Cold Mountain Essay

The novel Cold Mountain, written by Charles Frazier, is an intricate story that revolves around mans life in the Civil War and his quest to find the love of his life. This book is very interesting because there are two different main characters that are in the story, named Inman and Ada. This story takes place in 1864 near the end of the Civil War. The book also refers to events that immediately followed the war. The events that occur in the story take place in multiple places, including Virginia, North Carolina, and the Cold Mountains, which is where Ada lives. Before reading the novel, the reader needs to know what the Civil War is and who fought in it, as well as the complications that the war caused for people fighting in the war.

The story begins with the male protagonist, Inman, lying in a hospital bed. He is at the hospital because he had a serious wound on his neck from the war. Although Ada is Inmans love of his life, both him and Ada have multiple obstacles in their way that prevent them from seeing each other, such as where they are located in the country. Since he joined the Confederate Army, he was separated from Ada. He concluded that losing something you already have is worse than not getting what you want. So, he was determined to return to Ada in the Cold Mountains, where he could be with her forever.

The narration of this story is in third-person, and alternates between each main character. The story also is from Adas and Inmans points of view. Charles Frazier was able to keep my interest in this book because of the action that he throws into the mix. For example, the book was not very eventful until several people start shooting at Inman, which increased the suspense of the book. So far, I think that Cold Mountain is a book that the reader needs to pay very close attention to, because of its thoroughness and attention to detail.