Friday, February 26

Book Review: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier


Author: Charles Frazier
Title: Cold Mountain
Genre: Historical Fiction & Romance
Pages: 449
First Published: 1997
Where I Got It: My shelf (A gift many years ago)



The tale of a wounded Confederate soldier, Inman, who walks away from the ravages of the war & back home to his prewar sweetheart, Ada. His odyssey thru the devastated landscape of the soon-to-be-defeated South interweaves with Ada’s struggle to revive her father’s farm, with the help of an intrepid young drifter named Ruby. As their long-separated lives begin to converge at the close of the war, Inman & Ada confront the vastly transformed world they’ve been delivered.





One of my favorite books. Its been many a long time since I've read it, so I thought it was a good choice for Book Club (it was my turn to pick something). I feel an even stronger bond with this book since I've been doing that Ancestry project of mine. On both of my parents sides I have members of my family who fought during that horrible war. I've had family on both sides of the Civil War. I even had a member who fought in the North Carolina regiment like Inman. So I feel a little closer to Inman now. 

Such a horrible time in American history....brother vs brother in one of the bloodiest wars to date. We had more causalities in this war then WWII. Extremely sad. 

Poor Inman....he didn't really want to join. He wanted to be home and marry Ada. Much like Odysseus he has a hell of a journey home to the love of his life and the town/state he loves. Honestly, I love how it wasn't all about Ada. He wanted to be home. He wanted to see Cold Mountain again. However, he has many, many trails to conquer before he can do this. 

I adore Ada and her transformation. She was a southern belle who is forced to survive alone without her Dad and Inman. Ruby is an assistant in this growth, but Ada becomes a strong woman. Yes, she yearns for Inman with every fiber of her being, but so many has died from the war and she cannot rely on him coming back. Ruby and Ada also have many trails to conquer. 

My only complaint with the book is the lack of quotation marks. I get what the author was trying to do....but it was annoying.

Other then that, I have no complaints.

This book poked many issues of the time like racism, sexism, human rights, war, and so forth. Everything was tied together with beautiful scenery and the power of music and love. Simply beautiful in my opinion.

If one is to read a book about the American Civil War, I recommend this one. The movie does justice to the book (even though I question Nicole Kidman as Ada) and I think both need to read/watched in order to truly grasp the story. The both really show humanity at its worst and its best. They show the true human element of the time period in all its beauty and uglyness. This one quote is in both (a wee different in the film), "They call this war a cloud over the land. But they made the weather and then they stand in the rain and say, 'Shit! It's raining!"

This book is and will remain on my top 5 books (which I should make a post about that...hmmmm) Of course, I shall stamp it with 5 stars.













3 comments:

Blodeuedd said...

I have only seen the movie, I can not remember a lot

Melliane said...

it's great to have such a good book! I don't think I knew about it

Carole Rae said...

B, you should read the book. ;)

Melliane, :D it is one the is kinda sorta under the radar.