Christina Reviews *Cold Mountain* by Charles Frazier

           Cold Mountain takes place during the Civil War.  It is about an outlier named Inman who deserts the war in order to return home to Ada---the one true love of his life.

            I loved the character of Inman.  There was just this cold, efficiency to him.  He would just as soon cut your throat if it meant an extra hour of life for him.  He killed animals because he needed their flesh for sustenance.  Those were hard times, and there wasn't the luxury of being a vegetarian back then.

           Yeah, Inman was a tough one.  And yet he had a sympathetic goal---to make it home to his woman.  And did he ever go through hell in the pursuit of this single-minded goal.  I’m telling you.  It makes me think of the Edwin Starr song “Walk On”.  Not to mention the Edwin Starr song “War”.  Oh yeah, and there’s a touch of Odyssey in there too.  You could say that.

            I read Frazier’s book when I was a sophomore.  Several of my classmates hated the ending.  In fact, one of my friends stuck the book in the freezer as a way to punish it for not living up to her expectations.  I actually liked it.  Yeah, the ending was sad.  But it had to end that way.  It was meant to be.

           I wasn’t all that pleased with the movie, though.  I was very disappointed in the fact that Ruby was played by Renee Zellweger.  My sophomore year, Ruby from Cold Mountain and Ellen Gulden from One True Thing were two of my favorite female characters ever.  Damn it, Zellweger.  Stop playing my favorite characters!