commenting on cold mountain even though I haven't

[Mary Gauden]

I have to say, even though I hate to say it, that I'm extremely disappointed in Cold Mountain. I picked the novel up after hearing about it for so long, so anxious to read another first time writer's novel. Well, to say the least--it's been a giant struggle. And it's worrisome that this is called as close as we come to literature in our day and age. Very worrisome. I will continue to struggle through trying to find what everyone sees in this but I fear it's just the fact that no one wants to admit that the book really doesn't measure up to the story described. The story idea itself sounds wonderful--but oh the disappointment when one opens the binding and begins to read. Sorry, Charles Frazier. Truly.

[Shelby Carter]

Cold Mountain measured up as a first time effort.The lack of quotations were bothersome. However,I am familar with Cold Mountain and found the research of the area impeccable.

[Michael]

The responses above demonstrate a continuous gripe of mine: why the obsession with punctuation, style, number of manuscript pages and, for the love of Whomever, a SASE? How many of these items have changed the world? Ideas count. Ideas. Who gives a rats arse how they are conveyed? The Sermon on the Mount spoken in Ebonics, while damned laughable, would still inspire. The obsession with conformity ("read all you can of contemporary works"...hell, suicide is immoral) is exactly what we're going against, if we're any good.

[chris wymer]

I agree that this is a style issue. Kerouac wrote about 90% of his novels strictly employing dashes in place of periods and other forms of punctuation. Hubert Selby, Jr. uses commas in place of quotation marks and I always thought that works well for him. Selby always gets me directly into the character's mind. I think that what works for one author doesn't necessarily work for another so it would be better to concentrate on what works for you than what works for someone else.

[Jan Bonarski]

I'm one of those who found Cold Mountain extremely boring and improbable and the lack of punctuation irrating. I didn't get more than 1/3 of the way though and took the extreme step of throwing it in the garbage. Who did Frazier know to get it past an agent, let alone published and touted as the greatest book in almost forever? If I need to write down to that level..forget the whole thing.

[Ann Hagen]

I loved the book, and didn't even notice or remember that there was weird punctuation. But I think anyone who has walked them there hills in the Shenandoah valley, and loves the Valley AND history would love that book.P.S.
I just finished reading John Irving's A Widow For One Year......I noticed he uses alot of dashes.....and I loved the book --except for the part where Ruth wants to go watch a prostitue and a customer go at it....that part reminds me of that stupid movie Henry and June (Anais Nin and Henry Miller and Trashy Girlfriend)