Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

The journey

Part of the America 1850 reading journey

How it got on the shelf

Back in 2006 my daughter was doing her GCSE English and, knowing my predilection for second hand bookshops, asked me to look out for a cheap copy of Cold Mountain that she could annotate as part of her revision.  By the time I obliged, courtesy of a charity shop in, I think, Skipton, the need had passed as the exam had already taken place.  Not wanting to waste the 50p or so, the book went on the shelf awaiting its time.

This, in the meantime, has required me to studiously avoid the film.  To see the film before reading the book is heresy for me.  The infinite possibilities presented by the author disappear once the director imposes his or her viewpoint in the film’; subtleties are lost (as often are huge chunks of plot) and even worse new events and characters can creep in.  Don’t get me wrong, films of books can be very good films and I enjoy them, but I don’t let them spoil a good book.

The Review

This is the story of Ada and Inman, who met briefly, but memorably, in one of the Southern states just before Inman has to go and fight for the confederate cause in the American Civil War.  Wounded and disillusioned by the fighting Inman sets off home to Cold Mountain, where Ada’s simple but privileged existence is ceasing due to the death of her father and the impact of the civil war both on their smallholding and on the economy of the South.

We flip from Inman’s tortuous journey through the woods and mountains and rivers and more woods and more mountains, to Ada’s scratching and scraping and eking of a living from the ground (aided by the ever resourceful Ruby). People are met along the way, incidents occur, and the beauty of the Midwest scenery is lovingly portrayed.

There is a sense of a world changing, echoing the previous change as the Indians of Inman’s youth disappeared leaving only their mark in the mountain caves.  The slave economy of the South is unsustainable, but what will the Northern dominance bring in its place?

But the big question is will Inman ever get back to Cold Mountain and how will Ada receive him?

It’s a slow burner, but the dénouement is tense and the ending unsure even to the last page of the epilogue.