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 of war, women emancipation, Native American (Cherokee) Trail of Tears, music as soul healer and the majesty of nature. ... he had seen the metal face of the age and had been so stunned by it that when he thought into the future, all he could vision was a world from which everything he counted important had been banished or had willingly fled. 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. "You will be living fitfully. 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." is the refrain of a Cherokee curse that marks every step Inman takes.Yet, glimpses of his former character resurface in the way he takes the part of the less fortunate than himself, ususally women in distress (like Sara - a teenage war widow with a small child and a pig: "There was nothing about her story remarkable other than that it was her life."). 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. Gone on elsewhere. 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. Unsuccesful every time. 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?) wil improve. 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. Dull would be the soul who could pass by a sight so touching in its majesty. link to a gallery of my mountain photos:mountain views
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."This journey will be the axle of my life."Inman's journey is across hundreds of dangerous miles, fleeing war and trying to get to where his love lives, four years after they parted. "She had made her way to a place where an entirely other order prevailed from what she had always known."Ada's journey takes place within a few miles of her home. 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. StructureMost of the novel alternates between Ada’s and Inman's separate struggles to survive, with backstory gradually provided by their reminiscences. 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: dialog is usually prefaced with a long dash.Civil WarAlthough 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 ForgivenessInman is a deserter: badly injured, but a deserter none-the-less. 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?"But retribution isn't really his mindset; he's almost too good to be true, given the hardships and dangers he faces, such as stealing food, but leaving more money than it's worth, putting himself in grave danger to help strangers,and avoiding and preventing violence, even when it's not really his responsibility and would be easier to walk away. He's certainly more forgiving than the disgraced preacher, Veasey.The Sustenance of Literature - and MusicAn 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. (view spoiler)[When he's reunited with Ada, he reads her an extract. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about Cold Mountain (2006)?
There are so many good reviews on this book. Links to some of my favorites at the bottom. There are also a number of reviewers who were bored silly and rated this one low. Cold Mountain is forever 5 Stars for me. The language was magical and captivating, the characters vivid, the South of the late Civil War ominous yet, in places, inviting. This is a book I can read many times. Inman, the wounded Confederate soldier has released himself from further fighting and is walking back to Cold Mountain. Ada, the sheltered Charleston debutante, has to learn to survive on her dead father’s farm. Each of their journeys will take time and Frasier gives them the time in telling the story. The pages flew by as I lost myself in learning to survive at Black Cove or trekking through the Blue Ridge mountains. At its’ most basic, this is a story of a soldier leaving the horrors of war in search of his one love and a woman’s journey from dependent to independent. Yet there is so much more here. I loved every page and only regret it took me so long to pull this one off the shelf. This one makes my list of 10 books to have on a desert island.Read these to really appreciate how good this book is:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
—Mike
I hated this book. Said enough? I put off writing the review as I know others will disagree. It's not that it isn't well written, it's not that the characters aren't done well. In the words of a friend of mine when her husband talked her into reading it..."Why would I like this thing?"Some will not agree with me, and that's fine, but I have lived through relatively tough times, I've lost loved ones, I've struggled for something only to have it fall through. These are not my leisure time activiti
—Mike (the Paladin)
<> I think most Authors of Literature feel the need to avoid happy endings, lest they lose their status as Authors of Literature. God forbid there be happiness in Literature... I felt like Frazier wrote this book, then thought to himself, "Oh dear, I'll never win the National Book Award this way," and then tacked on a nasty, pointless death in the coda, like a sucker punch. (And believe me, there is already a lot of nasty, pointless misery in this book, prior to the coda; it's not like the
—Megan
