Cold flower (Cold mountain)

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Succulent in pot small leaf placed on the table. Succulent in small pots placed on the table. Abstract circle black and white as the background. Seafood noodles and put it on the table ready to serve. Hot Seafood noodles on the table, ready to serve. Of the reviews I've read, most readers disliked the novel's ending. Without giving away any spoilers, I'll only state that I thought the ending was the only possible one offered in a world consumed by war. Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder View all 30 comments.

Inman not as heroic as Odysseus , an army deserter wounded in the American Civil War, faces a treacherous, interminable journey home to his love, Ada i. You can see from my five-star "Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this. You can see from my five-star rating that I was captivated by this book, but it could just have easily been demoted to three stars as it was very nearly hoisted by a petard of its own poetic prose. They were evidently good enough for Dickens, Hugo and Dostoyevsky, yet you didn't feel the need, now did you?

Yes, the enlightened readers among us can get by without them but, applying the same logic, why even bother with commas and full stops? Bloody vowels, making words much longer than they need to be! Gripe 2 More than most, I drool over a banquet of sumptuous prose. Frazier writes beautifully and songbirds landed on my shoulders while I read, rather like a dreamy scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. All, it seemed, was perfectly spiffing in my world. But holy pretentiousness, Batman! The high calibre prose, though meritorious, did quicksand the pace of my read and severely detracted from the narrative thrust of the story.

So, how about that nice cup of tea The story, despite my two gripes, is a towering, modern-day epic worthy of the utmost praise. Evocative and monumental, it carries weighty themes of love, resilience, honour and devotion with great aplomb. View all 76 comments. Jun 25, Luthien rated it did not like it Recommends it for: Considering the widespread acclaim this book and its subsequent film adaptation have received, I'm reluctant to write a negative review. Still, a dissenting opinion at least makes for an interesting read. This was absolutely the most boring book I have ever read.

It took me about a year to finish it, because every time I tried to pick it up, day or night, I was asleep in minutes. Though the descriptions of the picturesque mountainous landscape are often beautiful, I fail to see the point. I can' Considering the widespread acclaim this book and its subsequent film adaptation have received, I'm reluctant to write a negative review. I can't understand why the lovers at the center of the plot even like eachother, and in general I find the characters' motivation for doing anything completely inexplicable. I don't wish to spoil the story such as it is for any would be readers, so I'll refrain from posting plot details.

Suffice it to say that the entire plot hinges on a series of events that conveniently take place, but seem to have no basis in reality. Why, for example, did the protagonist undertake his long journey in the first place? This is, to my mind, never made adequately clear. Consequently, instead of rooting for the characters, I end up thinking, "What a bunch of morons!

View all 52 comments. Oct 25, Will Byrnes rated it it was ok. Did not like it. Although it has an interesting structure and pretext, it is so intellectualized that it is hard to care about the characters at all. It seems like Frazier is more interested in showing off than in writing a gripping work of fiction. How long would you wait for your lover, if you knew not whether they were alive, and you yourself had changed almost beyond recognition? This is a beautiful, understated, unsentimental Odyssey of quiet longing, endurance, and transformation.

It's no coincidence that Inman's treasured book is a travel book whereas Ruby "held a deep distrust of travel", even to the shops. Times are tough, but at least Ada and Inman have confidence in who and what it is they yearn for. Each of Inman's chapters involves a dramatic encounter, good or bad, that sheds light on his character, as well as the trials of war and wilderness. Ada is 26, orphaned, nearly destitute, and trying to cope with a little land, but no staff or skill. The varying tempo works well. Both Inman and Ada cultivate the art of really seeing: Inman is ever watchful, noticing every little sign in nature or people's behaviour that may signal danger a shadow behind leaves, a blade hidden in a hairdo ; Ada learns to see the signs of seasons, weather, harvest, birds, and animals.

The language is sometimes a little archaic, as it should be. Quotation marks are not used, but I didn't really feel their absence: Civil War Although the backdrop is the American civil war, I didn't feel hampered by my relative lack of knowledge of US history. There was enough background detail to picture daily life, but the politics and the war were external to the characters, and hence to me as a reader. Right and Wrong; Revenge and Forgiveness Inman is a deserter: He was never a natural killer, is haunted by what he's seen and done , and doesn't believe in the cause anyway, if he ever did.

There are gangs wanting bounty for finding deserters, and desperate men who will kill for any reason and none. Coupled with his inherently peaceful and forgiving nature, repeatedly put to the test, the risks are great. Pondering the story of a man born blind, Inman asks himself "What would be the cost of not having an enemy? Who could you strike for retribution other than yourself?

