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Thirteen Moons
by Charles Frazier


8.0

based on 23 reviews
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based on 24 votes
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The author of "Cold Mountain" returns with a novel set in the Cherokee Nation during the first half of the 19th century.

Random House, 432 pages
10/03/2006
$26.95

ISBN: 0375509321

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction
Historical Fiction

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Los Angeles Times Michael Blake

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.

Publishers Weekly

The history that Frazier hauntingly unwinds through Will is as melodic as it is melancholy, but the sublime love story is the narrative's true heart. [28 Aug 2006, p.30]

San Francisco Chronicle Irene Wanner

Despite his novel's ambling awkwardness at times, Frazier does deliver a big book that is not only deeply moving on occasion but also greatly entertaining to settle down with for the long haul.

The Onion A.V. Club Donna Bowman

It's far from a page-turner, but Thirteen Moons offers the kind of beauty no one should rush through just to find out what happens.

The Observer Phil Hogan

This is a satisfying armchair novel for these darkening Sunday afternoons. But though it succeeds through much of its considerable length as one of those books you don't want to end, there comes a point too when you fear that it never will.

Booklist Brad Hooper

Unfortunately, for the first fourth of the book, there is too much detail for the plot to easily bear. But, finally, the characters are able to step out from behind this blanket of particulars and incidentals and make the story work. [1 Aug 2006, p.6]

Entertainment Weekly Jennifer Reese

Will's tale is, by turns, amusing, bawdy, bloody, and poignant, but finishing one baggy chapter never leaves you panting for the next.

LA Weekly Claire Messud

In many respects the natural successor to that triumph ["Cold Mountain"], but it is simultaneously a more and less satisfying accomplishment...This profound engagement with the material world is ultimately what moves and abides in the novel. Frazier is only moderately interested in character, and not one of his creations, besides Will, attains the substance of a real human being.

Boston Globe Gail Caldwell

Frazier is in love, too, with the wild and twisting path of his story, which is told with embroidery rather than restraint -- another signature of the epic novel, though often here more wearying than illuminating.

The New Yorker Louis Menand

The trouble here is a trouble throughout: absence of irony. There is too much lapidary sententiousness, too much moral reverb, in the prose. It is meant to be Cooper’s voice, of course; but, though we often wish we could, we cannot get outside of it. We could take the characters more seriously if the author took them less seriously.

Wall Street Journal Roger D. McGrath

I would like to say the wait has been worth it, but I'm afraid many will find Thirteen Moons ponderous, uninspired and dreary...I found mostly a tedious exercise that even the writer himself seems bored with at times.

Christian Science Monitor Erik Spanberg

An uneven historical novel...Thirteen Moons and its narrator lose much of their momentum in the second half of the book. Frazier possesses prodigious talent, but his plot feels too loose and unfocused.

Salon Laura Miller

Thirteen Moons still lacks the fierce, uncompromising quality that made "Cold Mountain" so striking.

Chicago Tribune Beth Kephart

Time and again while reading Thirteen Moons I yearned for fewer culled particulars and a greater evocation of the heart, characters I could claim some stake in, revelation over ramble.

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Roy MacSkimming

A sweepingly ambitious, often brilliant, ultimately flawed and disappointing work of fiction.

The New York Times Michiko Kakutani

Whereas the love story in “Cold Mountain” felt like a real romance between two real people, fleshed out in intimate psychological detail, the one in Thirteen Moons feels more like an authorial construct between his hero and a beauteous wraith who mysteriously appears and disappears as the plot demands.

Sydney Morning Herald Nicola Robinson

Trouble is, we come to wonder whether Frazier, like Cooper, is wandering aimlessly; writing elegant, insightful sentences that lead nowhere much.

Library Journal Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

Frazier's long-awaited second novel ambles off to a slow start, crawls along at a turtle's pace, and reaches its destination after some torturous plotting and doubtful characterization. [1 Sept 2006, p.136]

Slate Stephen Metcalf

Only a precious few reach the level of bad faith attained by Thirteen Moons. The novel is a commodity disguised as an act of witness against the culture of the commodity.

Houston Chronicle Eric Miles Williamson

Contrived plot is about all the novel has to offer. The endless and tedious rhapsodizing about the North Carolina mountainscapes might be mistaken by an inattentive reader as lyric, but at their best they read like bloated travel brochures. The dialogue is rendered with a wooden ear.

Washington Post Jonathan Yardley

One thing is certain: Thirteen Moons is going to be putting a whole bunch of people to sleep.

The Economist

Sometimes there is no clever way to say it: Thirteen Moons is awful.

The New York Times Book Review Adam Goodheart

He seems to be in love with the supposed gorgeousness of his own prose, a backdrop against which his characters emerge merely as dim figures, without consistent motivations or even personalities.

The average user rating for this book is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

David R gave it a10:
A couple of bad reviews made me put off reading Thirteen Moons. It was a mistake. Don't listen to the critics, who are insanely jealous of Frazier's success with Cold Mountain, and the huge advance he got for Thirteen Moons. If you give this novel a chance you'll likely love it. Thirteen Moons is a ripping yarn, beautifully written, and full of historical detail. It presents a balanced view of the relationship between the early American settlers and the Indian peoples they dispossessed (I don't recommend that you read the reviews but if you do you'll note that some critics say Frazier is too hard on the whites, and some contend that he's far too soft on them; this indicates he got it exactly right). I couldn't put Thirteen Moons down once I got into it. The opening sentence,--"There is no scatheless rapture."--is a bit off-putting, and the novel takes a few pages to hit its stride, but hang in there, it becomes a real page-turner. If you ignore the jealous ravings of the talentless critics you may find you like Thirteen Moons just as much as Cold Mountain, and perhaps even more.

Peter H gave it a10:
For a book that leaves you shrouded in overwhelming sadness it wasn't half bad! Wonderful descriptive story telling at its best, dealing with hope and despair in a raw and honest way.

Jim C gave it a10:
Absolutely a story that is a page turner for any one who appreciates history, real-life drama, and harshness or the reality of early American settlement.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Not a quick read. This is a book to take your time with, enjoy the humor, and reflect on the wisdom it contains.

Martha Hagan gave it a10:
Cold Mountain was very good but thirteen mooms a masterpiece! Words seemed to unfold spontaneously with cadence the impetus of revealing the historic plight of the Cherokee Nation in form of A Novel which as a gifted writer is honed to perfection. impetus of the plight of the Cherokee Nation

Dave P gave it a10:
A great read, fully living up to, surpassing even, Frazier's 'Cold Mountain'. Themes of loss and regret abound against an elegaic and historical background which poetically reflects the loss recounted by central character Cooper in his own life. A masterpiece.

J D gave it an8:
No, the book isn't perfect -- Claire annoyed me pretty quick. But the REAL love story -- Frazier's obvious love for the mountains and the people (the Original People) and his anger at how they've both been brutalized and diminished -- outweigh any small negatives. The writing is beautiful.

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier

Thirteen Moons
by Charles Frazier