Rating: 
Summary: Cold Mountain
Review: Finally a book which can be classified as true literature. A rare talent and certainly destined to become one of the greats. Charles Frazier's literary gift is a rare phenomenon. Frazier's use of the English language has been elevated to an art form. Only an artisan such as Frazier can keep a reader spellbound with so depressing a subject matter. Unforgettable and possibly to be savored again.
Rating: 
Summary: A tedious walk
Review: Far too much description to keep my interest. The author should have hired someone other than himself to be the reader. He has a dreadfully boring monotone. This audio version dragged on and on.
Rating: 
Summary: In sight of Cold Mountain
Review: I grew up almost within sight of Cold Mountain. It was my hills this fellow was writing about. I've read enough poignant tales about poor mountain folk (and heard enough Beverly Hillbillies jokes) make me touchy. Especially when I know the culture has been franchised into oblivion during the last twenty years.... so I picked up this book with trepidation. A strong aversion to war tales and graphic horrors added another dose of mental caution. I forced myself through the first 100 pages. Some stories require telling. Some stories require reading. This one required both. I made peace with my own aversions. I recognized a master storyteller spinning a good tale. I settled in for a good read. It is a story as twisted and turning and determined as creek coming off the Blue Ridge. I saw a scene I still see today... an educated, well-refined soul finding themselves facing life on the mountain -- learning store-bought luxuries and book-learning do little to prepare one for the cold winds and hard winters, or even the overwhelming beauty of a perfect summer day. Frazier captured the culture lost -- authentic and proud. And I understood Inman's simplistic desire: if you get home to the mountains it will all be ok -- no matter how bad it is. The story sings of dichotomies: the flatlands and the hills; the mountain young'un teaching the city-wise young lady; the tales of war -- the cruel and the bad and between it the tender and good; mountain life -- bitter yet serene, hard-scrabble poor yet rich to overflowing; and the oldest dichotomy of all: the dichotomy of love and pain. And the dichotomies stayed with me long after the good read was over. It was my hills this fellow was writing about.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: One of the best Civil War novels ever. This book will surely become one of the classics. The characters, locations and situations are absolutely believable. I didn't want it to end.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning work
Review: Perhaps the finest book I have read in a dozen or more years. I'm not sure I've ever read a more poignant or elegant piece of writing. The imagery is extraordinary and the character development is as seamless as it is real. I've probably read 2,000 books in the past 25 years and this is the only one that ever compelled me to write a note of appreciation to the author. Frazier's writing is fluid, personal and effortlessly inventive. Don't borrow this book from the library; buy it. It will become a cherished favorite.
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Summary: A special Bonding
Review: I think this is a wonderful book. What was so enjoyable about and also held your interest was the different people and different lives that Inman came in touch with. They were fascinating people and so diverse. How would your life ever be the same again, you would think of these people almost everyday. The relaionship that Ada and Ruby had was just beautiful. They helped one other so much. Ada would have never existed if it wasn't for Ruby's wise wise and creative ways. Loved it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent tale, solid characters, great prose, good pacing
Review: I don't know why, but this book reminded me a lot of Dan Simmons' sci-fi classic Hyperion. Like Hyperion (though to a much smaller scale), the book is populated with interesting people that the two main characters meet, and most of these people have their own short stories to tell, many which are unforgettable. I found that each story drew me deeper into the story, helping me to understand what it was like to live in North Carolina during the Civil War era. And like Simmons, Frazier's prose is outstanding. I enjoyed reading the book not just for the story, but also to admire his descriptions of people, places, events...and to see where his imagination would lead me next. To compare it to other books may be unfair, but I also think the book has a romanticism similar to that of The Bridges of Madison County and A Very Long Engagement. This book ranks up there amongst some of the best books I've read.
Rating:
Summary: Absorbing and Beautifully Written
Review: This is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. Charles Frazier builds a story that takes you in totally. Cold Mountain allows you to feel deeply without telling you how to feel. This book is not for people who want immediate gratification with saturated obvious dialog or spelled out love scenes. I am left speechless, but filled with satisfaction. I will read this book again and again.
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Summary: I would compare Frazier with Pancake
Review: You probably haven't read "The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake", but you should.--Especially if you've enjoyed "Cold Mountain" half as much as I have. Pancake (don't be turned off by his ridiculous name--he was born with it) killed himself in 1979 at age 26, but not before leaving behind some of the best (it IS the best, I think) American short fiction of the later 20th century. I'm getting to the point. Pancake came from the same generation as Charles Frazier, although Frazier didn't start writing until much later in life, and the two also write from similar environments: Frazier from the mountains of North Carolina, Pancake from West Virginia. Maybe this is just my own personal taste, but there is definitely something similar in each of these writers that appeals to me . . . a kind of asthetic perfection in the images, a lovely kind of balance in just about every wording. There are things in "Cold Mountain" and in Pancake's stories that floored me with a conbination of shock, pleasure, and envy that I had not written them first; and these are two writers whose work embodies much of that which is great in contemporary American prose. I feel that I may be rambling. If I haven't lost you yet, it's a good sign, and just maybe I'll have found one more reader for Pancake--or for "Cold Mountain." Don't let my talk of asthetics frighten you if you haven't yet read the novel--you can enjoy it on so many levels (as an adventure, a love story, a historical novel, and on), it really is staggering. This is a book that I think deserves to last.
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Summary: Still singing of arms and the man
Review: The links between this novel and Homer's Oddysey are striking, but Charles Frazier has worked a wonder here. He has taken the well-rehearsed tale of a war-weary soldier returning home to his wife and made from it something new, original and a great myth in its own right. The pain, the waiting, the homesickness, the longing and the tragedy are all made tangible by Frazier's beautifully sparse prose. His evocation of the Civil War and of Cold Mountain are masterful. I read this at the same time as my father. We kept phoning one another up to discuss it. One of my most enjoyable reads in a long while.
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