He's certainly more forgiving than the disgraced preacher, Veasey. The Sustenance of Literature - and Music An unexpected pleasure was the underlying thread of the solace to be found in books. On the very first page, Inman is in military hospital "settling his mind" with a treasured copy of Travels of William Bartram. Throughout the story, he returns to this book, in small snippets, at times of need. However, at the end of the day, reading aloud is a pleasure and a bonding experience for her and Ruby. We glimpse the privilege of opening someone's eyes to the joys of powerful stories.

Another, seemingly irredeemable, character finds salvation in music, starting off with a handful of standard fiddle tunes, but making his own instruments and composing a large repertoire of moving pieces. She comes to help Ada, not quite as a servant, not - initially - as a friend, let alone equal, but Ruby takes charge of instructing in the sense of educating Ada and even telling her what, when, and how to do. There are moments when view spoiler [you wonder how far Ada and Ruby's friendship will go: The latter is just after Inman has returned, and Ruby has said "We can do without him There's not a thing we can't do ourselves.

Inman draws strength from his devotion to and memories of Ada. He occasionally looks at other women water is a recurring theme , but it's all very chaste. Nature Names There is mythical power in names. Ada's education was academic and theoretical: In contrast, Ruby has an encyclopaedic knowledge of such things, and thus she takes the lead in survival. Ruby is also guided by signs that Ada's preacher father, Monroe, would have dismissed as superstition. Ada "chose to view the signs as metaphoric But a hundred pages later, she writes to her cousin in Charleston about how field work has changed her, "Should a crow fly over I mark it in all its details, but I do not seek analogy for its blackness I suspect it is somehow akin to contentment.

The Ending and the Epilogue Twenty pages from the end, it was so tender and understated and perfect that I had to pause. I was sure it would end badly, and I couldn't bear it. He finds her, dressed like a man, hunting turkeys, rather than in the fine skirts he'd remembered. She doesn't recognise him, so he apologies and walks away. When she does recognise him by his voice , there are no dramas, just tentative steps towards an unknown present and even less certain future.

But eventually they talk, "to rewrite even a shard of the past" as lover do "before they can move forward paired". Eventually, "The world was such a lonely place, and to lie down beside him, skin to skin, seemed the only cure. Inman is shot by Teague's gang. Ada gets to him in time to hold him as he dies.

This is a horrible symmetry with much earlier mention of what happened to Ada's own parents, who met and loved when young, were separated for years, and joyfully reunited, but only very briefly, before one of them died. The epilogue compensates for the tragedy of Inman's death by showing Ada and her daughter living happily with Ruby, Ruby's husband, their children, and Ruby's reformed father. However, without that, the final scene would be touching and, slightly ambiguous, which I think I prefer. The quiet stoicism, solace in literature, and connection to the soil, reminded me of one of my two favourite books, Stoner.

The harsh beauty of the mountains, coupled with love and longing, reminded me a little of Brokeback Mountain. The similarity of title may be a factor, too.

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Hate took no effort other than to look about. Inman had seen so much death it had come to seem a random thing He felt fuddled and wayless. It's not that it's an awful film though the acting, accents, and very fake-looking snow and scenery are pretty poor , and it's not the many very many tweaks they made to the plot some are inevitable with any adaptation from one medium to another. No, the problem is that it seems to miss the entire point and atmosphere of the book. By a long, long way. There are some gory battle scenes, but in general, it's a sunny romance.

The sun is shining far too much of the time, even in Inman's dangerous travels, most of the hardship is soft-focus, the power of the landscape is mostly missing, and the power of books is sidelined. Inman's Bartram is important, but only because, in the film, it was Ada's parting gift, so it's a memento from a lover, rather than something separate, but more profound.

View all 48 comments. The best way I could find to describe the book is the American Civil War version of the Odyssey, with Inman as the wandering hero trying to find his way back home to the North Carolina Appallachians, and Ada as his Penelope tending the home fires. This is an oversimplification, but the epic scope is there, the perilous journey, the oddball characters met on the road, the mystical elements of prophecy, cursed fate, faithful love.

Additional major themes tackled are the brutality and senselessness The best way I could find to describe the book is the American Civil War version of the Odyssey, with Inman as the wandering hero trying to find his way back home to the North Carolina Appallachians, and Ada as his Penelope tending the home fires. Additional major themes tackled are the brutality and senselessness of war, women emancipation, Native American Cherokee Trail of Tears, music as soul healer and the majesty of nature.

