First book I've ever finished and immediately reread

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	• Thirteen Moons: A Novel Charles Frazier Random House, 2006 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 175 reviews view larger image
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An Immersive Historical Fiction

As in Cold Mountain, when Frazier lets you into the room of the past, he quietly closes the door behind you. You are there, you are immersed. And he lets you think you understand what is important about that which is unfolding before you - in Thirteen Moons, for example - it is the life story of the frontiersman Will Cooper, told in first person, from age 12 to 90, living through the entire 1800's within the Eastern Cherokee Indian Nation in North Carolina and making something of a success of it. This is a romance too of, yes again, passionate unrequited love, with the man being, again, left largely in the dark, but only a bit moreso than the woman. The quietly played-out background drama, the uprooting of the entire Cherokee Nation, leading to their Removal and the Trail of Tears, only slowly dawns on the reader. It is truly gentle way to experience history - through anecdotal daily life, experiencing the waves of change and the clear effects of the villains, e.g., Head of State Jackson and heroes, e.g., the philosophical Bear.

To me the weak point here is that we never really get to understand at all two of the main characters - Claire and Featherstone. The novel starts and ends with Claire, and yet her story is left as a mysterious as it began. OK, I can take it and work with this - but Frazier does such a good job with Will I wish he would have given us the full circle of the three lives.

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First book I've ever finished and immediately reread

Having once lived in those inpenetrable laurel and rhododendron forests, Frazier's writing always makes me wax nostalgic. He perfectly captures the sounds, smells and smoky vistas I remember. His prose is of the highest order. The book slowed a bit in the middle and the protagonist got a bit too self-absorbed. Still, I think that was the point of the narrative. While the protagonist, Cooper, was a highly intelligent man, he was also a womanizing bum. In our twilight years, missed opportunity seems to loom large in our ruminations. I can't speak for the author, but I think that was one of his main points. Books like this should be sipped like fine wine, or as Cooper would surely prefer, like an Islay single-malt. Peaty scotches aren't everyone's cup of tea and neither is Frazier's style. I find them equally intoxicating.

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A story that invites you in told in rich language.

I really enjoyed this novel for both the story and for the rich prose. In Thirteen Moons, as well as in Cold Mountain, the stories of the characters are interesting and take place in front of a unique historical backdrop. However, what intrigued me in both books was the rich language. It does sound stilted at times to the modern ear (some reviewers have mentioned that), but what I believe those critics fail to recognize is that Frazier has expertly captured an authentic tone of the language of the southern mountains in both his books.

The Appalachians were this country's first frontier, and there is a unique rhythm and syntax that evolved in the melting pot of the mixing cultures and isolation of that frontier in the 1700s and 1800s, which is rapidly being lost in our modern tongue, along with all other regional linguistic idiosyncrasies. The poetry of the mountains is most recognized in the songs, but the language of those ballads and stories is also present in the telling of Frazier's stories, and he has captured the beauty of that unique linguistic tradition in his prose amazingly well.

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An educational experience

The author provides a brief note at the end of the book stating that the main character, Will, is not William Holland Thomas, "but that they share the same DNA". I'm not sure what that means exactly; I did a little homework and many of the exact same events of Thomas' life are portrayed in "Thirteen Moons" through Will. This fact is a solid response for those who claim the story is preposterous and beyond the scope of their personal imagination.

At any rate, I have not read Cold Mountain, so it did not effect how I read or thought about this book. Although I did not find the characters "unlikable" like so many other reviewers here, I did find them to be a bit hollow or undeveloped. It was hard for me to understand why Will had such intense passion and love for Claire or his love/hate relationship with Featherstone, but I used my imagination to fill in the gaps and simply read on.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I did find the prose to be more lyrical than pretentious. Although too few, there were certain passages that I read over and over because I found them beautifully written and insightful. For instance, once Will has become the defacto chief of what is left of the Eastern Cherokee, he finds himself playing arbiter to petty squabbles between tribe members. In one case involving two "old grey-headed men fighting about something they could hardly remember", Will tells the old friends, "When people get to the age you are, anybody that shares even a few of your memories is a treasure beyond price. Love them and forgive their foolishness and hope they'll forgive yours."

