Throughout, Frazier's clear and fluid prose takes us to the hearts of his delicately-rendered characters. The story flows along at a pleasant pace, neither boring nor overwhelming the reader but unfolding to showcase Frazier's narrative talent. Cold Mountain would be an impressive achievement for an accomplished writer, but, as Frazier's first, it leaves the reader wondering what will come next from this fresh talent. In the course of a summer, Ava finds herself, discovers a reason to live, and trips over true love. The rural community of Idlewild has been besieged by the same problems facing the city she just left, including AIDS, teenage pregnancy, crime, and drug abuse.
Teenagers there live in a grim reality with little hope of a traditional future.
Ava's sister, Joyce, runs a small self-help group for the town's girls who face danger everyday from their careless boyfriends. It seems like Cleage has taken a rather straightforward narrative and tried to pepper it with morals and themes that just don't fit well into the story. Furthermore, these themes have the feel of having been borrowed from elsewhere in our culture. Cleage doesn't introduce any new concepts or themes or provoke her readers to think about anything in particular. It is simply a book without a meaningful message or worthwhile point.