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Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Charles Frazier's debut novel, Cold Mountain, is the story of a very long walk. In the waning months of the Civil War, a wounded Confederate veteran named Inman gets up from his hospital bed and begins the long journey back to his home in the remote hills of North Carolina. Along the way he meets rogues and outlaws, Good Samaritans and vigilantes, people who help and others who hinder, but through it all Inman's aim is true: his one goal is to return to Cold Mountain and to Ada, the woman he left behind. The object of his affection, meanwhile, has problems of her own. Raised in the rarified air of Charleston society, Ada was brought to the backwoods of Cold Mountain by her father, a preacher who came to the country for his health. Even after her father's death, Ada remains there, partly to wait for Inman, but partly because she senses her destiny lies not in the city but in the North Carolina Blue Ridge. Cold Mountain is the story of two parallel journeys: Inman's physical trek across the American landscape and Ada's internal odyssey toward an understanding of herself. What makes Frazier's novel so satisfying is the depth of detail surrounding both journeys. Frazier based this story on family history, and in the characters of Inman and Ada he has paid a rich compliment to their historical counterparts. Cold Mountain is, quite simply, a wonderful book. Amazon.com
This unabridged audio version of Cold Mountain, read by author Charles Frazier, deserves at least as much acclaim as the bestselling print edition, which won the National Book Award. The tale chronicles a Confederate army deserter's search for home and love in the last days of the Civil War. Much has been made of the story's homage to The Odyssey, the origins of which are found in an oral tradition. One can't help but hear echoes of Homer when listening to Frazier's soft, deliberate voice give life to his lyrical writing and to his understated, yet convincing rendering ... read more Amazon.com
The hero of Charles Frazier's beautifully written and deeply-imagined first novel is Inman, a disillusioned Confederate soldier who has failed to die as expected after being seriously wounded in battle during the last days of the Civil War. Rather than waiting to be redeployed to the front, the soul-sick Inman deserts, and embarks on a dangerous and lonely odyssey through the devastated South, heading home to North Carolina, and seeking only to be reunited with his beloved, Ada, who has herself been struggling to maintain the family farm she inherited. Cold Mountain is an unforgettable addition to the literature of ... read more Amazon.com Author Profile
Read about the author. --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title
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Customer Reviews
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THE PLACES ARE REAL, I AM FROM THERE!
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Reviewer:
Brian
from Horse Shoe--NC mountains
December 13, 1999
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I am from Western North Carolina and I have been to the real Cold Mountain many times. The map at the beginning of the book has the actual location. The Pigeon river, east fork, south fork, Shining Rock Wilderness, Brevard and Grandfather Mountain are all real places in western NC. Ok, I had to say that since being from this area made the book even better. This is one of the best books I have read. I was given this book as a gift and I thought it might be a romance novel but it's actually not. It's almost like a collection of shorter stories that make up a great adventure. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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This audio version is not suited for automobile...
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Reviewer:
Kathryn L. Lima
from Sharon, PA
December 12, 1999
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I wish I could say wonderful things about this book. Others speak so highly of it. But when we tried to listen in the car during a long trip, we found Mr. Fazier's voice too soothing. His soft, Southern-accented voice may -- as others have noted in their reviews -- indeed suit the material. But it does not provide enough drama to be engaging on an interstate highway. So, drivers be warned. Select something a bit more dramatic if you're seeking diversion from highway monotony. This reading of a story about a journey may not be the best choice to accompany you on your journey.
--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
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They God! What a book!
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Reviewer:
A reader
from Chantilly, VA
December 10, 1999
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I got this book for my wife for Christmas because I wanted her to learn more about my native North Carolina and, since it was described as a powerful romance, I figured she would read it. The Civil War side of it also attracted me to it. In our interests we are pretty much generic male and female. I got more than I bargained for. My wife's first reaction as she began to get into the book was how beautifully written, how artful, how powerful it was. Then I noticed that as she got nearer to the end reading time began to intrude into time when she was supposed to be doing something else. She couldn't put it down until she had finished. I picked it up as soon as she was done and enjoyed it at least as much as she did. The story starts a little slowly, but it gets more interesting with every page. In addition to the unexpected literary quality, what struck me was the authenticity of the characters in their manner of speech and behavior as well as the loving picture that Mr. Frazier paints of their hardscrabble, close-to-nature existence. Many of the expressions I heard from my older relatives as a boy I saw on the printed page here for the first time. My father's paternal grandfather from the North Carolina foothills fought in Lee's army and was eventually captured at The Wilderness. His maternal grandfather, from the same region, according to family legend hid out in the mountains during the war and later served as a legislator in the carpetbag government in Raleigh. One of my father's earliest recollections, he told me, was listening to these two grandfathers arguing politics. Now I think I know a lot more about what they must have gone through in this very trying time. Thank you, Charles Frazier.
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A beautiful study of pain and loss
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Reviewer:
Doug Vaughn
from Washington, DC
December 10, 1999
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It is a shame that Cold Mountain was pitched as a Civil War novel because those who came to the book expecting either the battle focus of The Killer Angels or the Old South of Gone With The Wind were bound to be disappointed. Instead, Charles Frazier has written a book about that war's human cost, told in the form of one couple, torn apart and in the process of trying to come back together. Descriptive and slow in presentation - as Inman, the chief protagonist, walks his long journey home to Cold Mountain - the book allows us to absorb the effects of war as Inman and his love experience and remember them. For some of us, this was a wonderful and rewarding experience. For many, unfortunately, it seems to have been painful and without any redeeming qualities. Most of these negative reviews (at least here on Amazon.com) seem to be those of high school students who had to read the book for class. Their response goes beyond that of not liking the book, to a kind of overreaction that is, I think, instructive for those of us who enjoy reading. Not every book suites every taste - even the great books assumed to be classics - but my failing to appreciate, for example, The Great Gatsby, does not prompt me to dismiss it as 'the most BORING book ever published' or condemn Fitzgerald as having 'no common sense'. What one sees in these adolescent reviews is more than a response to the book in question. It seems more to be an angry reaction at having to spend the time to experience something outside their realm of expectation and experience - a reluctance to acknowledge that there could be any significance to a book they clearly don't understand - and see no reason why they should. As for Tiffany, who proclaims that 'This book makes me wish I was illiterate', I have to say that in all probability you are. Being able to recognize words and their meanings is only the first step in literacy. Being willing to work with with a text - having patience with it when its meaning is not clear, giving a style or form of writing that is new enough time to become familiar - and having done this with enough literature to have some perspective on the variety of forms, styles, subjects, etc, so that judgements about quality are informed by knowledgable comparisons - now that is a more meaningful sense of literacy. Finally, it is important to recognize that no book is either boring or exciting. The sense of excitemnt - or the boredom - are feelings experienced by individual readers at specific points in their lives. Many of my favorite books early on in my life would bore me to tears now and a number of books that I thought were tedious and dull (War and Peace is a good example) have become favorites that I can reread with pleasure. I can only hope that the teachers who assigned Cold Mountain helped their students who thought the book was dull to recognize where the dullness really lies. Cold Mountain may or may not be a 'great' book, but it deserves better than a simple dismissal for failing to deliver excitement in a predicatable form.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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