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The Coldest Night Audiobook
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(3.01) - 355 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and the Heartland Prize for his fiction, Robert Olmstead crafts riveting prose about love, war, and the human condition. Set in 1950, The Coldest Night follows Henry, a marine who arrives in Korea just before the devastating Chosin Reservoir battle. Days of brutal fighting leave Henry forever haunted by what he's seen, but the true depth of his scars doesn't become apparent until he returns home-and finds that the combat he loathed may be the closest he'll ever come to feeling truly alive.
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"Olmstead's writing is sparse and powerful and the book is a good reminder of the psychological toll of war (in this case, the Korean war.) However, I didn't find myself as attached to the characters and the story as I felt I should have. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars."
— Kita (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“The no-rush gait, the unadorned yet unambiguous description, the resonant alliteration…This is the kind of sentence that warms The Coldest Night and makes you wonder if Olmstead was meant to be a poet. But Olmstead is a novelist, and a very good one…It’s his depiction of war’s less monstrous aspects—the continuous repositioning of troops and reshuffling of strongholds, the ceaseless anticipation of surprise attacks, the unmitigated exhaustion—that steadily unsettles…These lines lend a humanity to war that descriptions of guts and gore alone cannot.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“The Coldest Night is riveting, thoughtful and—in the large section set in Korea—harrowing…Olmstead is an immensely gifted stylist, his prose capable of conveying the magic and passion of first love as well as the ferocity of battle. He also has a knack for imagery as memorable as it is unexpected…Few write as powerfully or as realistically as Olmstead about the way war makes a boy grow up far too fast.”
— Washington Post -
“Working-class boy meets rich girl, and forbidden passion flares, in this thought-provoking, unabashedly romantic novel set in the 1950s.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine
Awards
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An Amazon Best Book of the Month, April 2012
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Selected for the April 2012 Indie Next List
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A 2012 Kirkus Reviews Top 25 Book for Fiction
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An Amazon Top 100 Book of 2012
The Coldest Night Listener Reviews
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" Phenomenal prose. This was the first novel I have read that takes place during the Korean war. That being said, the plot was not particularly engaging for me. "
— Jeff, 2/19/2014 -
" The settings changed a bit abruptly, but I did like the way the characters were built over time. The ending was a bit mystifying..... "
— Cat, 2/19/2014 -
" I found this book to be rather strange, however it did offer great insight into a soldiers mind (despite the fact that it's a fictional story) I grew up with a father who was greatly damaged by the Vietnam war but would never share with me why or how it affected him. This book gave me a glimpse into what that experience could have been like and why perhaps it would be to painful to recount. I appreciated this insight although the book itself meandered without resolve in its entirety. At least it went pretty quickly. "
— Tiffany, 2/18/2014 -
" Good idea just didn't quite deliver "
— Elizabeth, 2/2/2014 -
" Wonderful prose. Many sentences to stop and reread "
— Karleene, 1/28/2014 -
" Chilling descriptions of battle in the Korean War juxtaposed with a story of first love. "
— Jackie, 1/21/2014 -
" Robert Olmstead writes with an uncommon understanding of the human heart. His prose is as clear and cutting as a shard of glass and he tells a story that is haunting, heartbreaking and unforgettable "
— Annie, 1/14/2014 -
" This was a great book but it ended too quickly! "
— Laurie, 1/14/2014 -
" So well written I didn't mind the jamming together of two pretty disparate stories. While the connection is pretty threadbare the tapestry of emotions and mental images are not. "
— Wwalztoni, 1/9/2014 -
" Gave me a greater appreciation for what my father-in-law must have experienced as a young Marine fighting the Korean War. "
— Vanessa, 11/30/2013 -
" I would call this a Faction Book. Novel based on facts. Rated on the downside because of the language/sex, but we are reading about the Korean War. "
— Nancy, 9/17/2013 -
" Boy Book! Teen girlfriend with insatiable sex drive! One of the worst battles of the Korean War! Sloppy, sentimental ending! Part of a trilogy that started with "Coal Black Horse." "
— Diane, 2/23/2013 -
" Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love and run away though why or to what end we're never sure. Boy loses girl. Boy joins Army and fights in Korean War. Boy comes home, finds girl and child. The End. Really? Do not understand the good reviews. Was very disappointed. "
— Ann, 1/23/2013 -
" A good book. Olmstead is graphic in his war stories, but they are very real. He also writes beautifully. Left a bit hanging at the end, but an excellent read. "
— Leslie, 12/27/2012 -
" I found myself skipping most of the war section, mainly because I wasn't interested, not because it wasn't well written. The ending was unexpected and abrupt. "
— TKieninger, 10/28/2012 -
" Well-written tragic plot. No spoilers here -- just read it. "
— Brenda, 10/12/2012 -
" I actually did not finish this one - The first chapter read like prologue - the pace continued plodding, slow with too much narrative for my reading pleasure. The premise and possibility exists but I am returning this to the library. "
— Judy, 9/23/2012 -
" The style of this novel was very minimalistic. Short sentences. Short chapters. Wandering thoughts. But I really enjoyed it. Part 2 was set in Korea and was absolutely fascinating. I really couldn't put it down. "
— Greg, 9/9/2012
About Robert Olmstead
Robert Olmstead is an award-winning author and educator. His novel Coal Black Horse was the winner of the Heartland Prize for Fiction. His other fiction work includes America By Land, A Trail of Heart’s Blood Wherever We Go, Far Bright Star, and Soft Water. Olmstead is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and an NEA grant. Along with his fiction work, he has also written a textbook for fiction-writing workshops and a nonfiction memoir, Stay Here With Me. He is currently director of the creative writing program at Ohio Wesleyan University. Previously, he served as Senior Writer in Residence at Dickinson College and as director of the creative writing program at Boise State University.
About Richard Poe
Richard Poe, a professional actor for more than thirty years, has appeared in numerous Broadway shows, including 1776 and M. Butterfly. On television he has had recurring roles on Star Trek and Frasier. His films include Born on the Fourth of July and Presumed Innocent. Poe is a well-known and prolific audiobook performer and the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards.