Cold Mountain was definitely not the same read as mudbound, And I personally didn’t like it a whole lot but that being said the book  wasn’t completely terrible. Cold Mountain is the story of a man and a woman, and the journeys they make. The man, Inman, is an injured Confederate soldier who slips away from his hospital bed, intent on returning to the mountains of North Carolina and the woman he loves. Along the way he avoids vigilantes, receives help from strangers, and has a series of bizarre encounters. It seems  like a pretty good storyline but it just felt so drawn out.The woman, Ada, is a cultured and stiff young woman who came to the mountains with her preacher father. When her father dies, Ada is abandoned by her servants and must learn not only how to feed and cloth herself, but who she really is outside of her father’s shadow. Her journey is helped by the unlikely friendship she forges with a mountain woman named Ruby. Their friendship is a good connection throughout the story. The author skillfully weaves the stories of Inman, Ada, and Ruby together, bringing these three searching souls closer together in body and spirit. He has a visual style that clearly places the characters in their surroundings. Frazier’s language easily captures the language and emotions of his characters, and moves the story along without plodding.  There’s no question that At times Cold Mountain is difficult to read. It never avoids the grim horrors of war and the cruelties of humanity which have torn Inman apart both physically and emotionally. One concept that continues to surface in Cold Mountain is that people are not who they seem to be, and are not even in fact who they believe themselves to be. Inman feels he has lost his soul, yet displays more kindness, patience, and levelheaded wisdom than any other character. Ada thinks of herself as educated, while she lacks the brains to feed herself and wash her clothing. Veasey says he’s a man of God, but is openly eager to sin. Teague claims to uphold the law, yet deals cruelly with the innocent. Throughout the book you’ll find characters who deceive themselves while clearly acting in a different, and many times opposite, manner. Perhaps only Ruby is honest with herself and others. She is poor and has no proper education, yet realizes she deserves respect and value—and acts on these beliefs. In the story it at times seems beyond comprehension that people can be so blinded, but I doubt the exaggerations are far from the truth for most of us even today. After reading through some other people’s blogs about cold Mountain not very many people liked i after reading through some other people’s blogs about cold Mountain not very many people enjoyed it as much as the first o enjoyed it as much as mudbound,  cold mountain to me was more in depth than mudbound for sure.  personal preference is also something that goes into reading a book if you don’t like it and you’re forced to read it you may not enjoy it as much, or get the deeper meaning from the book.  The story had a good plot for some reason I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, but  you have to give the author credit for as much publicity the book has gotten.The book is slow moving, which I both enjoyed and didn’t at the same time – it was heavy on developing the characters, as the reader follows them on a journey of finding each other, and themselves during the era of the Civil War. I enjoyed watching Ada grow, and Inman struggle for survive as he walked through the wilderness to find his lover, but I found that parts of his story did drag a bit, and would have liked the pace to picked up a little more than it did. I enjoyed his story, but at times it was too slow moving – even for a heavy character development based book. The only other issue of the book, is the amount of minor characters and how they are all connected, there were a few times, I was a little confused on who was who, and how they fit in with the other characters and story as a whole.  Towards the end the book begin to pick up a little bit more and I didn’t mind the ending but overall it was an okay read.

First I would like to say that  Mudbound was a great read and was very intricate in the way the author constructed the book from a narration standpoint,  being told from so many perspectives is really interesting and keeps you very  entertained. All of the characters are great at contributing something unique to Mudbound, with Laura taking the lead as the heart of the novel. Thrust into farm life in her early 30s after a comfortable city upbringing, Laura’s longings blind her to some harsh truths about the people around her. The shared narration duties allow for a number of twists and surprises even as we’re reaching the end of the book, letting the pieces drop into place for the reader even as some of the characters choose to look away from the full truth. The farm is vividly described in passages that match its beauty against its harshness, becoming almost another character as it pushes and pulls the actions of the people who work the land. Jamie is perhaps the biggest wild card of the bunch, going through life on his easy charm even as thoughts of the war seem to be eating him alive. Though Mudbound starts off looking like a man vs. nature tale, the issues of race and racism elevate this to a much more fast-paced and tragic story that will have you whipping through the last half of the book. From reading some other classmates blogs a lot of the students liked reading mudbound and I think as an overall book it was very good. Mudbound is one of those books that have a good and a bad it’s a really good book but at the same time it’s a tough read because of the story. The race relations are a tough aspect of the novel to read about, but they’re written in a way that feels realistic and natural for the era without being preachy about how change is needed. The ending of the novel has a few issues – while everything makes sense as far as the characters and their motivations go, it didn’t necessarily have that spark of excitement that comes from something feeling new and original, even if it is well-presented. The Trouble starts when 2 heros return to Mudbound from fighting in the war. Jamie is Henry’s brother, an Air Force pilot who has seen a lot of combat. He is dashing, handsome and everything that his brother is not. He also not coping well with whatever happened to him during the war and he has become a tad wild– drinking and whoring without remorse. Ronsel is Hap and Florence’s son, a tank commander who worked for General Patton himself in one of the first all black tank crews. He had gotten used to be treated with respect in Europe and returning home to the hate-filled Mississippi Delta has not been easy for him. Jamie and Ronsel strike up an unlikely friendship and the tension begins. I believe the unlikely friendship of the two even given the circumstances, is a detail That shouldn’t be overlooked. The novel is told from the perspective of several characters, each getting a section to narrate in 1st person. I like that effect for some of the characters (Ronsel in particular) But I feel like the  Sometimes the perspective change didn’t really give the individual focus, Not only that, the character of Laura is nearly the only one I didn’t find to be basically a stock character.  Her husband, Henry, is a typical southern farmer; her father in law Pappy is nothing more than a stereotyped KKK racist; Florence, her black maid is a stereotypical strong, black, maternal figure — in touch with nature and superstitious; and I could go on.  I did like the characters of Ronsel and Jamie, though I think their friendship could have been developed in far greater detail.  I particularly liked Ronsel’s experiences in Germany during WWII.  His descriptions of seeing the emaciated and dying prisoners in the concentration camps reminded me of stories I’ve heard from older veterans,  but all in all mudbound was definitely a far better read than Cold  Mountain
Glad I got the chance to  experience, it was worth the read.

My name is Kameron and here are some things you should know about me. I was born in North Carolina, but I have lived in West Virginia most of my life, I enjoy sports and physical fitness it’s a big part of who I am. Ironically I don’t like  Reading and I have terrible handwriting, but I enjoy poetry a lot, I like breaking down what someone’s trying to tell me whether it be a story or a in depth meaning that really gets you thinking, how relatable a writing can be is important.  It gives a deeper connection so it actually mean something is not just another string of words, I once had a conversation with someone about the word nice, at the time it wasn’t my least favorite word but here’s why I change my mind, as they began explaining why they also didn’t like the word, started thinking to myself if you complement someone with the word nice, just using it in general, it’s so vague and just sounds bland, there are so many words you can use to describe someone and describe things. Why not use words to the fullest potential? I hope AP literature is a fun class and gives me new  experiences, but  also challenges me to be a better student.

Welcome to your brand new blog at Edublogs!

To get started, simply visit your blog’s dashboard, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.

Like more help?

We can walk you through step-by-step in our guide to getting started with your blog.

Happy blogging!