Comments on: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

By: titilayo

titilayo — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 12:40:49 +0000

I read Cold Mountain before I knew they were making a movie, and I thought it was really good.

You said:
The story wasn’t told in the alternating viewpoints of Ada and Inman, you likely wouldn’t even notice that they had ever met, much less see any romantic tension.

I understand what you’re saying here, but I didn’t find it to be a real weakness of the book. Their “romance” was barely a romance at all, but it was something for them to hang their hopes on and motivate them to keep the faith. I’m not explaining this well, but I liked the individual stories of Inman and Ada, and I liked that the thread of connection between them was so thin and yet so strong. That’s what I wasn’t disappointed by the ending. That was the only way Frazier could have made the story work, in my opinion. If it had been the traditional “happily ever after”, I would have thrown down the book in disgust.

Love the site, by the way!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 04:14:06 +0000

I very much see your points, and I tried so, so hard not to compare it to the movie, but I know this is one time I don’t think I quite succeeded :) Still, I think they both have their own merits and are worth reading & watching.

& thanks, glad you like the site :)

By: Fence

Fence — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 12:48:26 +0000

I saw the film first, that was what made me read the book. I prolly should have left longer between seeing the film and the book though as I did compare the two quite a bit.
Still really enjoyed the book, but think I will like it even more if I reread it later when the film has faded more.

By: Madame

Madame — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 18:02:21 +0000

Having seen both the book and the movie (but reading the book first) - I felt a similiar sense of disappointment, just in reverse. I think the discrepancy lies in the fact that Hollywood tried to make a love-story sort of movie about a book that is really about the horrors of the Civil War.