The last fourth of the book felt rushed and incomplete. For a book that tells such an "epic" tale, 420 pages seemed not enough to get the job done. Is that the book publishing industry's fault for thinking readers can't handle anything over 500 pages any more? Perhaps, but what would "Lonesome Dove" have been like if cut in half?

Perhaps my biggest issue with this book might come across as trite or inconsequential, but it almost made me stop reading the book when Will's recollection of his duel with Featherstone is cloudy at best. Here is someone who makes clear at the outset of the book that he has kept detailed journals most of his entire life and is able to describe in great detail the weather and smell of air on a given summer day 70 years ago, yet cannot recount with any clarity one of the seminal events of his life. Huh?

All that said, there was enough to like for me to keep reading. The main reason why I would recommend this book to anyone is because it can teach us a thing or two about the Cherokee people and their removal. I have lived in the southern Appalachian region my whole life and have hiked and camped in many of the same woods and forests Frazier's Will describes, yet I have never been told the story of the Cherokee people. Of course, we can't rely on our failing public schools' so-called American History classes to tell us about the realities of America's own version of "ethnic cleansing" and genocide, so where else might we learn about it if not for people like Frazier and his book?

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Charles Frazier?s Thirteen Moons is the story of one man?s remarkable life, spanning a century of relentless change. At the age of twelve, an orphan named Will Cooper is given a horse, a key, and a map and is sent on a journey through the wilderness to the edge of the Cherokee Nation, the uncharted white space on the map. Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his people, developing relationships that ultimately forge Will?s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, will forever rule Will?s heart.
In a distinct voice filled with both humor and yearning, Will tells of a lifelong search for home, the hunger for fortune and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture, and above all an enduring pursuit of passion. As he comes to realize, ?When all else is lost and gone forever, there is yearning. One of the few welcome lessons age teaches is that only desire trumps time."

Will Cooper, in the hands of Charles Frazier, becomes a classic American soul: a man devoted to a place and its people, a woman, and a way of life, all of which are forever just beyond his reach. Thirteen Moons takes us from the uncharted wilderness of an unspoiled continent, across the South, up and down the Mississippi, and to the urban clamor of a raw Washington City. Throughout, Will is swept along as the wild beauty of the nineteenth century gives way to the telephones, automobiles, and encroaching railways of the twentieth. Steeped in history, rich in insight, and filled with moments of sudden beauty, Thirteen Moons is an unforgettable work of fiction by an American master.

PRAISE FOR THIRTEEN MOONS

?Genius.?
?Time

?Gorgeous?Thirteen Moons calls Cold Mountain to mind in its wonder at the natural world; its pacificist undercurrents; its dismay at the dismantling of what matters, and its convication that one love, no matter how tortured and inexplicable, can be life-defining?fascinating?vivid and alive.?
?Newsweek

?Thirteen Moons is rare in many ways and occupies a literary plane of such height that reviewing it is not really salient?.Thirteen Moons has the power to inspire great performances from succeeding generations of writers?.For those who simply value the literary experience, Thirteen Moons will provide the immense satisfaction of taking a literary journey of magnitude. Whether on a plane, in an office or curled in a window seat, readers who absorb Will's story will find their own lives enriched?.Thirteen Moons belongs to the ages.?
?Los Angeles Times

?Thirteen Moons brings this vanished world thrillingly to life?
One of the great Native American, and American stories, and a great gift to all of us, from one of our very best writers.?
« ?Kirkus Reviews, starred review «

?There are things so masterful words can?t do them justice. Frazier?s writing falls in that category?With Thirteen Moons, he?s doing important work fillnig in the gaps, helping restore the roots, of our knowledge of our own history.?
?Asheville Citizen-Times

?Fascinating?Reading Thirteen Moons is an intoxicating experience?This is 21st-century literary fiction at its very best.?
?BookPage

?Thirteen Moons is rare in many ways and occupies a literary plane of such height that reviewing it is not really salient?.Thirteen Moons has the power to inspire great performances from succeeding generations of writers?.For those who simply value the literary experience, Thirteen Moons will provide the immense satisfaction of taking a literary journey of magnitude. Whether on a plane, in an office or curled in a window seat, readers who absorb Will's story will find their own lives enriched?.Thirteen Moons belongs to the ages.?
?Los Angeles Times

?Once again, we are in the hands of an assured writer who knows how to bring history to life?Gorgeous.?
?New Orleans Times Picayune

