Scan barcode
carriereads81's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
brotherwoodrow's review against another edition
4.0
Homer meets Virgil Caine. This book is one of the pleasant surprises you will occasionally run into as a reader. I first read this book several years back and is one of the very few books that I could read more than once. The authors use of language makes the era sing.
melissaglenn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
a good read. very bleak life for the protagonist, sad at the end
verylargeants's review
1.0
"Everyone Is Violent and Sexual Except For Old People"
... otherwise known as Cold Mountain.
I have issues with this book and here they are:
How is it possible that I can only read two sentences per page and still understand what's happening in the plot? There is more description here than in the Lord of the Rings series. And after a while, I hope I'm not alone here, I just don't care what color clothes Ada is wearing or what fabric the bonnets are made of. I really felt like Frazier was trying to justify himself in his writing since he would feel the need to come up with reasons as to why things are the way they are. They just are, man.
Why are all the women (besides old people and main characters) so sexualized? Even when the woman near the end of the book offers Inman food and shelter, Frazier still feels the need to describe her breastfeeding her kiddo. Even women who aren't main characters are still portrayed as merely objects.
Why is there so much traveling? After a while, the landscape all looks the same. The whole story is centered around ONE MOUNTAIN after all. Inman does a heck ton of traveling and none of it seems to better him in any way.
Why is Inman so passive? For a dude that's been to war, it seems he should be more capable to take care of himself besides killing people. Unfortunately, that's kind of all he does. Inman even lets Junior's daughter unclothe herself sitting on the table in front of him and DOES NOTHING except comment about her vagina: "It seemed extraordinarily fascinating even though it was but a mere slot in flesh," and "the gaping aperture." She then (naked of course) puts Inman's head between her breasts and he doesn't do ANYTHING. Not only is he in love with Ada, but Junior is letting him stay at his house and having sex with his daughter out of marriage might put a damper on that. Which leads to my next question:
Why doesn't Inman think about Ada before the last 100 or so pages? I kind of felt like Frazier was just like, oh yeah, there's a romance in this book, I forgot about that. I know! We'll just speed things up and even though I have felt the need to describe in excrutiating detail everything in this book, let's just sum up their romance in 5 pages and BAM they have kids. The book is labeled as a romance, shouldn't it be a little more explained than that?
Why is it that, in the very end, Frazier tells us that Inman's book that was given to him in the beginning, that Inman has read short passages out of throughout "Everyone Is Violent and Sexual Except for Old People," is mainly just sex (obviously)? Which isn't HORRIBLE, but we find this out, not through the short passages describing pretty landscapes scattered throughout the book, but when Inman is pretty much reading a sex scene out loud TO ADA. WHAT KIND OF WEIRD RELATIONSHIP IS THIS. HAS INMAN JUST BEEN READING PORN THIS WHOLE TIME?? ADA IS OK WITH THIS??
Why is Ada so passive too? Without Ruby helping her, she might have died since she couldn't possibly conceive of asking someone in her seemingly very friendly town for help.
Positive Stuff:
•In the beginning, Ada gets attacked by a rooster and got scratched up
•Inman gets attacked by a bear, and sadly the bear dies. The bear was my favorite character besides the rooster.
•Ada's donkey seemed pretty nice.
•Ada learns how to wash clothes, which is pretty convenient.
•I'm pretty sure other animals might have been mentioned too.
In conclusion:
•WEIRDEST summer reading book yet.
... otherwise known as Cold Mountain.
I have issues with this book and here they are:
How is it possible that I can only read two sentences per page and still understand what's happening in the plot? There is more description here than in the Lord of the Rings series. And after a while, I hope I'm not alone here, I just don't care what color clothes Ada is wearing or what fabric the bonnets are made of. I really felt like Frazier was trying to justify himself in his writing since he would feel the need to come up with reasons as to why things are the way they are. They just are, man.
Why are all the women (besides old people and main characters) so sexualized? Even when the woman near the end of the book offers Inman food and shelter, Frazier still feels the need to describe her breastfeeding her kiddo. Even women who aren't main characters are still portrayed as merely objects.
Why is there so much traveling? After a while, the landscape all looks the same. The whole story is centered around ONE MOUNTAIN after all. Inman does a heck ton of traveling and none of it seems to better him in any way.
