'Cold' heats up winter reading

Cold Mountain

Atlantic Monthly Press

Haven't there been enough books and movies about the Civil War? Has it outlived its usefulness as an artistic subject?
The answer to these questions might have been "yes," until Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain" was published. This beautifully written first novel revisits familiar historical and literary terrain, but tells a deep, original and incredibly absorbing story.

Like two lines that meet at a vanishing point - or like lives that become intertwined - "Cold Mountain" draws together two stories that finally combine as the book draws to a close. The novel begins with Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier who plans  to desert from the army - he sneaks out of the field hospital and starts walking back to his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

In alternating chapters, Frazier relates what simultaneously happens to Ada, a woman with whom Inman has a tenuous relationship. Ada's father has died and left her to cope with his rundown farm; as Inman journeys home, Ada becomes more self-sufficient as she and a friend learn to run the farm.

This parallel structure allows a great understanding of both characters: As Frazier relates their histories, thoughts and emotions, they come to seem completely realistic, and in fact, almost real.

"Cold Mountain"'s two plots are unfailingly gripping, though in different ways. Inman's journey has echoes of "The Odyssey," as he experiences an equally daunting array of obstacles - everything from encountering bears in the woods to being captured by Confederate soldiers. (Frazier includes a meeting with the Sirens, which, in Inman's narration, is rendered as: "He wondered what sort of house of sluts he had stumbled into.")

Ada's story is less eventful but no less intriguing. Most readers will not have considered what running a 19th-century Southern farm entailed, but Frazier explains this in great detail. He enables readers to envision the South in 1864 - a world in which people had to produce everything they needed to live, and in which money was devalued and a primitive barter system was the only means of exchange. Frazier's depiction of this society is thorough and fascinating.

"Cold Mountain" stands out, most of all, for its stunningly lyrical and detailed language. Events are related from Inman's or Ada's perspective in characteristic19th-century diction; this style is very easy to read, but must be read slowly to appreciate Frazier's unusual rhythms of language.

Also, throughout the book Frazier includes precise descriptions of events, ranging from the appearance of the sky at dawn to the battlefield at Fredericksburg. One typical passage reads: "As the sun fell to earthline it found an opening in the clouds and shot a beam of light the color of hot hickory coals straight upward. The light was tubular and hard-edged as the barrel of a rifle."

Given descriptions such as these, readers have no trouble imagining every scene of the novel.

"Cold Mountain" would be a strong achievement for any writer and is even more so for a first-time novelist. Its language resonates in readers' minds long after they finish the book, as do its characters and its powerful conclusion.

This is surely one of the best novels of the year, and is an experience no one should miss.

- Elizabeth Lucas

11-21-97