#ThrowbackThursday. Cold Mountain

Frazier, Charles "Cold Mountain" - 1997

"Based on local history and family stories passed down by the author's great-great-grandfather, Cold Mountain is the tale of a wounded soldier Inman, who walks away from the ravages of the war and back home to his prewar sweetheart, Ada. 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 an intrepid young drifter named Ruby. As their long-separated lives begin to converge at the close of the war, Inman and Ada confront the vastly transformed world they've been delivered."

This is one of my favourite book ever, a story about the American Civil War, about love, struggles in bad times, companionship. But it doesn't just show the life of people during the Civil War, it seems to be a never ending description of life. I think it is a great novel that will live on and be read for generations.

Charles Frazier has become one of my favourite authors.

We discussed this in our British Book Club in February 2000.

Read more on my original post here.

Frazier, Charles "Varina"

Frazier, Charles "Varina" - 2018

After falling in love with Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain", I have read all of his books so far. I had no idea what this book was about, that it followed the life of Jefferson Davis' wife. How much of that is true, I have no idea since I never heard of her before but the other dates and remarks about the people seem to be correct, as I would have expected of this author.

We always know too little about the wives of important historical figures. The saying goes that behind every great man there's a great woman, so I expect there must still be a lot of fantastic stories about great women out there.

I have read quite a few books about the Civil War so far and there is always some different aspect to look at. Because any war always comes down to the people who have to suffer through it.

But even if the subject wouldn't interest me, Charles Frazier deserves to be read because of his beautiful writing, he has a very special way of describing anything around him. I would love for him to publish a new book every year but I guess that would not necessarily be a good idea. So, I just have to wait another couple of years until I can enjoy another one of his great writings.

There is only one thing that bothered me, and this must not necessarily be the author's fault. Varina Davis is always referred to as V in the novel. I guess it saves some paper but you always have to "remember" what her name is and that that's what this abbreviation means. I wouldn't have voted for that option.

From the back cover:

"In his powerful fourth novel, Charles Frazier returns to the time and place of Cold Mountain, vividly bringing to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil War

With her marriage prospects limited, teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects a life of security as a Mississippi landowner. He instead pursues a career in politics and is eventually appointed president of the Confederacy, placing Varina at the white-hot center of one of the darkest moments in American history - culpable regardless of her intentions.

The Confederacy falling, her marriage in tatters, and the country divided, Varina and her children escape Richmond and travel south on their own, now fugitives with 'bounties on their heads, an entire nation in pursuit.'

Intimate in its detailed observations of one woman’s tragic life and epic in its scope and power, Varina is a novel of an American war and its aftermath. Ultimately, the book is a portrait of a woman who comes to realize that complicity carries consequences."

Frazier, Charles "Nightwoods"

Frazier, Charles "Nightwoods" - 2011

After reading "Cold Mountain", I couldn't wait for the next book of this author. Nine years later, "Thirteen Moons" appeared and I was back at the beginning, couldn't wait for the next one. I am grateful that I didn't have to wait as long this time, though four years is quite a long time, as well.

"Nightwoods", a young woman has to look after her murdered sister's twins. Not a new plot. But - there is so much more to this story, and not just the beautiful description of Charles Frazier's beloved Appalachians. He manages to describe ordinary people's lives like nobody else. All his novels have been about completely different topics, at completely different times, and, yet, he makes you feel like you are "there" all the time. Brilliant.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"The extraordinary author of Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons returns with a dazzling new novel of suspense and love set in small-town North Carolina in the early 1960s.

Charles Frazier puts his remarkable gifts in the service of a lean, taut narrative while losing none of the transcendent prose, virtuosic storytelling, and insight into human nature that have made him one of the most beloved and celebrated authors in the world. Now, with his brilliant portrait of Luce, a young woman who inherits her murdered sister's troubled twins, Frazier has created his most memorable heroine.

Before the children, Luce was content with the reimbursements of the rich Appalachian landscape, choosing to live apart from the small community around her. But the coming of the children changes everything, cracking open her solitary life in difficult, hopeful, dangerous ways.

Charles Frazier is known for his historical literary odysseys, and for making figures in the past come vividly to life. Set in the twentieth century, Nightwoods resonates with the timelessness of a great work of art."

Frazier, Charles "Thirteen Moons"

Frazier, Charles "Thirteen Moons" - 2006

My first Charles Frazier book was also Charles Frazier's first book "Cold Mountain". I love that book. So, naturally, I couldn't wait for his second one to be published. And I wasn't disappointed.

The topic is completely different from "Cold Mountain" but his style, his descriptive story-telling remains the same. An amazing story about an exceptionally strong and interesting man. The main character is brought up by Cherokee in the mid-19th Century. He takes over their traditions and lives according to them, although his "white" culture does interfere, as well. However, even his Indian "fathers" don't all follow the same path.

A wonderful story that introduces us and deepens our understanding of American history before the arrival of the first Europeans. And their hard life after that, the way they were pushed into reservations, onto land that was barely inhabitable.

A wonderful novel. Have read the next book by this extraordinary author. "Nightwoods". Amazing.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"At the age of twelve, an orphan named Will Cooper is given a horse, a key, and a map and is sent on a journey through the uncharted wilderness of the Cherokee Nation. Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his people, developing relationships that ultimately forge Will’s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, will forever rule Will’s heart. In a voice filled with both humor and yearning, Will tells of a lifelong search for home, the hunger for fortune and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture, and above all an enduring pursuit of passion."

How full moons got their strange names
Origins credited to Native Americans and early European settlers.

Frazier, Charles "Cold Mountain"

Frazier, Charles "Cold Mountain" - 1997

"Based on local history and family stories passed down by the author's great-great-grandfather, Cold Mountain is the tale of a wounded soldier Inman, who walks away from the ravages of the war and back home to his prewar sweetheart, Ada. 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 an intrepid young drifter named Ruby. As their long-separated lives begin to converge at the close of the war, Inman and Ada confront the vastly transformed world they've been delivered."

I have read this book twice, the first time with my British book club when it was just published and then again when the movie came out and I wanted to get into it again before watching it. I was not happy with the ending the first time round, well, I didn't really get it but the second time it made sense and I liked it better.

This is a book about the American Civil War, about love, struggles in bad times, companionship. But it doesn't just show the life of people during the Civil War, it seems to be a never ending description of life. I think it is a great novel that will live on and be read for generations.

All in all, "Cold Mountain" fantastic, the movie was very good, too, I rarely say that after I read a book, really worth watching, whether you've read the book or not.

This was his book about the Civil War, his second book "Thirteen Moons", dates earlier, it has a lot about the Indians (or Native Americans as they are called now but in the book they were called Indians because that was the term at the time). I love reading any books that bring history or other cultures into my life, I can really recommend his books.

We discussed this in our British Book Club in February 2000.

I have read the next book by this extraordinary author. "Nightwoods". Charles Frazier is amazing.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2022.