≫ [PDF] Thirteen Moons A Novel Charles Frazier 9780375509322 Books

Thirteen Moons A Novel Charles Frazier 9780375509322 Books

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Thirteen Moons A Novel Charles Frazier 9780375509322 Books

I felt that Cold Mountain was an outstanding work of fiction. I was somewhat surprised in that I don't normally care for award winning literary works. Cold Mountain, however, was so beautifully written and captivating that I would rate it as one of my favorite books.

For that reason, I was looking forward to seeing what Charles Frazier would do for an encore. It is easy to be disappointed when a successor doesn't measure up to the original, but in this case, how could it? Viewed on its own, Thirteen Moons is a very good work and displays much of the same outstanding writing found in Cold Mountain. The setting was quite original as well and in my opinion enhanced the work.

The premise involves a very elderly narrator looking back upon his time among the Cherokee Indians of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains in the early 19th century. As a young man, he was sold as an indentured servant to a businessman who placed him in charge of a frontier trading post. It was here that he fell in with and was essentially adopted by the adjacent Native Americans. Thirteen Moons is his recollection of his time among the natives and his efforts to acquire and hold onto the ancestral property of his adopted tribe, efforts which involved training as a lawyer and acting as a lobbyist among D.C. lawmakers and policy setters in the time leading up to and encompassing the Trail of Tears.

As in Cold Mountain, Frazier's writing is haunting and filled with imagery of the surrounding countryside. It can certainly be said that at times the action drags, but I can never say that I became bored or anxious for something to happen. I was at all times captivated by the prose and the underlying story line. The thread involving the love of his life, Claire, was simply outstanding as it wove its way in and out of the novel. The love/hate relationship with Featherstone was magnificently presented as were the father/son moments between Will and Bear. All in all, a very worthy successor to Cold Mountain. I eagerly await Frazier's next effort.


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Thirteen Moons A Novel Charles Frazier 9780375509322 Books Reviews

I should start by saying that I'm the type of reader who inhales books, admittedly usually reading far too quickly and then moving on without committing a whole lot of a book to memory. "Thirteen Moons" was a tremendous exception. The best way I have of describing Charles Frazier's writing here is to compare it to a hard candy that has some sort of amazing flavor -- something that you just want to keep sucking on and savoring until it's whittled down to nothing.

There are more than a few reviewers who have criticized this novel for the same reason that I praise it, and it could be that those readers weren't looking to sit down and "smell the roses" of some truly beautiful descriptions of scenes, feelings and situations, as this is the most savory writing I've come across in a very long time. The author truly seems to enable the reader to inhabit this lost world, and that's a sign not just of talent, but of outstanding commitment to a sense of place and time, serving to remind anyone interested in writing fiction that setting is more than just a background -- when done with such precision, it's a character in itself.

Will is a dynamic character who literally grows up as an eyewitness to a tragic period of American history. While Frazier could have easily fallen into the disappointing "noble savage" theme that all too often characterizes attempts at stories centered on indigenous people, he has instead taken the time to breathe life, noble and ignoble, into the Cherokee characters. (I adored Bear.) The historical research is so meticulous and this era is so painstakingly created that, with the exception of actual eyewitness accounts, I daresay there's very little else that truly invites the reader to examine and inhabit this period of history in such detail.

Will is a character who truly grows and changes in his attitudes, actions and worldviews over the course of the novel. The love story is a bit less finely-drawn, as the character of Claire never seems fully developed, and the reader never truly knows how she feels about Will, how she feels about her husband, or even how she really feels about removal, despite the fact that she is among the removed. As a whole, female characters don't seem to be Charles Frazier's strong suit -- characters like Will here and Inman in "Cold Mountain" have always felt more real and relatable to me than have any of his women, with the possible exception of Ada Monroe in "Mountain."

A glorious effort I was truly sorry to see end. I bookmarked many passages and will no doubt be reading "Thirteen Moons" more than once over the years.
If you love history, you'll love this story. Some of the things amazed me, like the responsibility given to 12 year old boy, running a trading post, and working off his "bound" obligation. And the history of the Cherokee nation and others in the area. At first I didnt realize that when they were talking about going as far West as possible, they were talking about the Mississippi River and not California. So, this made it a fresh story, one that I had not read before. While they have a disclaimer in the back that you cant believe everything you read in the book, much I was able to verify elsewhere, so I think they were just covering their backs. It is a good way to experience what life was like back then, including love lost and won, traditions, attitudes, wages/trading, land ownership, cross-cultures. The author works out ways to add a lot of educational material to the story without sounding like a lecture (like having the white boy adopted by an Indian chef and really understand their way of living from the boy's perspective...oh, and yes, the story does carry on to his adulthood) This was not a "dry" book, but full of adventures, and moved along at a good pace. I really liked the main character, and cared about him, and those he became attached to.
I felt that Cold Mountain was an outstanding work of fiction. I was somewhat surprised in that I don't normally care for award winning literary works. Cold Mountain, however, was so beautifully written and captivating that I would rate it as one of my favorite books.

For that reason, I was looking forward to seeing what Charles Frazier would do for an encore. It is easy to be disappointed when a successor doesn't measure up to the original, but in this case, how could it? Viewed on its own, Thirteen Moons is a very good work and displays much of the same outstanding writing found in Cold Mountain. The setting was quite original as well and in my opinion enhanced the work.

The premise involves a very elderly narrator looking back upon his time among the Cherokee Indians of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains in the early 19th century. As a young man, he was sold as an indentured servant to a businessman who placed him in charge of a frontier trading post. It was here that he fell in with and was essentially adopted by the adjacent Native Americans. Thirteen Moons is his recollection of his time among the natives and his efforts to acquire and hold onto the ancestral property of his adopted tribe, efforts which involved training as a lawyer and acting as a lobbyist among D.C. lawmakers and policy setters in the time leading up to and encompassing the Trail of Tears.

As in Cold Mountain, Frazier's writing is haunting and filled with imagery of the surrounding countryside. It can certainly be said that at times the action drags, but I can never say that I became bored or anxious for something to happen. I was at all times captivated by the prose and the underlying story line. The thread involving the love of his life, Claire, was simply outstanding as it wove its way in and out of the novel. The love/hate relationship with Featherstone was magnificently presented as were the father/son moments between Will and Bear. All in all, a very worthy successor to Cold Mountain. I eagerly await Frazier's next effort.