From the Bookshelf of Retro Chapter Chicks …

Cold Mountain

Charles Frazier

Discussion: → Member Info Desk ←

Why we're reading this: From the beginning, the story unfolds as if the reader is part of it. It's a great "visual" read as well …more
[close] From the beginning, the story unfolds as if the reader is part of it. It's a great "visual" read as well as terrific characterization, capturing the tone of the Civil War as it impacted Appalachia.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 7 topics — 524 comments total

→ Member Info Desk ←

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* Our Guidelines
By Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴… , Founding Retro Chick · 1 post · 249 views

last updated Jun 01, 2014 07:28PM

* How to Get Started: Our Roadmap
By Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴… , Founding Retro Chick · 1 post · 401 views

last updated Nov 20, 2014 11:51AM

showing 6 of 6 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 30, 2015 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, book-club, own, debut, 19th-century, historical-fiction, literary-fiction, movie, survival, southern-lit

Book on CD read by the author

A wounded soldier walks away from the hospital, determined to return to his love on Cold Mountain. Meanwhile that young woman, raised to be a flower of Southern womanhood, is finding her way alone, with the help of a homeless waif with reserves of strength and the knowledge to survive.

This is a slow study in character and what matters most. Inman has fought valiantly but no longer recognizes the purpose for which he is fighting, and wants nothing more than to return Book on CD read by the author

A wounded soldier walks away from the hospital, determined to return to his love on Cold Mountain. Meanwhile that young woman, raised to be a flower of Southern womanhood, is finding her way alone, with the help of a homeless waif with reserves of strength and the knowledge to survive.

This is a slow study in character and what matters most. Inman has fought valiantly but no longer recognizes the purpose for which he is fighting, and wants nothing more than to return to Ada and Cold Mountain, and be let alone to live in peace.

Ada was cherished by her father after her mother died giving birth to her. She’s been educated, had trips to Europe, studied piano, and dressed in the latest finery. When her father’s doctors suggest that a move to the mountains will improve his ailing health, they leave muggy Charleston for a small stead on Cold Mountain. She is a hot-house orchid in a field of wildflowers. She can speak French and read Latin, but doesn’t know how to cook, tend a vegetable garden or milk a cow; she lacks the skills to survive.

Ruby is a homeless waif, whose father would rather drink and fiddle than care for his only child. She has fended for herself about as long as she could walk. She comes to Ada with a proposition – she will help Ada manage the farm, in exchange for her own place to live and an equal partnership.

What I loved most about the novel was the relationships between and personal growth of the women – Ada and Ruby – how they moved from dependent/superior to an equal partnership and true friendship. They grew to recognize and admire one another’s strengths, put their differences aside and developed a true and genuine trust between them born of hard work and repeated small tests. While Ada and Inman’s bond was ethereal and romantic, the bond between Ada and Ruby was grounded in the North Carolina soil and woods they called home. Had Sherman marched his forces through their cove I’d bet on Ruby and Ada to get the best of the federals.

The novel moves back and forth between Ada/Ruby and Inman, giving different perspectives on this time during the Civil War. Inman lived much more on the knife’s edge between survival and death, and his chapters were more suspenseful. While Ada and Ruby were no less in danger of losing their lives and /or livelihood (as was brought out by several of the people and situations Inman encountered), they did seem to lead a relatively “charmed” life – hard work, yes, but less danger for the most part.

Charles Frazier read the audio version himself. This was a mistake. He has no skill at all as a voice artist, and his reading was slow, ponderous and lacked inflection. I thought I would just fall asleep to his droning as I drove to and from work. It was the quality of his writing that saved the work for me. Were I evaluating the book based on the audio it would get only 2 stars.
...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Jul 19, 2014 Kris (My Novelesque Life) rated it it was amazing

5 STARS

"A soldier wounded in the Civil War, Inman turns his back on the carnage of the battlefield and begins the treacherous journey to Cold Mountain, and to Ada, the woman he loved before the war began, while she struggles to make a living from the land. Neither knows if the other is still alive." (From Amazon)

I loved the movie but fell in love with this novel at first word. It is so beautifully written that I wish I wrote it. Lyrical and realistic as Ondaatje and McCarthy. ...more

1 like · Like · see review