Review: Cold Mountain

In a previous post, I mentioned that there are certain books that I’ve only seen in movie format, and Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier, falls in that category.

I really really enjoyed the movie. I thought it was beautifully shot and Renee Zellwegger was fantastic. I even liked Jude Law, who normally isn’t my favorite actor. I thought some of the dialogue was very moving, and I LOVED Nicole Kidman’s hair.

So, I really didn’t see any use in reading the book, because I always have about 10 books on my TBR list. However, when some of my friends heard that I had not yet read the book, I was very soon given a copy to immediately read.

Folks, this book is FANtastic. I’m so glad I gave it a chance. I think most of us have seen the movie, so I’ll recap briefly.

It’s four years into the Civil War and Ada and Inman are still pining after each other after a brief series of awkward encounters (and one amazing kiss) before the war broke out and Inman left for battle. Somehow, those brief encounters and one amazing kiss were meaningful and touching enough have turned into feelings of love. After Inman takes a serious neck wound and spends a few months recovering at a military hospital, he deserts the army and starts a long walk back to Ada on Cold Mountain, South Carolina.

Ada, waiting for Inman and clinging to the few letters she has received from him, has lost her father, the town minister. With no skills other than painting and playing the piano, Ada has let the farm she lives on run amuck. Close to starvation, she accepts an offer of help from Ruby Thewes, a spunky young woman who has big plans to restore Ada's land into a working farm again.

Anything else I told you would be a spoiler, so I won’t go on.

So much about this book was beautiful: the sweeping descriptions of Cold Mountain, Inman’s encounters with strangers willing to give house war deserters, Ada and Ruby’s friendship, Ruby’s spirit to overcome adversity, and lastly, Inman’s and Ada’s love that sustained them both through four year’s of struggle.

Pretty much every review of this book has stated that it’s “astonishing” or “true literature” or “spellbinding”. I, in my humble opinion, would have to agree.