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.
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.
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.
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.
Advantages: Excellent story, well written Disadvantages: Quite descriptive in places, might not suit all readers
...'Cold Mountain' is the debut novel of American author CharlesFrazier and became a huge bestseller and in 2003 it lead to a big budget Anthony Minghella directed Hollywood adaptation starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Rene Zellweger.
The story is about three people who in different ways embark on life defining journeys. Inman a wounded confederate soldier sickened by the violence and madness of the civil war deserts from the military hospital where he is convalescing and decides to walk back home a journey that is filled with danger and revelatory adventures.
Ada is the woman he has left behind although not actually declared their love is implied and steadfast even after Inman's long absence due to the war. Ada a minister's daughter and formerly a socialite in the fashionable Southern city of Charleston now after her father's death...
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Advantages: Writing, characters, theme, scope, imagery. Disadvantages: Some see slow pace as a weakness. Most don't.
...The novel "Cold Mountain" by CharlesFrazier should appeal to lovers of the carefully measured word, artfully turned phrase and powerfully crafted imagery. It’s spare and slow, yet rich and unforgettable. It’s a feast for the mind’s eye, the head’s ear, the soul’s heart, and the mouth’s palate, delectable in every morsel.
Despite being Frazier's debut novel, it’s a consummate writer's book and a work of fiction that this humble reviewer believes will stand the test of time and emerge as a great work of literature. This tremendous effort is what writing and reading are all about.
I was unable to put it down, totally absorbed in the characters, utterly captivated by the setting and enthralled by its theme and scope. And as an afterthought, as an American Civil War buff I was also happily bemused by this totally different approach...
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Advantages: It's a masterpiece Disadvantages: Some overdone prose but this is minor
...The American Civil War cost the lives of over 600,000 soldiers--Confederate secessionists and Federal Unionists combined--between 1861 and 1865. Records kept at the time reveal that hundreds of thousands more deserted their posts. In CharlesFrazier's mesmerising debut novel "Cold Mountain", Confederate soldier Inman comes close to being counted among the former group after taking a hit to the neck in battle. But instead, we find him recuperating in an army hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina--painfully aware that as soon as he appears fit enough, he'll be shipped back to the front. Nearly four years of fighting and killing for a cause he can no longer justify have left him broken and empty, yearning for home and the woman he left behind there a virtual lifetime ago. In the wee hours of a dark summer night, Inman steps out of the large...
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07.02.2007
17.04.2003
