Review "Thirteen Moons" By Charles Frazier
"Thirteen Moons" is the new book by Charles Frazier, author of "Cold Mountain." (which was a pretty good book.)
"Thirteen Moons" is not a sequel but a new book with new characters. The book is the story of one man and his life growing up with and among the Cherokee in North Carolina. Will Cooper narrates the entire book from his perspective (similar to the first person style used in "Cold Mountain.") Cooper is sold into indentured servitude as a boy and must work alone at a trading post on the border of the Cherokee lands in North Carolina. He must then make his way in the world alone.
Cooper grows up to know two very different Indian leaders - Bear (an intelligent, old fashioned chief who lives off the land and takes Will under his wing) and Featherstone, a Cherokee who owns a large plantation and spends his time drinking French wine and reading the latest literary journals. That is, when he isn't off dressing in riding leathers and stealing horses for some fun. Cooper falls in love with Featherstone's daughter Claire and their relationship shapes the book. Cooper lives an amazing and interesting life - he is a businessman, Indian chief, lobbyist in Washington for his tribe, state Senator, Colonel in the Civil War, and wealthy world traveler. Frazier does an excellent job describing the changing of times and how they impacted the Cherokee in their remote North Carolina mountains.
I honestly liked this book better than "Cold Mountain." While both are excellent historical fiction, "Cold Mountain" began to drag at some points. Both books are somewhat sappy, but it is genuine and heartfelt sappiness and not the fake manufactured sappiness that comes out of Hollywood. And Frazier is an excellent writer who is able to make some truly insightful points about life - see the excerpt below as a great example. Overall, I enjoyed the book and I look forward to his next one.
"Thirteen Moons" is not a sequel but a new book with new characters. The book is the story of one man and his life growing up with and among the Cherokee in North Carolina. Will Cooper narrates the entire book from his perspective (similar to the first person style used in "Cold Mountain.") Cooper is sold into indentured servitude as a boy and must work alone at a trading post on the border of the Cherokee lands in North Carolina. He must then make his way in the world alone.
Cooper grows up to know two very different Indian leaders - Bear (an intelligent, old fashioned chief who lives off the land and takes Will under his wing) and Featherstone, a Cherokee who owns a large plantation and spends his time drinking French wine and reading the latest literary journals. That is, when he isn't off dressing in riding leathers and stealing horses for some fun. Cooper falls in love with Featherstone's daughter Claire and their relationship shapes the book. Cooper lives an amazing and interesting life - he is a businessman, Indian chief, lobbyist in Washington for his tribe, state Senator, Colonel in the Civil War, and wealthy world traveler. Frazier does an excellent job describing the changing of times and how they impacted the Cherokee in their remote North Carolina mountains.
I honestly liked this book better than "Cold Mountain." While both are excellent historical fiction, "Cold Mountain" began to drag at some points. Both books are somewhat sappy, but it is genuine and heartfelt sappiness and not the fake manufactured sappiness that comes out of Hollywood. And Frazier is an excellent writer who is able to make some truly insightful points about life - see the excerpt below as a great example. Overall, I enjoyed the book and I look forward to his next one.
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