Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
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Book Reviews of Outlander
Book Review: the first and best, wildly romantic, enormous novel, left me wanting more
Summary: 5 Stars
This has to be rated as one of the best novels I have read. It had bits which bugged more, and I'll note them later, but overall - I just thought WOW! It completely blew me away.
Just the premise of it I found extraodinary - Claire is a doctor post war Scotland - where she has gone with her husband for a holiday. They are trying to rediscover their relationship. She is a strong character without being overbearing or vulgar and a sympathetic lead. One night she sees a stranger in the street outside their window, old fashioned, dressed in a kilt with orange hair. Then he is gone. It is somewhat unsettling at the time for her. Later she is exploring by herself and goes through one of the ancient stone circles, only to find herself coming out the other side into a different time.
It takes a long time for her to really understand what is going on. That she has actually travelled through time. She falls in with some bad sorts - English who are oppressing the Scottish - and then she is resuced by the Scots including the hero, Jamie.
Just as an aside, Jamie really is an unusual hero, for a start he has Ginger hair, then he is a virgin when he meets her and to top it all off he is younger. (Claire is in her late 20's)
Yet there is a spark between them, and luckily she is a doctor because she has to fix his shoulder pretty quickly.
This is all done in the lead up to the bloody battle of Culloden - and it is desparately hard to read at times. There are a lot of substories which are growing at the same time which will come up in further novels, such as the 'witch' in the village and Jamie's previous girl-friends - one of whom causes trouble for Claire.
I really liked the visit back to eighteenth century Scotland, where it was still almost feudal in nature, the country, the colours and people came alive for more.
I also found the growing romance between Claire and Jamie to be wonderfully well written, and I thought believeable. That he could love her so much and without question, is so wildly romantic it still makes my heart jump to think about it.
What I disliked about this novel with the torture scenes, which seemed to go on for pages and pages and pages relentlessly and I just thought purposely. It was agony to read and I resented it. I had so much enjoyed the rest of it I found that completely unnecessary in that detail to my enjoyment of the novel.
I liked how this book was set up for the next ones, it seemed completely in context. And I have enjoyed the rest as well. These are great reads and I am really really looking forward to the final book in the series which is due out...WHEN!!!! Soon???? All through clues have been left as to what happens in the end and it is almost too much to bear at times.
Gabaldon is an extraodinary writer, and this is a hugely enjoyable book!
Book Review: "All good things come to he who waits"
Summary: 5 Stars
It has been three years since I bought this book and two years since I started reading it. Truth be told, I only made it to the first hundred pages back then before deciding to put it back on the shelf to be forgotten for another year. It was only during a dreaded long flight overseas that I remembered about this book. When I finally took the time to read it again, I decided to start from the beginning. Oddly enough, it didn't feel like such an arduous task this time around. While it wasn't instantaneous, I eventually found myself captivated by this fascinating tale. Diana Gabaldon takes us on a marvellous journey through the Scottish Highlands as seen through the eyes of a twentieth century English nurse who, while honeymooning with her husband, inadvertently gets drawn to a group of Druid stones on the hill of Craig na Dun. Hurled through a vortex in time to find herself in the middle of a brewing war, Claire becomes a Sassenach - an outlander. She survives with the help of the Mackenzie Clan and there she meets a young, brave warrior by the name of Jamie Fraser. While initially linked by circumstance, they develop a friendship that ultimately ends in a passion so profound that the mere thought of returning to her own time tears Claire apart.
While the story centers on Claire and Jamie, OUTLANDER is undeniably more than your average run-of-the-mill historical romance. It is about the mystery of time travel and the complications associated with it as shown by Claire's fears of possibly changing the course of history. It's about overcoming all the trials and tribulations and emerging victorious, if not necessarily unscathed. It's about cultivating friendship amidst the myriad uncertainties of life, a life so alien from what you are used to. We are also indulged with the fascinating, albeit perilous, aspects of living in ancient Scotland. The author's detailing of the characters lives is simply exquisite. Her vivid description of the surrounding is superb, even the simplest thing such as reading about Claire sitting on the grass watching everyone around her felt so real. Every vignette is enthralling that I almost wanted to be her and experience what it was truly like to live in that time (and find a love so complete).
Gabaldon is an incredible writer whose dazzling talent for storytelling made the Scottish Highlands come to life. She has created such multi-dimensional characters that practically leap off the pages. I'm glad that I persisted the second time around for reading OUTLANDER was like opening a treasure trove of history and great narrative. Brimming with rich historical detail, this is a beautifully written, intensely passionate and absorbing tale. It may take a few chapters before you appreciate it, but have the patience for one thing's for sure: it is a journey worth taking.
Book Review: Don't listen to anyone that says this book sucked!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was so good I read it from cover to cover....TWICE!! There is humor, romance, and some history mixed in. I mean sure, the traveling through time thing could not really happen, but it does draw you in later on in the series. It is explained more in depth as Claire meets other time travelers along the way, who explain that these "passages" are scattered throughout the world (maybe even under Loch Ness explaining "Nessie" who may just be a dinosaur who got caught in one of the passages). And about the "homosexual" references at the end, it was not portrayed as a loving situation. The main character, Jamie was disgusted by it and was raped by someone who was looking to get into his head. I think this was an EXCELLENT aspect of the plot and draws Claire and Jamie closer together to try to overcome this wound. It also give insight into Frank's ancestor and how we as human beings can trace our ancestry but we can never really KNOW who that person was becuase only we know who we are inside (good or bad). I think only a homophobe would put this book down at the end and give the whole book a bad review just becuase of a situation they do not like reading about. Sure it makes you uncomfortable...but that is what makes a good book. It makes you think.
