After vigorously reading Mudbound, I was actually very intrigued and eager about starting to read Cold Mountain. Mudbound had held my interest and captivated me long enough to read every word in one day. It was as if my eyes were glued to that book and I could not lift my gaze from the pages.  I really enjoyed reading how the story was unfolding before me. I thought that both books would be a fun and a captivating read. However, that was not the case and very early on that thought vanished from my mind. As soon as I sat down to crack open Cold Mountain, I instantly knew that this book was going to be difficult for me to read. After slowly getting through the first few pages I just had to take a moment to process that this book was definitely not for me.

It’s over descriptive and long sentences bored me beyond belief. I caught myself zoning out while I was trying to progress further in the book. I had to go back and re-read what I had just “read” several times, because it was as if I was just glancing over the words and not processing what was being told in the story. I am not even going to lie, the first few times I attempted to read this book it put me right to sleep. Unlike Mudbound, Cold Mountain took me a lengthy time to get through reading.  In a way its difficulty reminded me of when I had to read the Scarlett Letter last year in Ms. Green’s class. I guess all the words at once and how they dragged on in both books put me to sleep. However, once I finally motivated myself to continue further in Cold Mountain I started to get into it a little bit. It is just that the words were boring and the topic of war is just not interesting to me so I found it quite dry. I had to take long breaks before I went back to reading it because I just did not want to. This book felt more like a chore to read more than anything else.

The two main protagonist characters, Inman and Ada, both have a sense of isolation and loneliness throughout the novel. They both endure their own hardships that help them grow in different ways and mature. Eventually both had a different outlook on the world and nature than they did from the start of the story.

Ada is physically alone and isolated from people. She also had the loss of both important and meaningful men in her life. First, her lover and soulmate, Inman, when he went off into the Civil War (and later died). Then, she lost her father forever when he died. I thought it was sad how she discovered him dead because she came back to find him hunched over and to what she observed, looked as if he was snoring. Ada found it humorous but that instantly changed when she finally got closer to him.  Once her father was gone she had no one.  It was just her and the farm, the farm that she did not know the first thing about maintain or how to run. She let the garden get overgrown with weeds, mainly because when she pulled the weeds out some plants came with it. She did not take care of the chickens and eventually they just went feral in a sense and roamed wherever they pleased. She did not seem to try or put any effort into fixing some of the problems on the farm, but then again she did not know how. Her letting the farm get out of shape was mirroring how she seemed to let her appearance go. She wears dirty clothes and does not bother to fix her hair in any of the latest up-dos or in any way at all. Thankfully Ruby comes along and opens up her outlook on the world.  With Ruby’s help Ada discoveries wonders about nature and learns how to care for the farm and learns more about herself. Towards the end of the books she has matured a lot from the girl at the beginning of the story who did not know the first thing about farm life.

Inman mentally and physically is alone in the world. He does not seem to understand people, although he has no problem interacting with them. He escapes from the hospital to go on a long enduring journey. He is alone but picks up companions along the way and learns from people full of wisdom on his stops.  His journey and everything he has been through changes his look on the world spiritually and morally. Towards the beginning of the book he is very scarred from war and does not want to kill if he doesn’t have to. However, as the long journey progresses Iman goes back to Junior’s house to kill him for his own revenge.  I think that he killing Junior partially shows how much he has changed from the start.  Also, the scene with the bear cub, because he did not have to kill the cub. When Ada and Inman reunited she doesn’t even recognize him, he’s changed so much physically and mentally. Ada has also changed, but for the better, she has a more mature outlook on life.