Rating: 
Summary: The novel lasts almost as long as the war itself!
Review: Reading Cold Mountain was an exhausting exercise in self-discipline made none the easier by the fact that the author does not uses conventional puctuation for dialogue. This makes for densely written text with little white space for the reader to rest her eyes. While the descriptive language is beautifully written, I found the forward action of the story achingly slow. Would these two oddly matched lovers ever connect?
Rating: 
Summary: Diminishing returns
Review: To be honest, I was initiallly captivated by this novel. A rich time of which to write dealt with in the apparently straightforward framework of a journey. Simple yet with plenty of scope. As a non-American, such matters as the Civil War have a certain exotic attraction that helped to add zest to the reading. However, as my reading progressed, my estimation of the book diminished and continued to do so after finishing. It feels a bit like my experience with restuarant meals advertised as "good old fashioned cooking": the stodge and fat is initially appetising but the downside becomes apparent by next morning. Maybe I am too suspicious, but did the ending strike anyone else as "written for the screen"? Frazier even gives camera directions as to the framing of the striken couple. I also get the feeling that the sad ending is really a happy one in disguise. Tragic enough to earn brownie points as a serious novel (or film to be) but let's add a bit of feel-good as life and fertility continues. The second irritant was the element of the super-hero in Inman. Frazier lugubriously details Inman's travails, but at just the right moment our hero arises and smites all the blackhats in sight. Even when he does meet his fate, it is only after despatching countless despicable foes against all the odds. Maybe Bruce Willis is available for the film? Apart from the improbability of successfully killing only bad guys, what is the morality here? Because Inman has suffered it is alright to resolve all problems in a blaze of gunfire? These actions have no impact on Inman's character, possibly because he has none as defined by the author.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful story - best book I have read in years!
Review: I don't normally read this type of book, usually its mysteries, but I found it so absorbing and interesting. So much detail and the parallel stories keep your interest to the very end. A beautiful story. One of those books you don't ever want to end.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasant surprise
Review: After I slowed down and stopped trying to read it like a John Grisham lawyer tale, I found it to be some of the best prose since "The Remains of the Day". I didn't need to be told everything. He simply reminded me of what I already knew.
Rating:
Summary: Boring!
Review: When I started this book on the beach, a man came up to me and said "This is the most boring book I've ever read, he's walking, she's learning about herself, he's walking, she's learning, he's walking, it was so awful I couldn't finish it" and I was like "Whatever buddy, I'm reading here". Meanwhile, 6 months later I thought to myself his guy was right on the money, he's walking, she's learning... BORING. I think maybe if the author hadn't drawn it on and on for so long, then I would have liked the book more. Also, the no quotes thing made it very hard to understand when someone was talking, which was very irritating.
Rating: 
Summary: A Well planned and executed first novel:
Review: I really enjoyed this novel. I liked the style, which is some what of a throw back (and perhaps a bit affected, esp. the use of a dash in place quotes). The imagery was exciting and at times poetic. The consistent use of themes was for me a joy (nature, fate, magic,etc). The stucture was effective, and I liked how the chapter featuring Stobrod's and Pangle's encounter with Teague became the intersection of the novel's two stories. The action well described and the side stories never distracting. The novel is very viceral: you felt the cold, smelt the meat, heard you stomach rumble with Inman, or felt your back break after a day in the field. I would recommend it to anyone. However, it is not a romance, nor is it a book of joy and happiness. It is about rough times and a rough life and how people survive through it.
Rating:
Summary: honest view of life
Review: Cold Mountain is an exhausting read because it is written with such passion but also with such honesty about themes of life: love, lost love, lost direction in life, what does the future hold and does it matter? It reminded me of Silent Bell by Gary Drake. His tale of a couple separated by the shootings at Kent State deals with similar themes although offering a little more hope in the end. A lot of readers have complained about Frazier's writing, but it's his story to tell and no matter what you think of the depth and width of his style, one has to admire his love for the story---and for the land.
Rating:
Summary: A monumental, great work of literature.
Review: Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain is one of the most powerful, grim, but realistic novels I've ever read. The unique style the author employed is ingenious and effective, the story dramatic and powerful. The natural and historic detail, how much of it even relates to the story, is astounding. It will be difficult to find a new book to take the place of Cold Mountain, a novel that belongs in the Harvard Classics collection, among some lesser works already part of that collection.
Rating:
Summary: A Great American Novel?
Review: I must say I was both surprised and disappointed by this over-hyped epic. It seems many people see Cold Mountain mainly as a love story, whereas I think there's more to it - down-to-earth philosophy, Robinson Crusoe type survival and good old-fashioned adventures too. It's not bad. I like Frazier's attitude, which is somewhat melancholy but never tired. The only big fault is the emotional distance. This book never really captured me, never made me lose my sleep. Even the ending, in all its tragedy, only made me say to myself: "Didn't I guess this 50 pages beforehand?" Frazier drives his story to the point where the only possible outcomes are happy or sad; and considering the general atmosphere of his novel, the former is out of count. So, what we have is a well-written book with some good points about life but no spirit. For so huge a best seller, this is not bad. In its general style, Cold Mountain comes actually close to Steinbeck and other great American novelists. So I have nothing against the success of this book. It could have been lot worse. It could have been cyrup and sugar, you know.
Rating:
Summary: Boring!
Review: I thought I was missing something significant about this book until I read the other reviews. I'm with the people who gave this book one or two stars. Too descriptive and not enough action. This must be a novel for people of higher intellect.
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