Title: Outlander
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Summary: The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
Rating: 3-ish/5 stars
Review:
Okay, so I've given my rating an 'ish' because I'm really torn on what I want to give this book. I have a deep love/hate relationship with it. Firstly, I will say that I adored parts of this novel. It was a very interesting idea that Gabaldon presented and it was awesome to see how she didn't shy away from certain topics (ie. sex, gore etc.). Those parts, however, don't make up for the scenes I didn't like so much. I'm going to quickly go into spoiler talk but for anyone who hasn't read it, consider this before picking it up: it is a long book, it is probably not best for younger readers and understand that this book not only encompasses the events of the 1700's, but the values of the period as well. I wouldn't whole-heartedly recommend it, but I wouldn't discourage reading it, either.
Spoilers ahead!
Before anything else, I need to discuss the scene where Jamie 'punishes' Claire with a belt. I found this scene sickening. I could look past some of the sexist stuff Jamie did due to the time period, but this was too far for me. In my head, I know that it is understandable in the context of time and events but I just can't forgive it. It made me too uncomfortable and I found it hard to like their relationship the same as I had previous to that incident. I hated this because I was really beginning to love them. Following this scene, I, at least, appreciated the hostility that Claire gave Jaime but he was still forgiven too quickly.
Also, I'm stuck on how to feel about Jamie's character as a whole. I adored him so much but he was so problematic. Again, I understand he is a product of his time but I can't help how aggravated I feel at some of the stuff he does or says. And the events near the end of the book with Randall raping him. That was something unexpected and I'm interested to see how this plays into his character in future (which it better).
I feel like I should discuss my feelings on Jamie and Claire a bit. At first, I found them interesting. I didn't see any strong pull between them, though, and I will admit it took me awhile to see it. It was around the wedding when they take time to get to know each other that I really started to see a strong connection. They had sexual tension, anyone could see that, but I feel like this was the first time they began to respect each other. It was sweet. They seemed so perfectly and imperfectly matched. I do hold strong on my opinions following the beating though. I can't see them or Jamie the same after that. Also, what Claire did to rise him from his fever by instilling the fear of Randall's sexual abuse made me really uncomfortable as well. But I think there is some strong bond between them and they can grow from being so problematic.
Now to some technicalities. The writing. Diana has a nice style to how she writes but fails in getting to the point quick enough The book surpasses 800 pages and I really felt like some of it was really unnecessary. I can often look past this fact but at points, it got to be frustrating and/or boring to the point that I just wanted to put the book down. This is why I am also hesitant to continue the series as the sequels appear to maintain or surpass this length.
I have so much more I could discuss but we'll be here forever. For a quick run-down, I enjoyed the honesty in the telling, the sweetness between Jamie/Claire, the Scottish-ness, that it didn't shy away from sex scenes and Claire being a badass healing people and learning to fight. I did not like the problematic parts (ableism, sexism, misogyny, abuse glorification and more), the poor writing, and a huge portion of the middle of the book.
As a whole, I liked Outlander but I far from loved it. It definitely was not as good as I was lead to believe but was not the worst book of the year. I think I will give the second book in the series a chance but not for awhile yet. I'll give it some time. In the meantime, I think I'll check out the show which looks promising!
Have many of you read Outlander? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time!
Jess, xxx
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