Rating: 
Summary: One of the most compelling novels I've ever read
Review: This is a simple tale; told with a simplicity that is both rich, concise, detailed, and full of meaning. It does not require sex, extraordinary circumstances, or ridiculous antics to satisfy the reader. Inman's travels back to Cold Mountain, contrasted with the survival of Ada and Rudy, culminating in a powerful reunion and ending are inexpressibly wonderful and at the same time marvelous. How not to get caught up in superlatives is very difficult with this book. The end of the Civil War is the backdrop, survival in a small town is the fabric, the need to return home and live is the tenor of the story: all brought together in a prose so texturally perfect it defies explanation. I spent five enjoyable days reading this book (as my time and schedule permitted) and I was carried back 135 years and learned so much about our history at this time without the preachy or rhetoric of a history lesson. It is worth every minute spent enjoying this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for Civil War fans
Review: Although the male lead character, Inman, is escaping from the harsh realities of the Civil War, it has no Civil War history at all. It is a rather boring story, and Inman leads a rather unrealistic journey home. With gruesome killings at the turn of every page, it makes the reader become disillusioned with the story being told and the writer himself.
Rating:
Summary: A war between the states -- of Apathy and Anticlimax
Review: "Cold Mountain" is sleepy, ill-assembled and anachronistic, but that shouldn't keep it from bumping John Grisham or (ugh) Stephen King from the seat pocket of that long plane ride you're going to take. By all means, let it bump. For pass-the-time reading, it's quite serviceable. And if you nod off while reading and dream of tulgy Southern woods -- and nodding off is likely -- then all the better. Your dream will certainly assemble a more gripping plot and more engaging characters than Frazier did. But the book does have a serious sin: against the whole institution of Southern fiction. Frazier fails at Storytelling. Nobody in this book tells stories! Instead, the omniscient narrator PARAPHRASES them telling stories. It's like reading the abstract of a novel instead of the novel itself. And the hinted-at stories don't hint that it was any great loss, either: Inman's Indian Friend Who Had Spiritual Insight. Ada's Charleston Beau Who Was (Imagine!) Afraid of Fighting in the War. What passes for an overall story consists of equal parts shooting/eviscerating/eating a wide selection of Southern fauna; cartoonish movie violence in which Inman kills 3 to 5 bad people at a time (I'm surprised he didn't skin and eat them, too); and Ada watching the moss grow. If you somehow purged the book of "Will Penny," "Deliverance," "The Waltons" and half-digested memories of Faulkner and Twain, you'd have nothing left but the botany. Oh, and speaking of Twain, a real Southern writer with a real story-telling ability: What gives mannered Charles Frazier carte blanche to use terms like the "N-word" and "a black whore"? Why haven't the words-out-of-context police strung him up a tree the way they have Mark Twain?
Rating:
Summary: Loved this book-shared it with friends!
Review: I thought the characters were well-drawn and I could identify with each of them. The author describes their lives in detail-it is not pretty, but life in those times over 100 years ago was not pretty or much fun. Unless you went to a dance or someone had a home party, small things meant a lot. Once I became interested in what their lives were like, the book just cruised along beautifully. The book does require that you give some thought to the lives of the characters but anyone who has an interest in history will have no problem with the hardness of the existence. I have often read stories my grandparents and great-grandparents wrote about how difficult life was, settling on the prairies of Canada, and I have newfound admiration for them. I found this book enthralling.
Rating:
Summary: Truly one of the greatest novels ever written
Review: An truly exceptional book. Frazier's aw-descripting tales of Inman and Ada are both inspiring as well as beautiful. His vision truly comes to life. An unbelievable first novel by a great novelist. Thank you!
Rating:
Summary: Civil War Yuppies
Review: Frazier creates an evocative, fully realized landscape, offers some of the most fascinating descriptions of food and cooking, and spoils the whole thing by sticking in a couple of the most insufferable, unlikable, smug, self-indulgent characters since, well, whatever was most recently marketed as a "literary" bestseller. Why do people keep falling for that marketing ploy? ("It's not science fiction, it's not mystery, and there are some semi-colons. Hey, it must be 'literary fiction'!") Had Inman and Ada lived 130 years later, you would find them coming back from a Sierra Club meeting in their SUV, ordering some khakis from L.L. Bean on their cell phone and stopping at the organic grocery store before heading off to the newest trendy brewpub or cigar/martini bar. They both read "The Bridges of Madison County" and subscribed to it as a literary masterpiece until they heard someone they secretly consider cooler than themselves criticize it, at which point they began to call it garbage in front of peers who still professed to love it. They own one classical music CD, prominently displayed. They send back wine in restaurants. They loved "Slingblade." They like "the old U2." They like to eat at grubby little Mexican food places for breakfast on Sunday morning because they're so "authentic." They claim to vote Democrat but they don't. Their combined income is $180,000 a year. It's not all bad. As I said, the cooking scenes are great, some of the minor characters hold interest, and the fiddle music is well described (but then I'm always a sucker for a writer who can find a place to use the word "Phrygian.") But the characters are Southern cliches, right down to their affection for Walter Scott, and the ending is so unconvincingly melodramatic and old-fashioned that it borders on self-parody. But after all, tomorrow is another day.
Rating: 
Summary: crap book
Review: THIS BOOK IS BORING AND CRAP THE PUBLISHER OF THE BOOK CANT SPELL AND THE EDITOR OF THE BOOK CANT EDIT, AND THE AUTHOR CANT WRITE, other than that its a good book
Rating: 
Summary: Well written, but not the great American novel
Review: I found this novel to be generally well written (some great descriptions) and entertaining -- an impressive first novel. I was surprised, however, to find that it is, essentially, a conventional romance novel. Other than the style of the writing itself, there was little I found remarkable. What many have found most impressive -- namely, the love story between Ada and Inman -- was, to me, the least interesting and least convincing aspect of the whole novel. Additionally, I found Frazier's inclusion of topographical details to be self-indulgent. After all, how many descriptions of an appalachian landscape does the reader really need? Just before reading this novel, I read "Underworld." Unfortunately, "Cold Mountain" suffers greatly from the comparison. The fact that "Cold Mountain" won the National Book Award over "Underworld" would seem to reflect more on the merit of the award than it does about the actual quality of this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Long, dull, and gruesome
Review: First, the good news: Ada and Ruby are well-drawn, thoughfully written characters who develop over the course of their story. Unfortunately, the story about Inman doesn't measure up. To begin with, the geography is impossible to follow--a real failure in a book about a journey. Inman meets far too many vicious people to be believed, and the muck and mire are overplayed. While some of this may be realistic, the level of overkill results in a book that is unpleasant, uninteresting, and not particularly worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Very dull and predictable
Review: This book was not only plodding in pace but also dreary beyond belief. I didn't care AT ALL about any of the characters, and I doubt I'm the only one who saw what was going to happen to the main character half-way through the book. The only reason I gave it one star is the attention to detail the author gave.
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