Cold Mountain

By: Charles Frazier

Narrated by: Charles Frazier

Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain is a masterpiece that is at once an enthralling adventure, a stirring love story, and a luminous evocation of a vanished American in all its savagery, solitude, and splendor. Sorely wounded and fatally disillusioned in the fighting at Petersburg, Inman, a Confederate soldier, decides to walk back to his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains and to Ada, the woman he loved there years before. His trek across the disintegrating South brings him into intimate and sometimes lethal converse with slaves and marauders, bounty hunters and witches, both helpful and malign. At the same time, Ada is trying to revive her father's derelict farm and learn to survive in a world where the old certainties have been swept away. As it interweaves their stories, Cold Mountain asserts itself as an authentic American Odyssey--hugely powerful, majestically lovely, and keenly moving.

©1997 Charles Frazier (P)1998 Random House, Inc., Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Charles Frazier delivers a soulful reading of his novel....His writing reveals the fluidity of a storyteller, and the audiobook becomes a natural extension of his skill." (AudioFile)
"Charles Frazier has taken on a daunting task, and has done extraordinarily well by it....A Whitmanesque foray into America; into its hugeness, its freshness, its scope and its soul. Such a memorable book." (The New York Times Book Review)
"A rare and extraordinary book....Heart-stopping....Spellbinding." (San Francisco Chronicle)
"Novelists are never in short supply. Natural-born storytellers come along only rarely. Charles Frazier joins the ranks of that elite cadre on the first page of his astonishing debut." (Newsweek)

Pay no attention to the negative reviews about narration

So the majority here are disparaging the authors narration but I contend that, even though they are entitled to their opinion they are just wrong. Yes i know Frazier has used Will Patton for most of his other books and Patton’s narrations are almost without peer but the reality is his voice is an actors voice that has been very prevalent in movies and tv as well as books and has become synonymous with how folks think people from the south or in a “western” setting are supposed to talk. Yes Frazier is soft spoken and I was a bit dubious due to listening to several of his Patton narrated works but at the end of it I can’t and don’t want to imagine anyone else but the author narrating this book. His voice is authentic and delivery is perfect
Like all of his books it is so bittersweet when i finish one. I just don’t want them to ever end. He has become on of my favorite authors and this book is no exception. If you’ve seen the movie you really owe it to yourself to read or listen to the book. The movie not bad as movies go but it only hits some of the high points. The book is just do much more.

Fantastic!

Charles Frazier is the best (check out 13 Moons). Great story, great narration. I like it when the author reads own work.

The Real Deal

Sometimes you just need to hear an author read their own words to get the full impact of their work. The writer can sometimes deliver nuance, emphasis, or dialect that you might not hear in your head. Charles Frazier's understated delivery may not be dramatic, but it accumulates force through the persistent rendering of the longing for home that pushes the hero through unendurable trials as he tries to make his way back from the horror of the Civil War. A beautiful book read with patience and passion - so much better than the movie!

Simply excellent

The book speaks well to both the end of civil war era and as a modern parable for today. If we think our war veterans come home today the same people who left, we are mistaken. The two main criticisms I have heard don't hold water with me. First, I hear the romance isn't realistic. For him, it most certainly would be since he had been snatched out of his normal life to go and fight. He would yearn for that one relationship that meant most back home as it would represent so much to him of what he lost. For her, with the circumstances the way they were, the same can be said. Second, people complain about Frazier's voice as a narrator. While true that many audio books are read by professional narrators, Frazier's voice adds a sense that Inman himself is reading this (there was a real Inman whom Frazier is a descendent). I think it is a regional thing too. Frazier sounds like he's from North Carolina (which he is). It adds a added sense of realism. I'm sorry it doesn't work for everyone. Kudos galore. One of my favorites.

Superb

It's hard to imagine a better way of experiencing this book than by listening to Charles Frasier narrate it. Some reviewers have complained that he reads without emphasis, which is true, but with this book that is absolutely appropriate. There are also complaints that he mispronounces words, which simply reveals a lack of awareness of regional speech variations. If you prefer action to introspection, this book and this narration are probably not for you. The point of this book is the journey - both Inman's and Ada's - rather than the destination, and the pace is slow. The language is poetry, and Charles Frasier's narration allows us to experience it fully.

Cold Mountain

I could listen to this again...this was a beautifully written love story engulfing the tragedy of the Civil War

Better than the movie, gently paced.

What made the experience of listening to Cold Mountain the most enjoyable?

the reality of the Civil War is laid bare. will you dare to see?

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Goat Lady - serene, earthy, practical and self sufficient.

What about Charles Frazier’s performance did you like?

Charles Frazier is the ONLY author reading his own writing that I have ever enjoyed. His languidly precise voice is perfect.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I have had trouble turning it off. I listen repeatedly. and AVIDLY

Best book I've read in many years!

Wonderful, full story with excellent writing. can't wait to read more Charles Frazier. Don't miss this one!

very spitty reading

so hard to listen to. i couldn't finish the audio book because of the loud swallowing. will try reading the physical book. the descriptions were lovely and it seems like a good book, the writer/narrator is too hard for me to work through.

I loved this book!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

A powerful story filled with unforgettable characters read beautifully by
the author.

What does Charles Frazier bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Frazier's soft southern accent and his amazing imagery took me to
the south in that sad civil war period, evoking the beauty and courage as well as the poverty, despair and cruelty of that period.

I think my eyes would have flown over so many chapters, but his quiet,
beautiful voice made me stop, listen and look at each person, each place. I don't usually like books read by authors who read the words woodenly. Mr. Frazier is a wonderful exception.