What readers think of Cold Mountain, plus links to write your own review.

Cold Mountain was extremely well written. Fraizer captivates the reader in the setting of the mountains with the depth of the nature Inman is treking through. The pain he encounters trying to keep from being caught by the Home guard is felt by the reader. The soreness of his body and the hunger plauging him can't be forgotten. One thinks of all the people living during this time dealt with the war. Anything could happen as the ending definately proves. <edited to remove plot spoilers> Overall this book was very well written, full of proff Frazier did lots of research, and it left the reader thinking. When a book leaves you thinking I think it did its part. Your own imagination got to finish it, and that is what we all want. Not a cut and dry, Ada married, had children, and lived happily ever after.

Very good book, recommend it for anyone willing to give some of their time to see a different view of life.

The book was an incredible epic journey, filled with danger and love. The ending was one of the most tradgic ending I've ever read, Inman travels miles to get home to Ada and is shot around a week later. The many symbolic characters help to show what Inman's goinng through and teach him a lesson. Ruby being a young uneducated women shows Ada a great scholar basic survival skills, on how to live effectivly. I thought the story was incredible and moving. Frazier has done incredibly well on his first novel.

Despite the unsupported comments of the previous ratings given, I feel Frazier accuratly depicts the hardships of the Civil War era. I highly recommend Cold Mountain as just a " good read", but I also found it to convey many themes which are great for an excellent english paper.

I live in the great State of North Carolina, quite close to Cold Mountain. People are flocking in droves here to see the movie...I flocked to it as well. But they should ALL READ THE BOOK FIRST. The book was a brilliant and moving story. I loved the story line, and the characters. Frazier is a colorful author; however, spends way too much time on plants, food, and animals. Some of the pages become boring and I had to skip entire paragraphs, but never missed any of the story by doing that. It is NOT easy reading. It requires concentration and evaluation of his words, and I consider myself well-educated and well-read. But if you read the book before seeing the movie, the movie will make much more sense. Acutally, I liked the movie a little better. It was more entertaining than the book. The book was...well, educational. But all in all, I recommend it, a beautiful story. I will never forget it.

This book is a breath of fresh air. Frazier's seemingly open writing style makes the book human. He allows you to relate to the characters and really feel the past, unlike other civil war books that keep you at a distant. Cold Mountain is a timeless, yet original love story in which the characters go through phsycological changes because of life altering experiences.

Danielle, 17

This is a lyrical and moving novel, but Frasier unfortunately falters at the end by making the stereotypical 'tragic end' mistake. It really does make the book seem pointless. Yet in doing so, Frasier thereby joins the ranks of many celebrated authors throughout the history of literature who believed the only stories worth telling were the ones that ended in misery. The characters of Cold Mountain labored, struggled, sacrificed and suffered - for what, again? Is Frasier trying to tell us life is unfair? That it's full of tragedy, of heartbreak? That "War is Hell?" I think he did so many times over during the course of the novel; the Civil War setting alone makes many of those points just by association. But maybe he thought no one would take him seriously if he gave it a more positive ending... feared criticism for being an 'Oprah's Book Club' case of happy-ending contrivedness. It's a shame he couldn't have enough faith in the beauty and strength of his own work to give the reader a vision of hope and renewal. The South did carry on... the spirits of those who came home and those who waited deserve to be remembered, their courage celebrated. Unfortunately, a tribute to such strength and endurance is ultimately *not* found in the pages of Cold Mountain.

Hi,
Just finished Cold Mountain. I am not a fan of heavily descriptive books and this made it difficult for me to read this book. I kept thinking "Come on, get on with the plot.."
I also didn't like that he didn't use " around his dialogue. I found that difficult.

I really enjoyed Fraziers novel Cold Mountian but I was dissapointed in the ending because I wasn't sure really what to think at the end. I did, however, enjoy the feeling of having to finish to find out what happened to Inman and Ada. I know I have read a good book when I feel that way.