Inman is a young man born and raised in the high country, at the foot of Cold Mountain, the highest peak in this scarcely populated corner of North Carolina. He goes to war not out of any patriotic fervor or deep seated political convictions, but in search of adventure and excitement. The four years in the trenches cure him of any romantic feelings about organized killing, leaving him sorely wounded and spiritually crushed: Anyone could be oracle for the random ways things fall against each other.

It was simple enough to tell fortunes if a man dedicated himself to the idea that the future will inevitably be worse than the past and that time is a path leading nowhere but a place of deep and persistent threat. The way Inman saw it, if a thing like Fredericksburg was to be used as a marker of current position, then many years hence, at the rate we're going, we'll be eating one another raw. His one comfort in the long bed ridden hospital weeks is a travel book describing the mountains back home, a Bartram guide that will accompany him on all his travels once he decides to turn his back on the war and walk back home.

As a deserter he is forced to hide during the day and walk only by night, stealing what scarce food he could find. Local militias are combing the territory looking for his ilk, and more than once Inman is forced to fight his way free. The destruction of his character is visible most of all in the way he is still living in a world where the options are "kill or be killed", always ready to solve his problems at gunpoint. Inman is no angel of peace, making his separate peace and searching for redemption. He is still very much a professional killer, a desperado who will let nothing stand in his way, a PTSD victim that belongs in a hospital rather than roaming free.

Your soul will fade to blue, the color of despair. Your spirit will wane and dwindle away, never to reappear. Your path lies toward the Nightland. This is your path. There is no other. Yet, glimpses of his former character resurface in the way he takes the part of the less fortunate than himself, usually women in distress like Sara - a teenage war widow with a small child and a pig: As he leaves the lower lands and comes closer to the high hills, Inman's struggles become more desperate due to lack of food and exhaustion, yet his spirit becomes free of his flesh and soars: God, if I could sprout wings and fly, I would be gone from this place, my great wings bearing me up and out, long feathers hissing in the wind.

The world would unfurl below me like a bright picture on a scroll of paper and there would be nothing holding me to ground. The watercourses and hills passing under me effortless and simple. And me just rising and rising till I was but a dark speck on the clear sky. To live among the tree limbs and cliff rocks. Elements of humanity might come now and again like emissaries to draw me back to the society of people. Fly off to some high ridge and perch, observing the bright light of common day.

Inman chapters in the book alternate with the story of Ada Monroe. Ada is a preacher's daughter from Charleston, who moved to the mountains hoping her father's illness tuberculosis? When he dies, she is left alone on the farm they bought, utterly helpless to fend for herself, Monroe tried to keep her a child and, with litle resistance from her, he had largely succeeded. She is a poster child of the Victorian morals and fetish for women as delicate and useless hothouse flowers.

Some readers might find her part of the novel boring, but for me it was as compelling as the journey of Inman. Ada too is enchanted by the beauty of the mountains and is interested in all the forms of life around her - initially in an aestethic way through watercolours and journal entries, later through the healthy sweat of her labours and the satisfaction of doing things with your own hand. Ada is helped along by Ruby, a local girl who learned very early to fend for herself when she was abandoned by her drunken father Stobrod.

Not even Ada's farm is safe from the ravages of war. Refugees from places sacked by the Northern Army pass through, local militias make their own law burning and pillaging. The most reprehensible thing in the whole book is this description of the total war concept, where you set out to destroy non military targets in order to demoralize your adversary. Unfortunately the tactichas become the norm in modern times where nothing is considered civilian anymore.

A third storyline is introduced later in the novel, but it was one of my favorites, given my own passion for blues music. Initially Ruby's father Stobrod is presented as a lowlife rascal, but years away in the war have changed him in unexpected ways. His salvation comes through music: One thing he discovered with a great deal of astonishment was that music held more for him than just pleasure. There was meat to it. The groupings of sounds, their forms in the air as they rang out and faded, said something comforting to him about the rule of creation. What the music said was that there is a right way for things to be ordered so that life might not always be just tangle and drift but have a shape, an aim.

It was a powerful argument against the notion that things just happen. I will stop here in order to not spoil the ending of the novel, as the paths of Inman and Ada converge, although many are probably familiar with it from the movie version. I liked the book better, especially as I thought the movie insisted too much on Ada and Ruby and not enough on Inman and his troubles on the road.

