Cold Mountain (Sceptre 21's)

This book was recommended to me by a bookseller many years ago when it was originally published. It’s one of those memorable books which one comes across from time to time, and when my husband was searching for something to read on holiday I suggested this to him, having lost my original copy during a house-move. He hasn’t yet read it but I’m hopeful that he'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Ho ordinato 8 libri di cui un libro un po rovinato sulla copertina e alcuni sembravano sembravano vecchi dentro perché le pagine erano un po ingiallite ma per il resto tutto ok!

Cold Mountain begins with Inman, a confederate soldier, laid up convalescing in a military hospital. As he heals, his dread of returning to the fighting grows and he eventually decides to strike out for home and his left love--in the shadows of Cold Mountain (near Brevard in modern day western North Carolina). That left love, Ada, a preacher's daughter originally from Charleston, meanwhile, is trying to cope with the loss of her father and her newfound destitution. She may not have survived but for a partnership with a mountain woman, Ruby, her complete opposite in almost every way and her likeness in every other.I grew up in this part of the country, with roots in the area that go back to well before the Civil War, and the language rings truer than any I have read elsewhere, whether written by Ron Rash, Cormac McCarthy, or whoever. And Frazier does it without resorting to phonetic spelling. It really does read like it's a story your grandfather is telling you by the fireplace after Sunday dinner. One that was passed down to him from his grandfather. There are so many sort of random details that just feel right. It's the sort of book I wanted to read at my desk with a notebook beside me but that I couldn't bear to read so slowly the first time through. The prose is beautiful by any measure.Cold Mountain doesn't have a lot of action. It takes its time, really drinking in the place and daily lives of Inman, Ada, and Ruby. The narrative is not strictly chronological, frequently jumping back and forth between present events, Ada coming to Cold Mountain, Inman and Ada's budding romance in the lead up to the war, and so on. Inman and Ada's views on each other, the war, and life in general are considerably confused, something Frazier explores in depth and with great nuance.Frazier's story well embodies the mountain ethos. Inman, Ada, and Ruby, each in many ways an ideal of the ethos, are all ruggedly individualistic. They suffer from their unwillingness to ask for help. But their mistrust of others is often well founded. Their success owes entirely to their own sweat and toil and the occasional unasked for assistance of a few kind souls. The government, Federal or Confederate, is absentee at best and actively destructive at worst. It is a bittersweet book; fitting, for that is as life in rural, southern Appalachia has always been.

La adaptación en cuanto a vocabulario, gramática y expresiones está muy bien para este nivel. Una muy buena historia. Completamente recomendable.

南北戦争の終わり頃，負傷兵であるInmanが病院のベッドで故郷に思いを果てる所から始まります。傷が癒え始めたInmanは脱走兵としてコールドマウンテンへの旅を決意する。地図を持たない旅，脱走兵としての人の目を避けながらの旅，死と隣り合わせの旅。道中，身を潜めながらも様々な人間と接する訳ですが，そこには裏切り，残忍さがあったりして，「やはり信じられなかったか。」と人間不信になる場面多々ある反面，「人間てやっぱり良いなあ」となあと思わせる様な救われる場面もあります。　一方，故郷の街，Coldmountainの麓でInmanをひたすら待ちながら生活するAdaは，居候人＆友人であるRubyとの交流を通じて様々な生活の知恵を教えてもらい逞しく成長してゆく。　物語は，Inmanの場面とAdaの場面がそれぞれ交互に章ごとに描かれ話が進展してゆき，徐々に二人の距離が縮まってゆきます。さて，まとめると，恋愛物語，冒険物語，歴史小説，一部ホラー小説的でもあります。（まとまらない）歴史好きの方には，1４０年前の南北戦争時代のアメリカの雰囲気を存分に味わえる一冊かもしれません。おっと，最後に重要人物を紹介。Rubyの父親のStobrodです。Rubyと再会するまで，とてもいい加減でなまけものだったという父親。戦地の途中，死期がせまっている少女の為にバイオリンを弾くことになり，自分の隠された才能を発見します。飲んだくれのStobrodは後半に非常に良い味を出してくれますのでご期待を！（舞台：ノースカロライナ州の西部山岳地帯（ブルーリッジ山脈の一部），Inmanは奴隷制を肯定する南部側の兵士です。）ついでですが主な登場人物表。 ★Inman：Adaの恋人，瀕死の重傷を負って病院され，その後，脱走兵としてコールドマウンテンへの旅を続ける★Ada　：Inmanの恋人。★Monroe：Adaの父，神父・Ralph : Adaの馬★Ruby : Adaの友人，Adaと一緒に生活▲Stobrod: Rubyの父，とてもいい加減・Sally Swanger :親切な街のおばさん▲veasey: いい加減な元神父，女たらしで，街から追放される・Junior: 川で会った老人。一見良い人間に見えるが。。。・老婆（名前不詳）: 山羊山羊飼いの老婆，山中で仙人の様な生活をしている不思議な人