Cold Mountain

Frazier, Charles

ISBN 10: 0679460691 ISBN 13: 9780679460695

Publisher: Random House, 1997

Synopsis

2 cassettes / 3 hours
Read by Dylan Baker

At once a magnificent love story and a harrowing account of one man's long journey home, Cold Mountain introduces a stunning new talent in American literature.

Based on local history and family stories passed down by the author's great-great-grandfather, Cold Mountain is the tale of Inman, a wounded soldier who walks away from the ravages of the Civil War and back home to Ada, his prewar sweetheart. Inman's odyssey through the devastated landscape of the soon-to-be-defeated South interweaves with Ada's struggle to revive her father's farm with the help of a young drifter named Ruby. As their long-separated lives begin to converge at the close of the war, Inman and Ada must confront the vastly transformed world they've been delivered.

Also available Unabridged from Random House AudioBooks (May, 1998)

About this title

Review:

Charles Frazier's debut novel, Cold Mountain, is the story of a very long walk. In the waning months of the Civil War, a wounded Confederate veteran named Inman gets up from his hospital bed and begins the long journey back to his home in the remote hills of North Carolina. Along the way he meets rogues and outlaws, Good Samaritans and vigilantes, people who help and others who hinder, but through it all Inman's aim is true: his one goal is to return to Cold Mountain and to Ada, the woman he left behind. The object of his affection, meanwhile, has problems of her own. Raised in the rarified air of Charleston society, Ada was brought to the backwoods of Cold Mountain by her father, a preacher who came to the country for his health. Even after her father's death, Ada remains there, partly to wait for Inman, but partly because she senses her destiny lies not in the city but in the North Carolina Blue Ridge.

Cold Mountain is the story of two parallel journeys: Inman's physical trek across the American landscape and Ada's internal odyssey toward an understanding of herself. What makes Frazier's novel so satisfying is the depth of detail surrounding both journeys. Frazier based this story on family history, and in the characters of Inman and Ada he has paid a rich compliment to their historical counterparts. Cold Mountain is, quite simply, a wonderful book.

Review:

"A Whitmanesque foray into America: into its hugeness, its freshness, its scope and its soul." -James Polk, "The New York Times Book Review"

"An astonishing debut . . . a genuinely romantic saga that attains the status of literature."--Malcolm Jones, "Newsweek"

"As close to a masterpiece as American writing is going to come these days." -Fred Chappell, "Raleigh News & Observer"

"Charles Frazier's feeling for the Southern landscape is reverential and beautifully composed. He has written an astonishing first novel." -Alfred Kazin, "The New York Review of Books"
A Whitmanesque foray into America: into its hugeness, its freshness, its scope and its soul. James Polk, "The New York Times Book Review"
An astonishing debut . . . a genuinely romantic saga that attains the status of literature. Malcolm Jones, "Newsweek"
As close to a masterpiece as American writing is going to come these days. Fred Chappell, "Raleigh News & Observer"
Charles Frazier s feeling for the Southern landscape is reverential and beautifully composed. He has written an astonishing first novel. Alfred Kazin, "The New York Review of Books"
"
A Whitmanesque foray into America: into its hugeness, its freshness, its scope and its soul. James Polk, The New York Times Book Review
An astonishing debut . . . a genuinely romantic saga that attains the status of literature. Malcolm Jones, Newsweek
As close to a masterpiece as American writing is going to come these days. Fred Chappell, Raleigh News & Observer
Charles Frazier s feeling for the Southern landscape is reverential and beautifully composed. He has written an astonishing first novel. Alfred Kazin, The New York Review of Books
"
"A Whitmanesque foray into America: into its hugeness, its freshness, its scope and its soul." -James Polk, The New York Times Book Review
"An astonishing debut . . . a genuinely romantic saga that attains the status of literature."--Malcolm Jones, Newsweek
"As close to a masterpiece as American writing is going to come these days." -Fred Chappell, Raleigh News & Observer
"Charles Frazier's feeling for the Southern landscape is reverential and beautifully composed. He has written an astonishing first novel." -Alfred Kazin, The New York Review of Books

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0679460691
• ISBN 13: 9780679460695
• Binding: Audio Cassette