Yet it was a faithful adaptation, and moreover it was filmed around my usual mountain weekend haunts in the Southern Carpathians arc, a lovely country, rugged in places, rolling hills over the next horizon, huge forests and welcoming locals. The descriptions of the Appalachians felt more than usually familiar and appealing: The track was ill used, so coiled and knotted he could not say what its general tendency was. It aimed nowhere certain but up. The brush and bracken grew thick in the footway, and the ground seemed to be healing over, so that in some near future the way would not even remain as scar.

For several miles it mostly wound its way through a forest of immense hemlocks, and the fog lay among them so thick that heir green boughs were hidden. Only the black trunks were visible, rising into the low sky like old menhirs stood up by a forgotten race to memorialize the darker events of their history. I did have some minor issues with the book, mostly about the slow pacing and the surprising literacy of Inman given his modest origins, but the superb prose of Frasier more than made up for it.

Just don't expect a fast paced adventure, and you might have a very rewarding read on your hands. Highly recommended for lovers of Nature and introspective historical fiction. I'll end with a Wordsworth quote Ada uses in the book to describe the mountains: Earth has not anything to show more fair.

Close up Prunus cerasoides flower bloom is full of cold mountain as background.

Dull would be the soul who could pass by a sight so touching in its majesty. View all 22 comments. Aug 19, Julio Genao rated it did not like it. View all 50 comments. Aug 28, Heidi rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: You've probably seen the movie made from this book.

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It was a fine movie. But it cannot begin to capture the truly spectacular parts of this story because they are not the surface level narratives that make it onto the big screen. Before you can truly appreciate the quality of this book, you need to be familiar with at least Homer's Odyssey, Dante's Inferno, and parts of the Bible.

You need to be on guard for a depth of symbolism and complexity of foreshadowing and allusion that will You've probably seen the movie made from this book. You need to be on guard for a depth of symbolism and complexity of foreshadowing and allusion that will boggle your mind.

I always knew the movie didn't really get the book, but when my dad who has not read the book referred to it as "a chick flick" because he thought of it primarily as a love story which it is, but not that kind , then I really realized what one misses when one has not read the book. View all 8 comments.

Oct 18, Ali rated it it was amazing. Does it sometimes take entire paragraphs or chapters to describe the scope of the landscape? Is it entirely worth it? This book is best described as an epic The comparison is made for a reason. This is not a book you take to the beach and read on vacation This is a book that becomes like a return t Is it long? This is a book that becomes like a return to an old friend when you reaquaint yourself with it.

This is a book that took me close to a year to read as well, because I chose to walk away from it for a month sometimes and return to it when I needed a moment to escape from current times. I never saw myself falling in love with a Civil-War era book about a soldier, and maybe it was the love story or maybe it was because I am from the area in the book that is described with such fervor and passion and affection for the land I grew up in that it brings a bit of nostalgia for my childhood back when I pick it up.

In any case, it is a masterpiece. After finishing it, I sighed with bittersweet feelings. Bittersweet because I assumed Frazier had waited so long to write because he had one true novel in him, and his debut would be his only book. Boy was I wrong. I'm now reading Thirteen Moons. I bought it in June and am just short of halfway through. I am cherishing this one, too!

If you haven't read the book, I guess the movie is ok. If you have read it, don't bother watching the movie. It will ruin the image in your head. Also, I hate that it was filmed in Europe when the book takes place here. View all 4 comments. Dec 18, Amanda rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book is the perfect example of timing being everything. I tried to read this book when it was first released and I don't think I got passed the first 25 pages.

I tried again after I saw the movie with the same outcome. I'm pretty generous with 5 star reviews but I don't add many books to my favorites shelf which is where this one ended up. It is a slow burn and yo Stunning! It is a slow burn and you have to be patient and take your time but the reward is so worth it. The story is beautiful and haunting and I am so glad that I kept trying and finally found the right time to read this. Oct 05, J. Grice rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is a superb chronicle of a wayward soldier seeking escape from the Civil War.

Frazier masterfully evokes the time period through his vivid prose of characters and the natural environment. The journey of Inman and this beautiful book still dwell in my thoughts 16 years later. View all 17 comments. I am giving the book a rating of 3. Anyway, the plot is set in the backdrop of the American Civil War. Our hero, Inman, a Confederate soldier, is sorely wounded in the fighting. Disillusioned with the I am giving the book a rating of 3. Disillusioned with the war, he deserts to go back to his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where his lady love resides, of course.

He sets on this perilous journey and has to endure and survive the harshness of nature, and the even more dangerous Home Guards. On his journey, he would receive help from kind people — who are either slaves or somehow managing to survive themselves. Inman is a pretty decent chap. When the situation demanded he could kill, but did not relish it. I liked Inman but he was quite predictable — I mean most protagonists of war novels are made from the same mould — men good at their job but dislike or are even disgusted by blood lust.

