Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
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Book Reviews of Outlander
Book Review: Romance...But So Much More
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this during my early teen years, and I've been coming back for more ever since. OUTLANDER is, quite simply, unparalleled in the romance genre. I admit, time travel in a romance novel may be a bit hard for some to swallow, but Diana Gabaldon can pull it off.
The story follows Claire, a WWII combat nurse on a second honeymoon with her husband, who unexpectedly is taken back to eighteenth century Scotland. There, she finds that her husband's ancestor, Captain Jack Randall, is not the nice guy his great-great grandson is. She also finds Jamie Fraser, the young Scottish man who eventually becomes the love of her life.
I know, I know, it sounds a bit trite, but OUTLANDER is more than a stereotypical romance novel; it is a romantic epic with lots of swordfighting, Scottish gallantry, and intrigue. Claire and Jamie are the most memorable romantic couple I have ever stumbled upon. They are complex characters whose emotional bond...well, their love is absolutely beautiful. I can't put it any other way.
And now I'm gushing over an entirely fictional relationship, but quite frankly, almost every woman wants to be loved by someone the way Claire is loved by Jamie. It's like the book THE NOTEBOOK (the movie did a nice job, too). There's something about devotion so strong that makes me a bit weepy (and I am by no means an emotional person). I'll just end with that, before I go on further and end up swooning over Jamie's rugged handsomeness and his incredible swordsmanship (why do I find that so attractive?) and his undying love for Claire. Okay, seriously, I'm done now.
On another note: the sequels are not nearly as good as OUTLANDER. I give them 3-4 stars or so. They are as long (or longer), but they are missing some indefinable element that makes OUTLANDER so beloved to me. They're worth reading, but not something I'd be interested in spending money on.
Book Review: I lost myself in this book and these people. . .
Summary: 5 Stars
I do not remember the last time I became so involved with the characters, the time, the emotions, the sensations evoked in a book that I forgot to eat or go to bed. Diana Gabaldon delivers action aplenty, but also makes you know these characters so well that you feel their emotions as if they were your own.
Claire, 27 years old, a nurse during WWII, and her husband Frank, go back to where they married 8 years before in Inverness, Scotland, for a 2-week period following the war. While there, Claire falls through a stone circle that sends her back to 1743. She's immediately threatened by English dragoons and rescued by Scottish Highlanders. Her nursing skills are put to the test, and she learns new meanings for honor, morality, and character. She also finds love with Jamie Fraser, but danger is never far away for them. There is a strong sexual element to the book, some of it distasteful, but it fits the times and the book well.
The book seems to be well researched (I'm certainly no expert), but the most remarkable thing for me is the rich intensity of the characters and their growing love for each other. How Diana Gabaldon is able to put into words something that's mystified people for centuries is amazing. Neither Jamie or Claire can understand their growing need to belong to each other, and Claire, having loved Frank, really doesn't understand it. They have love, desire, passion, and more. Jamie is her heart, Claire realizes. Other characters are also well developed, and their relationships with others are explained through their genealogies and histories as well as their actions. However, this is done in a way to make Claire understand them as an outsider, not in an academic explanation that would make your eyes roll (as Claire would sometimes do during Frank's explanations of genealogy).
Strongly recommended, for both males and females.
Book Review: A True One of A Kind Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I'd put off reading this book for years, thinking that the book jacket sounded silly but after a copy came into my hands via a friend, I am so glad I got past that reticence because Outlander is an amazing book.Rarely in a book do you have a very good historical perspective, a relationship between the characters that is riveting, sensual and truly deep, and a lot of action. All of that is done well and weaved together in a way that has made me a fan of Gabaldon.
Claire Randall falls back in time to pre-Culloden Scotland. A nurse, she gets captured by a band of outlaw highlanders and comes to the aid of a wounded man, Jamie. The chemistry between Claire and Jamie is written so well, comes across as so genuine that I find it hard to do it justice here.
