The first time I came across with Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, it was on the big screen. I watched the movie because I am a big fan of Nicole Kidman and Rene Zelweger. I find the movie good and the two mentioned actresses and Jude Law very convincing in portraying their characters. At the end, the movie made me melancholic and sad, but hell, it was really beautiful. Rene by the way, won her first Oscar as best actress in a supporting role for that movie.
The second time I came across with Cold Mountain was when I was looking for second hand books to be read at night, to drowse me to sleep, at a local bookstore. The book was sold cheap and since I already saw it's movie version, I bought it out of curiosity if the screen adaptation really tried to stick to the novel. And so it started every night, since I only read two or three chapters a night, that the lives of Inman, Ada and Ruby were unfold not in my eyes but in my imagination.
The setting of Cold Mountain was very rural and Frazier was very successful in conjuring the rural mood in his novel. The tall mountains, the lovely meadows, the lonely dirt roads, the slithering rivers, the vast farm fields, the mysterious twilight, and the plain folks and their traditional way of life all gave me the feeling of profound simplicity and serenity. But these was of course abstracted by the ongoing civil war happening in the land which added a feeling of anxiety and uneasiness both I think on the characters (especially Inman who was always haunted by the war scene he had witnessed) and the reader himself (I am talking about myself particularly).
Inman's travel toward home was like a metaphor of my own pilgrim towards self realization. The dangers he met along the way and the obstacles that tried to block him from returning home are like my struggles and battles that until now I still try to overcome. The gore and bloody wars he encountered are like my past that still haunts me to this very day. Inman's thought were focused on his beloved Ada, that is why, his determination to go on with life and his journey was so strong that only death could stop him. Likewise with myself, my determination of making myself whole and fulfilling my fate is what keeps me moving forward with positivity.
Ada and Ruby, the heroines of the story, were two opposite characters. Ada was educated and literate, Ruby was not. Ruby was a self-reliant, hardworking, and practical gal, Ada was otherwise. Ada was the artist, Ruby was the one who appreciates. Ada was sophisticated while Ruby was superstitious. The contrast between the two main female characters of the novel was quite obvious but it was amazing that the two were able to live together in harmony, supporting each other in the name of survival. Same so with ourselves, sometimes we contradict our very own selves that often confuse us. But then again, in the end, these contradictions inside us meet half way to come up with one unique idea, thought or opinion. And whatever ever it is, it is who we are. All in the name of self-preservation and realization.
Cold Mountain speaks about love lost, friendship, and the determination of the human soul. All in all, it was a very delightful read. Very poignant yet a masterpiece of beauty. I tried not to shed a tear up to the very end but unfortunately, I did.
The second time I came across with Cold Mountain was when I was looking for second hand books to be read at night, to drowse me to sleep, at a local bookstore. The book was sold cheap and since I already saw it's movie version, I bought it out of curiosity if the screen adaptation really tried to stick to the novel. And so it started every night, since I only read two or three chapters a night, that the lives of Inman, Ada and Ruby were unfold not in my eyes but in my imagination.
The setting of Cold Mountain was very rural and Frazier was very successful in conjuring the rural mood in his novel. The tall mountains, the lovely meadows, the lonely dirt roads, the slithering rivers, the vast farm fields, the mysterious twilight, and the plain folks and their traditional way of life all gave me the feeling of profound simplicity and serenity. But these was of course abstracted by the ongoing civil war happening in the land which added a feeling of anxiety and uneasiness both I think on the characters (especially Inman who was always haunted by the war scene he had witnessed) and the reader himself (I am talking about myself particularly).
Inman's travel toward home was like a metaphor of my own pilgrim towards self realization. The dangers he met along the way and the obstacles that tried to block him from returning home are like my struggles and battles that until now I still try to overcome. The gore and bloody wars he encountered are like my past that still haunts me to this very day. Inman's thought were focused on his beloved Ada, that is why, his determination to go on with life and his journey was so strong that only death could stop him. Likewise with myself, my determination of making myself whole and fulfilling my fate is what keeps me moving forward with positivity.
Ada and Ruby, the heroines of the story, were two opposite characters. Ada was educated and literate, Ruby was not. Ruby was a self-reliant, hardworking, and practical gal, Ada was otherwise. Ada was the artist, Ruby was the one who appreciates. Ada was sophisticated while Ruby was superstitious. The contrast between the two main female characters of the novel was quite obvious but it was amazing that the two were able to live together in harmony, supporting each other in the name of survival. Same so with ourselves, sometimes we contradict our very own selves that often confuse us. But then again, in the end, these contradictions inside us meet half way to come up with one unique idea, thought or opinion. And whatever ever it is, it is who we are. All in the name of self-preservation and realization.
Cold Mountain speaks about love lost, friendship, and the determination of the human soul. All in all, it was a very delightful read. Very poignant yet a masterpiece of beauty. I tried not to shed a tear up to the very end but unfortunately, I did.
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