Rating: 
Summary: Cold Mountain
Review: Inescapably significant, undeniably influential, and definitely intelligent, this book still has qualities that just...bug me.To start with, I, personally, didn't like that Inman's a deserter. I'd rather read about someone who kept his word and did his duty. The book seems to me over-intellectualized and wordy, and the nasty-twist ending a bit too cruel. Mentalities sometimes seem questionably period. But it's not a bad book. Descriptions, particularly descriptions of music (which few writers can pull off), are strong. Frazier knows how to use the English language, and though sometimes I think he overdoes it, sometimes his prose is beautiful. One does become drawn into the story, and come to care about the outcome. I'll be curious to see what the upcoming movie does, for good or ill.
Rating: 
Summary: Very nice.
Review: Charles Frazier knows how to write. The breathtaking imagery in Cold Mountain outweighs any slowness of plot (this book isn't for restless readers); nature, emotion, and music truly jump to life. If the novel has any weaknesses, it's the poor character development: Inman often seems like a mere action figure making his way across a map, than he does a real human with a believable personality. Frazier makes some strong philosophical points through Inman's adventures, but don't expect much from the character himself. Cold Mountain is otherwise extremely rewarding. There is little frivolity; Frazier doesn't rely on trashy sex scenes or seamless cussing or gore galore to attract readers. The book is heavy, and it requires a lot of focus (the saga's purpose will be lost on those with little patience for "boring" works of literature); but historically, it is accurate, and emotionally, it is engrossing.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful beyond words
Review: I believe books, much like people, come into our lives at certain times for a reason. This book was no different. I bought this book several years ago, but for one reason or another, I did not pick it up to read until I was on my own journey to a cold mountain. It only seemed fitting. All I can say is that I think it's brilliant. A delicacy in a land of fast food. The rich wording is like a dessert so sweet it makes you tongue tingle. I felt as though I was on the journey -- one of coming home and one of self-discovery. I felt a range of emotions as I read, but most of all -- anticipation. It was absolutely wonderful and I highly recommend it. I'm not a literary scholar... Just a lover of books.
Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: Cold Mountain is quite simply the best book I've ever read. I looked into it recently because I found out it was being made into a film. I am so glad I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Quickly to Cold Mountain - the abridged cassette
Review: I hadnt read the book by Charles Frazier when I bought the "abridged" cassette and listened to it on one long and lonely drive through outback Australia - so far from Cold Mountain. My Dad had worked in Wilmington NC, and like many people around the world, I had very little idea of the Civil War from the side of the south, with its horrors, upheavals and dislocations. While darkly written, at its core is a basic story of how war changes people and in this case brings Inman and Ada closer. When I finished listening to the casette I wanted to read the book, and wanted Frazier to write another, and another.....
Rating: 
Summary: The Star Wars I of novels? Despite hype, this book sucks.
Review: Maybe being a writer myself, and seeing all his terrible, terrible tricks made it harder for me, but still, I could find nothing good in this novel. Fraser's over-flowry praise borders very close to god-awful. I had to read this book as part of my Senior Year Contemporary Lit class, and to paraphrase Kurtz, 'the tedium! the tedium!' I have waited so long to write this review only because I required time to relearn how to appreciate literature after I read this book. Fraser tries way, way to hard to show us 'depth' and 'meaning' in this trite, repetitive novel. And Ada's self-discovery, never mind being a total cliche, added a completely unnecessary, unwanted one or two hundred pages to this worthless tome.
Upon reflection, Fraser probably only put her in there to make some banal statement about the upper class not living a full and meaningful life. Inman's journey, also meant to convey some anti-war message, got to be so over-the top in a very short while that to read the book was dangerous to my health and sanity. The symbolism--Fraser's main trick-- was so obvious so as to be practically hitting the reader over the head and the ending left me totally unsatisfied. After Inman's--and the reader's-- tedious, plodding walk through the evident horrors of the Civil-War era south, I hoped that Fraser would have had the kindness to satisfy with a decent ending.
Rating:
Summary: A matter of discovery--
Review: Charles Frazier has penned a book which reminds me why I like to read--it all comes down to a matter of discovery. Innumerable realizations--often major truths--abound. Page by page, line by line, a keen, honest observation of nature and humanity emerges, shimmering, dark, immense. Frazier's command of precise language--with economy when best serving his purpose, with expanse when most needed--reacquaints the reader with the beauty of words in the right hands. I offer Mr. Frazier what I consider the supreme compliment: his work enlightens.
Rating:
Summary: For Those who Have Problems Sleeping
Review: Boring, tedious, disjointed, contrived, silly---poorly fleshed out characters evoke neither sympathy or empathy. There are much better "reads" out there and more salubrious ways to spend your time.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbound
Review: This dark novel attached itself to me like the tenacles of an octopus! It unfolded so slowly (though not boring) and mysteriously that I felt I had to dig deeper and deeper all the time to get to know the two characters. The answer to the question, "What will happen next," always loomed like a dark ghost just out of visible range. This drew me and the book together like an invisible force. It left my head spinning!
Rating:
Summary: A Grand Work of Art
Review: I need to add a few words to the thousands that have been written in praise of this impressive novel. One reviewer captured it well when s/he commented it's the journey that counts. Indeed, that is the essence of life, journeying forth against obstacles and adversity. And that's what this book delivers, a journey unlike any I have read in literature. Oh, sure, the motif of the odyssey or quest is apparent as a literary device, but Frazier invests it with such intimate detail, such vivid description, that he refines the vehicle. There is an inexorably haunting quality to his rendering (which he also captures in his reading of the work, well worth the hearing), echoing the unspeakable horror of the civil battle that has so defined our American psyche, that still pulses with meaning today, favorably and not-so-favorably (hear the echoes of "Yankee" when in the South and one cannot mistake the resonance of that bloody division). What a rich reading experience this book provides, requiring a diligence many readers cannot muster (I must confess to initial difficulty, more a reflection of me than the work, but I fixed it by listening to Fazier's reading on tape, which got me going and got me reading). The force of his writing will literally blow you away, time and again ... a dazzling, dizzying display. The writing demands that we slow down and savor the feeling of the time, the torment and loss of a ravaged nation ... of war-torn and wounded families ... of dreams dashed and destroyed. To read this novel is to remember, once again, why we live: to follow yearnings, to overcome adversity, and to remain forever hopeful.
| 