?Magical?the history lesson in Thirteen Moons is fascinating and moving?You will find much to admire and savor in Thirteen Moons.?
?USA Today

?Incredibly powerful.?
?Melissa Block on NPR All Things Considered

?Verdict: A powerhouse second act?.a brilliant success?Frazier's second act should convince everyone that he's here to stay. It is a powerful, dramatic, often surprising and memorable novel.?
?Atlanta Journal Constitution

?Thirteen Moons is a boisterous, confident novel that draws from the epic tradition... Frazier is a natural storyteller, and throughout his picaresque tale are grand themes and eulogies?
?Boston Globe

?Warm hearted?Frazier is a remarkably meticulous and tasteful writer? Thirteen Moons is a worthy successor to the first novel
and a highly readable book.?
?Seattle Times

?Fiction of the highest order?Another indelible character. Charles Frazier has a knack for them.?
?Charlotte Observer

?Splendidly written.?
?New York Daily News

?What a story!... Frazier's creation, Will Cooper, is utterly charismatic?.Frazier's genius lies in his ability to convey emotions that feel pure and genuine?It was worth the wait.?
?Dayton Daily News

?To Charles Frazier, words are playthings. Like very few other contemporary American novelists, he puts them together in such a way that they can transform an otherwise mundane moment, scene or conversation into one that is transcendent?.No sophomore jinx here. Reading a Frazier novel is like listening to a fine symphony. He's a maestro whose pen is his baton, beckoning the best that each sentence has to offer. And just as you wouldn't rush a conductor, you should take the time to savor Frazier?s work, to take in each thought, to relish the turn of phrase or the imagery of a craftsman.?
?Denver Post

?Two for two?Here is a book brimming with vivid, adventurous incident?Charles Frazier set himself a daunting challenge with this book. He set out to write a historical novel that was retrospective and meditative, yet still vibrant and immediate with life. Thirteen Moons succeeds in classy fashion.?
?Raleigh News & Observer

?If current fiction is anything to go by, it?s hard for a novelist to make Santayana's puzzle pieces - lyricism, comedy, tragedy - fit together, as they do in real life and real history. Frazier has done it?Thirteen Moons makes you feel that change that happened so long before our own time, and makes you mourn it.?
?Newsday

?[Thirteen Moons] is superbly entertaining, and it packs enough emotional heft to measure up to most readers? high expectations.?
?Richmond Times-Dispatch

?Thirteen Moons is a fitting successor to Cold Mountain?fans of Frazier's debut will be cheered to discover that the new book is another compulsively readable work of historical fiction.?
?St. Louis Post-Dispatch

?If there is any doubt that Frazier is an incredibly gifted storyteller - and not just a lucky name or a one-hit wonder - it will be put to rest with the publication of Thirteen Moons. Within 10 pages, this long-awaited new novel bears the reader swiftly out of the waking world into its own imagined universe like nothing else published this year.?
?Minneapolis Star Tribune

?Achingly beautiful descriptions of nature?It?s rich, it?s beautiful.?
?Columbia State

?Forget the sophomore jinx. Frazier demonstrates that Cold Mountain was no one-hit wonder with this fully realized historical novel again set in the South?.Again, Frazier shows himself a master of landscape and language, both often fresh and surprising in his telling.
?Seattle Post-Intelligencer

?Thirteen Moons contains achingly beautiful passages of snowfalls, fog-wrapped rivers and moonlit forests. There are ribald and hilarious events, too, including a description of the Cherokee Booger Dance that is a masterpiece of satire. The love affair between Cooper and Claire threads its way through this pseudo-historic epic like a brilliant, scarlet ribbon. There is also a melancholy refrain that celebrates a wondrous time and place that is gone and will never return.?
?Smoky Mountain News

?Once again, we are in the hands of an assured writer who knows how to bring history to life?Gorgeous.?
?New Orleans Times Picayune

?Magical?the history lesson in Thirteen Moons is fascinating and moving?You will find much to admire and savor in Thirteen Moons.?
?USA Today

?Verdict: A powerhouse second act?.a brilliant success?Frazier's second act should convince everyone that he's here to stay. It is a powerful, dramatic, often surprising and memorable novel.?
?Atlanta Journal Constitution

?Thirteen Moons is a boisterous, confident novel that draws from the epic tradition... Frazier is a natural ...

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