I would suggest not reading all of these novels back to back or else you could get burned out on them. Her novels are very descriptive, especially the war scenes; however, if your beef with the novel is the "gratuitous sex scenes", not to worry as Jamie and Claire cool off quite a bit in the later books. They are older so they are doing other things. Of course they will have a lot of sex in the beginning...they are just married and new to each other (especially in Jamie's case becuase he is a virgin). And for those of you who did not have alot of sex when you were first married....sorry to hear it! I just think that this book cannot be judged on just reading it alone...the rest of the books do it so much more justice as you see her characters grow up. You have to remember that these characters are still in thier early twenties, Claire has not had a lifelong relationship with Frank, and while they were married they were NOT together longer than they were. He was at war and she was a nurse. So I could see her loving Frank and struggling with leaving him, but leaving him in the end for a deeper love that she never thought possible. In the beginning of this novel, you see Frank alluding to having affairs during the war and it being "understandable" if she did, therefore absoliving himself for anything HE may have done.
Book Review: I almost let this one slip by.
Summary: 5 Stars
Enough people have told you the story about this book, so I will tell you my experience.Standing in line at my local library one of the library clerks was talking to me about books. I had a huge stack of audio books that I listened to at work. She went and pulled from the stacks "Outlander" By Diana Gabaldon. The audio version unabridged of this book was huge! It was like 20 tapes or more. I love a good book, but that seemed like too much of a commitment to one audio version of a book to me. Politely I took the suggestion and figured I'd just return it later. It turned out that the batch of books I was picking up all had one problem or another (Broke tape, defective, whatever). So I carried Outlander in my bag to work. After listening to talk radio, cd's, etc. I finally put in tape one. Still I wasn't convinced I could sit through this for the length of the book. After side one I was hooked! Why on earth had I not heard of this book? This story is so well written and puts you right in the shoes of Claire. The story is so involved with so much rich history and such a dramatic storyline I was carrying my radio with me to lunch and breaks to keep hearing what was happening next. On the way home I put the cassette in and even when I got home instead of watching the TV I continued listening.
This book was addictive! Claire and Jamie's love story is just part of it the adventure is grand and carries over so much time. It's not just a love story, but Jamie's experiences alone tore at my heart. This book was an amazing tale. It's beautifully written and you'd think it was an actual event you were reading about. I cared about these characters and didn't want the story to end.
Once I finished I was eagerly searching the internet for information on Diana Gabaldon and happily found out that she'd continued the series. I bought these books in paperback because you have to read them first hand too, but I also love the unabridged version www.recordedbooks.com did of the book!
If you skip over this book you are missing out. Scared of spending money on something you aren't sure you'll like get it from the library, ask a friend, go to a discount book store and get one. You won't regret it! If you take the time and actually read far enough into the story you'll find a story that will keep you hanging on for what comes next. Then like me you'll be looking for the others in the series.
So if you take the time you'll also want Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn and The Fiery Cross.
Book Review: Don't write this book off! It's better than it sounds
Summary: 5 Stars
Claire Randall, a WWII nurse and (fairly) newlywed, is enjoying her second honeymoon in Scotland after the war, when she is sucked, willy-nilly, though a stone circle into 1743. Now, this has previously been the set-up for all sorts of embarrassingly bad historical romance novels - I know, I've read most of them. But Gabaldon doesn't stoop to most of the cringe-worthy stereotypes of her genre. Claire, first having been raised in a series of Third-World countries by her anthropologist uncle, and then having suffered through the war, adjusts relatively easily to the mechanics 18th century life, allowing Gabaldon to focus instead on her characters.
I say "characters", and there are plenty of great secondary characters, true. But to be honest, all we care about is Claire's love interest - Jamie MacKenzie Fraser, nephew of the MacKenzie clan laird that takes the lost Claire in, and exiled laird of Broch Tuarach. Jamie's in trouble with the English overlords, and Captain Jonathan Randall (ancestor of Claire's 20th-century husband Frank) in particular. Tall, red-haired, kilt-wearing, brogue-speaking, eye-twinkling - think William Wallace, with a little less angst, and is it any wonder Claire can't help herself falling in love with him, despite being married back in the 20th?
Once Claire accepts her situation, she finds herself under suspicion from both the Scottish and the English, each suspecting her to be a spy for the other side. The Jacobite rebellion is brewing (covered in "Dragonfly in Amber"), and tensions are high. Claire, who knows what's coming, is trying her best to get the heck out of there, but ends up getting more and more entangled in the 18th century. The book is told in first-person, and Claire is an awesome narrator, with a distinct voice and a wry sense of humor that leaps neatly over the few rough patches in the story. Feisty and opinionated without being obnoxious, Claire is a perfect time-traveling heroine - she can fit into the 18th century when she has to, but remains a 20th century woman at heart.
Don't, don't, don't write this book off just because it's a time-traveling romance novel! I know, you'd think the genre had been driven into the ground, but I swear this book picks it up, dusts it off, and polishes it until it sparkles. The writing is among the best I've read in ANY genre, the research is impeccable, and the characters so real you'll be dying to read more about them. Thank goodness there are plenty of sequels!