Why is Inman so passive? For a dude that's been to war, it seems he should be more capable to take care of himself besides killing people. Unfortunately, that's kind of all he does. Inman even lets Junior's daughter unclothe herself sitting on the table in front of him and DOES NOTHING except comment about her vagina: "It seemed extraordinarily fascinating even though it was but a mere slot in flesh," and "the gaping aperture." She then (naked of course) puts Inman's head between her breasts and he doesn't do ANYTHING. Not only is he in love with Ada, but Junior is letting him stay at his house and having sex with his daughter out of marriage might put a damper on that. Which leads to my next question:
Why doesn't Inman think about Ada before the last 100 or so pages? I kind of felt like Frazier was just like, oh yeah, there's a romance in this book, I forgot about that. I know! We'll just speed things up and even though I have felt the need to describe in excrutiating detail everything in this book, let's just sum up their romance in 5 pages and BAM they have kids. The book is labeled as a romance, shouldn't it be a little more explained than that?
Why is it that, in the very end, Frazier tells us that Inman's book that was given to him in the beginning, that Inman has read short passages out of throughout "Everyone Is Violent and Sexual Except for Old People," is mainly just sex (obviously)? Which isn't HORRIBLE, but we find this out, not through the short passages describing pretty landscapes scattered throughout the book, but when Inman is pretty much reading a sex scene out loud TO ADA. WHAT KIND OF WEIRD RELATIONSHIP IS THIS. HAS INMAN JUST BEEN READING PORN THIS WHOLE TIME?? ADA IS OK WITH THIS??
Why is Ada so passive too? Without Ruby helping her, she might have died since she couldn't possibly conceive of asking someone in her seemingly very friendly town for help.
Positive Stuff:
•In the beginning, Ada gets attacked by a rooster and got scratched up
•Inman gets attacked by a bear, and sadly the bear dies. The bear was my favorite character besides the rooster.
•Ada's donkey seemed pretty nice.
•Ada learns how to wash clothes, which is pretty convenient.
•I'm pretty sure other animals might have been mentioned too.
In conclusion:
•WEIRDEST summer reading book yet.
lizzycatslibrary's review against another edition
2.0
I think this is one of the few books that I have to say I liked the movie better than the book. I found Charles Frazier's story to be long and drawn out. It was one of those books where you could tell the author was trying to make metaphors. It was as if you could sense the tedious work that he went through in order to try and make sure that everything was as detailed and metaphoric as possible. It felt very tiresome and at points did not flow.
It did give you a very good idea of the feel of the war and the complications that it presented. I felt like there were some very good sections within the book.
I went to a book talk with Charles Frazier and I am not sure if that took away from the book itself.
It did give you a very good idea of the feel of the war and the complications that it presented. I felt like there were some very good sections within the book.
I went to a book talk with Charles Frazier and I am not sure if that took away from the book itself.
jobustitch's review against another edition
3.0
The underlying story is good, but I couldn't really stand his writing style. I didn't need whole lists of supplies at the farm for pages on end. I get it, ok. It's a farm.
lucasnnelson's review against another edition
4.0
A story that follows Inman, who runs away from the confederate army after sustaining an injury, and his journey back home to Cold Mountain to reunite with Ada, who has been working her family farm with Ruby. Slow start but honestly really good story, broad scope with explorations into independence, life/death, love, nature, and trauma. Unfortunately the book got rained on so had to throw it away after reading.
P224 “like the vast bulk of people, the captives…”
annakat's review against another edition
3.0
I love Ada and Ruby's relationship but found Inman's sections to be far too repetitive. So I was really mad about that ending 😡
biolexicon's review against another edition
1.0
I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn't finish it. I got about 118 pages or so into it and this is my impression so far:
-heavy scenery descriptions that kept me from getting into the plot
-juvenile morality
-predictable characters that are unbelievable for the time period (even the most progressive person of that time would be unlike Ada or her father); it seemed like modern day personalities were given Civil War scenery
I really liked the author's occasional turn of phrase. "Verbs, all of them tiring" was clever. I'd give it 1.5 stars if I could.
-heavy scenery descriptions that kept me from getting into the plot
-juvenile morality
-predictable characters that are unbelievable for the time period (even the most progressive person of that time would be unlike Ada or her father); it seemed like modern day personalities were given Civil War scenery
I really liked the author's occasional turn of phrase. "Verbs, all of them tiring" was clever. I'd give it 1.5 stars if I could.