Ada, a beautiful, educated and pampered daughter of a late preacher is in a big mess. She is ignorant of how to run their derelict farm; all men have gone off to fight in the war and no farm laborers are left. Now Ruby is not a servant, she helps Ada on her own terms and makes Ada work in the farm as well. Together they would turn the place around.

I liked the character of Ruby. She is a tough, no-nonsense person who had to fend for herself since early childhood as her drunk father failed miserable in carrying out his responsibilities. She is quite a contrast to the sophisticated and educated Ada.

But, Ruby understood survival and the tricks of running a farm. There are quite a few interesting characters in the novel, both good and evil. I was not very impressed with the chemistry between Inman and Ada. But, I liked one thing about them — both of them sought shelter and solace in books. Inman sought comfort in a travel book throughout his journey, while Ada was quite a reader. The description of nature occupies a significant position in the narrative; the flora and fauna - the beauty and harshness - have been described in detail. Some parts were wonderful but at times it dragged also.

As the name suggests, the mountain is present almost as a character in the novel. I appreciate the reference to the injustice carried out against the Native Americans. I do acknowledge that the author had tried to create something splendid. But, there was a gap. Some parts of the book were good, but reading through some parts was like a chore. I wish the author had kept some descriptions a bit more simple. In my humble opinion, simplicity and brevity can also lead to elegant writing. This book is not a fast-paced adventure. As many other reviewers have said, you need to have a lot of patience to enjoy and appreciate the book.

Feb 17, John rated it it was amazing. This book far exceeded my expectations. It was grim and beautiful. It's a historical novel that brings you to the time and place with such an easy touch The characters are well developed and authentic in their complexity. Also, it rang true with my experience of life, meaning that not everything ended satisfyingly for the characters.

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• Prunus cerasoides flower bloom is full of cold mountain as background.!

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. This is in my estimation one of the masterpieces of American fiction. I am surprised to be saying this, because I read it after I'd seen the film, and my expectations were not particularly high. Cold Mountain is the Odyssey retold in many respects not the least of which is its depiction of the horrors of violent expeditions far from home and the yet worse horrors of violence at home.

It is a story of the Civil War as it affected those who were marginal to the state and had least to gain from the This is in my estimation one of the masterpieces of American fiction. It is a story of the Civil War as it affected those who were marginal to the state and had least to gain from the war, the hard-scrabble farmers of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The assessments of war as benefiting only the wealthy and as a virus carrying violence into every pore of the social world are powerful ones.

A beautifully written work of fiction, in everything from the finely honed descriptions of the topography and botany and zoology of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the lovingly detailed descriptions of the preparation of Appalachian food to the brilliant evocations of loss and loneliness and resilience of those caught up directly in the violence of war as well as those who wait for them to come home.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

Oct 03, Tyler rated it it was amazing Shelves: I really shouldn't like this book as much as I do. Frazier's prose is in the tradition of that poetic backwoods style that you might find in some Faulkner or in the films of Terrence Malick and David Gordon Green. Definitely the product of a learned man trying to sound like he's from the sticks, equal parts Old Testament fire-and-brimstone and rootsy colloquialism.

His story is ambitious in its attempts to convey feelings of the grandeur of America, smouldering pas I really shouldn't like this book as much as I do. His story is ambitious in its attempts to convey feelings of the grandeur of America, smouldering passions that impossible distances can't dull, and the world-weariness felt by every generation as soon as it realized the scope of evil in humanity. And, honestly, he pulls it off. Yes, this is kind of crowd-pleasing fiction, but it's one of the best things to wind up on any kind of bestseller list in recent years.

Sometimes you need to read something like this. All the old Southern lies are here, chillun. Slavery wasn't so bad. We weren't fighting for slavery. The war was not our fault. Slavery was not our fault. Nothing is ever anyone's fault, except for the damned meddling Yankees who started the war for no reason at all! We are all prisoners of history. We know our darkies. But at the same time there are plenty of groovy new lies, too.

And the new lies are custom-made for an aging baby-boom generation that never quite outgrew its own monumental self-pity. Can you dig it? He's groovy, vacant, passive, and profoundly self-involved. He's not sexy Rhett Butler, oh no! He's empty-eyed Peter Fonda, on the road like Kerouac, looking for America and not finding it anywhere.

I didn't like this book very much.

Cold Mountain, North Carolina

But Abraham Lincoln gave it a really scathing review. And under a just God, cannot long maintain it. View all 12 comments.