[a:Charles Frazier|7130|Charles Frazier|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1316568662p2/7130.jpg]'s writing in this book is full of contradictions: elegant yet warm, heartfelt yet stepped back, full of period vernacular yet smooth-flowing and immersive. I remember seeing the film adaptation a few years ago and I really loved it. usually that means I won't go back to the book. I'm so glad I broke my rule. Recommended. ( )

Excellent book. Felt like you were along side the soldier. KIRKUS REVIEWA grim story about a tough, resourceful Southern family in the Civil War is somewhat submerged by the weight of lyrical detail piled on the tale, and by the slow pace of the telling. There's no doubt that Frazier can write; the problem is that he stops so often to savor the sheer pleasure of the act of writing in this debut effort. Inman, seeing that the end of the war is near, decides to leave his regiment and go back home to Ada, the bright, stubborn woman he loves. His adventures traversing a chaotic, impoverished land, Ada's struggles to preserve her father's farm, and the harsh, often powerful tales of the rough-hewn individuals they encounter take up most of the narrative. The tragic climax is convincing but somewhat rushed, given the many dilatory scenes that have preceded it. Frazier has Cormac McCarthy's gift for rendering the pitch and tang of regional speech, and for catching some of the true oddity of human nature, but he doesn't yet possess McCarthy's ferocious focus. A promising but overlong, uneven debut. (First printing of 40,000; author tour)

Re-read of classic just before release of movie on Christmas. Very good tale of Civil War soldier making odyssey back to his sweetheart.

Excellent novel set at time of Civil War about a man & woman's journey to find more meaningful lives. Sad ending but in a way the only way it could end.

Fantastic novel. Terrible, terrible movie. This novel almost had me believing I was there with Inman in the Blue Ridge mountains at the end of the Civil War. Contains one of the best written battle scenes I've ever read. ( )