he did. The book turns out to be worth while at the end. I, personally, don't like to read war books, but this changed my mind. I definitely recommend this book, to anyone who likes to read. I give it three stars because it was very slow in the beginning.
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Summary: A Great Story read with a Great Voice
Review: Most authors who chose to read their own work end up doing a poor job of it. Charles Frazier reads this excellent story with perfection. I am listening to it for the third time.
Rating: 
Summary: I wasted my time
Review: I never did get a feel for the main male character. He goes through many trials. At one point he encounters a mother bear with a cub, the mother bear goes over the cliff as it tries to protect her little one. I found myself wishing that the character had gone over the cliff. Then I wouldn't have to read about him anymore. You can figure out the end before it happens. It's just too drawn out... The female characters are interesting, and more developed, but not very realistic.
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Summary: Slow Moving, Too Much Detail, Inadequate Character Depth
Review: This book came highly recommended to me. Initially I was drawn to the detailed writing which has lot of in-depth descriptions of places and events. After a few chapters though, it became clear that the writing was too oriented towards detailed explanations of what is happening and various environments, but not enough towards giving the characters depth, interest, and emotion. The story also lacks a compelling plot. Even the civil war setting isn't given much discussion.Part of the problems are due to there being too little direct dialogue between the characters, with Frazier choosing a more narrative style. This style exacerbates a tedious, dry, and somewhat depressing tale that seems very two dimensional, without getting enough into the feelings of the characters. The ending made sense in terms of the how the characters were described, but it also made me realize that I didn't really like these characters very much. Ada grows towards self sufficiency, while Inman continues in his low key manner without any clear direction other than desertion and finding Ada. Not a very compelling or romantic saga. It made for slow reading, aside from a few of the action sections. A fair book, but not a great book, and not worth wading through over 400 pages of detail overload, even though some of the writing is of very high quality.
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Summary: I could have been reading a classic
Review: Cold Mountain is pretty good. It's a great first novel for this Charles Frazier guy. It's a lot better than I or any of my friends could write. Basically, it's OK, but considering that it's going to take you a few days or weeks to read it, why not spend that time reading a much, much better book? You can get as much literary pleasure and nutrition out of 10 pages from either Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian or Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. The similarities of this book to these, along with The Odyssey, reminded me of the goofy fiberglass body work that kids put on their Honda Civics to make them look faster parked in front of the bowling alley. If you want a great book, don't waste your time.
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Summary: Cold Mountain
Review: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier has a story line that parallels that of the Odyssey. The main character, Inman, travels home from the Civil War hospital to his love, Ada. The book changes from chapter to chapter, one being written from the view of Inman and the next chapter is in the view of Ada. This makes the story very interesting as the reader gets to see how the actual soldiers felt during times of war and also how their loved ones felt as well. This book causes suspense because the Home Guard is out to catch soldiers who have left the war. I would strongly recommend this book as it is extremely well written and the novel contains many adventures that Inman and Ada must overcome in order to see each other once again.
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Summary: Brilliant, Beautifully Written, Engrossing - A Great Read!
Review: This is one of those rare books that ages well in the memory - it's even better upon later reflection than it is when you first read it. The book deals with timeless themes - the resiliency of the human sprit, the sustaining power of faith, the strength of human love - and does so in the context of one of the most important events in America's history, the Civil War. Great historical fiction has the power to educate you, to move you deeply, to create a wonderful escape - and this book accomplished all of this. The historical context of the book serves as more of a backdrop for what is a very rich and enjoyable human story, creating a very satisfying read even if don't have a great interest in this historical period. If, on the other hand, you do hold an interest in the Civil War, this book will give you a feel for what it must have been like to live through the waning days of the war. The depth of feeling and understanding you'll experience is one that few nonfiction books produce.
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Summary: An odyssey of courage
Review: Cold Mountain is the elegiac odyssey of one man who has fought for the South in the Civil War, after he is nearly mortally wounded. During a long convalescence, his mind attends carefully to the reasoning and waste of war, and the dehumanization of its participants. At some point in his musings, Inman makes a decision and begins his fateful journey home to Cold Mountain and the young woman he hopes is still waiting. At no point on his journey will he be safe, as the roads are patrolled by soldiers searching for such as he, deserters. An uncommon man, Inman would not call himself so, but rather be driven to humility and a need for a simple life after the nightmarish memories of war and death on the battlefield. He goes on foot, fearing that a horse will attract too much unwanted attention, although his wounds have scarcely healed. But he sets out with purpose and determination, set on that one goal, a return to the brutal but beloved Cold Mountain. The woman he walks toward is Ada Monroe, a Charleston minister's daughter, who has lived alone on her father's small farm on Cold Mountain after her father's death, refusing to return to Charleston. Ada knows nothing of farming or survival, although it is her intention to keep the farm and learn to run it. A young woman comes into Ada's hapless life, Ruby, who strikes a bargain for their mutual survival: Ruby has the knowledge and Ada has the land. They form a strong partnership that slowly grows into a respectful friendship, determined, each in her way, to survive the war and the approaching winter. Ruby is an able teacher, and Ada a willing pupil. Together they prepare the farm for the rigors of planting grain, caught up in the rhythm of daily life that depends on itself for sustenance, and they realize that their bargain was well made. Each tedious day of his endless journey, Inman finds himself changing in unexpected ways, mentally tougher, spiritually stronger, although his body is decimated by long bouts of hunger. Ada has become a different person herself, a woman able to provide food and work the land with her hands, no longer the daughter of privilege. As they draw closer to each other, they are more suited, hardship honing their characters, sharpening their perceptions of what is meaningful. Like life, the truest road is in the journey, not the destination. And this journey is filled with wisdom and the appreciation of nature in all its forms, the simple-gratification of a day well lived.
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