Cold Mountain

COLD MOUNTAIN

by Charles Frazier

 

Award: National Book Winner 1997

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 1999, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 1997

 

Date Read: November 21, 2020

 

Cold Mountain is essentially Homer’s Odyssey remade as a soldier’s long quest home after being injured in the Civil War. Throughout unimaginable injuries, escapes, near death, starving and weary, Inman makes his way homeward, his love for Ada sustaining him along the way. He meets people along the way both warm-hearted and some ill intended. His very survival is predicated on his determination, skill and heaping amount of luck.

 

During Inman’s journey, Ada, a once privileged princess with no workable skills to keep herself fed and the farm she inherits producing, is blessed by Ruby’s appearance in her life. Ruby is a neighbor who lives alone, her father having disappeared forever and again. Ruby has the skills Ada lacks and through their determination and grit are able to begin amassing the food they will need to survive the winter. I was surprised at how easily Ada cast aside her privilege to work shoulder to shoulder with Ruby.

 

Through these characters and a horrendous, but morally just war, Frazier explores love, devotion and resilience with beautiful and descriptive prose. Having read the reviews for this novel, it seems many readers either loved it or hated it, while I have a more middling view. 

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