Through a set of circumstances owing to the strained relations between England and Scotland, the proud and independent highland clans and an English army set on dominating and controlling them, Claire and Jamie are forced to marry, all the while Claire is frantically trying to get back to her own time.
Through the book you learn the history of the proud highland clans and the English occupation of Scotland. There are tender moments and moments of heartbreaking cruelty. Jamie and Claire's relationship grows and deepens as the truth of how she ended up in his time comes out.
This book is so wonderful that I've read others in the same vein, or at least say they are in the same vein and I've not read a single one that comes close. It is a romance that is not stilted or cheesy. The woman is a true leader, she isn't some quaking 20 year old virgin who shies away from the bad boy trying to seduce her. Jamie is young but he's not a rogue, he's not trying to run from his feelings for Claire and he is a three dimensional character.
I gave this book 5 stars, I rarely do that, even with books I really love. It deserves each one.
Book Review: Unrealistic...
Summary: 5 Stars
Not in the slightest. If you are daunted by some one saying that this historical romance is anything but, they are sadly mistaken. In fact, I believe this novel (and all of it's sucessors) are too realistic for most people to deal with.
When my mom told me about this book, I didn't think I would love it as much as I do.
It does start slow, like so many have pointed out. In fact, I didn't really get into it until after Clair went through the stones. But once I did, it was amazing. The author writes with so much attention to detail, that it really does make the book a -historical- romance.
Hence, my first point of.. warning?
Don't read this book if you're expecting the typical heroine and hero. Don't read this book if you want wishy-washy love and lots of sensuous, sexual actions.
Like I mentioned earlier, this is a historical romance.
Yes, Jaimie does beat Clair, once. But that is how the times were back then. The fact that he only does it once is more inaccurate than the fact that he does it. Yes, this something that is accepted these days, but it did happen at one point in history. The same is true for the rape, carnage and violence that happens sporadically through this book. It is something that happened at that point, and in fact happens frequently still in parts of the world.
lair isn't typical heroine material. She doesn't swoon at the sight of blood or disease; she rolls up her sleeves and plunges in. She is the one who saves Jaimie more often than not. This is one of my favorite themes of this book; this headstrong, steel stomached heroine, who makes her own destiny, instead of letting others making it for her.
This book is just.. awesome. Everything is so fine tuned and breath taking. I'm still reading through the third book, and I fully intend to continue through this amazing series.
Book Review: If you haven't already involved yourself, start now...
Summary: 5 Stars
I cannot review this book in the context of a specific genre except pure Literature. It is a romance, but it really is more about commitment, sacrifice, love, pain, suffering, joy and a lot of other things that have nothing to do with wishy-washy romance.
I have just begun the most recent book in this series (A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES) and decided that others should know that traveling this journey with Jaime and Claire -- their friends and family -- is more deeply felt and thoroughly enjoyed if you start from the beginning. If you have aready purchased A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, put it down, for now, and start with OUTLANDER.
Although OUTLANDER is my least favorite book in the series (mainly because Gabaldon gets better and better), it is a five-star read. I once read that Ms. Gabaldon 'learned to write' with OUTLANDER. Wow! An amazing first attempt by anyone's standards. I was wary, at first, about the female protagonist's choices. Claire is more complicated than she is predictable, although one wouldn't think so at first.
The OUTLANDER story is predominently written through the viewpoint of Claire Beauchamp-Randall, whose point of view seems straightforward enough, even distant at times, but isn't at all. The devil really is in the details here... and Claire grows... and situations present themselves.
I enjoyed the leisurely pace allowed by this book. I neither felt stuck to it or riveted. I truly savored it and so glad I did. This is not just a girl book. Good literature is good literature and should be read by all who enjoy historical fiction.
By the end of this book I did not feel like I knew Claire and Jaime well enough, but I wanted to know them a lot better.
Catherine Scott (a.k.a. Eadarainn - which in Gaelic means "Between Us")
www.catherinescott.net