Outlander by Diana Gabaldon Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Outlander
Book Review: A disappointment...
Summary: 1 Stars
I needed a "guilty pleasure" for a long plane ride, and this book came so highly recommended I was eager to dive in. Unfortunately, I couldn't stand it. Something about the story compelled me to finish, but it was a struggle that took well over a month (and much skimming at that).
I've thought a lot about what I disliked. From the get-go, Gabaldon's writing style bothered me. Her dialogue is stilted and her characters always seem to be laughing so hard they collapse to the ground, or they are engaged in a passionate shouting fest with veins pounding. Neither realistic in their extremes. I also found the plot to either plod along at a snail's pace or to be so dramatic it often felt like "spin the wheel of conflict." I don't think it will give too much away if I say that when she fought a wolf at the end I almost threw the book across the room.
Ultimately, I just couldn't connect with the characters. Their love story was plot-driven, and although their relationship was supposedly exciting and adventurous, I never felt like they emotionally connected in a satisfactory way. I couldn't figure out why the even loved each other. Sure, they kept saying it and they certainly had a physical connection, but there was very little tenderness, longing or internal suffering--all the stuff that makes a love story tick for me. Additionally, the characters don't mature or change in any way throughout the novel. I can take a shallow protagonist IF she grows--but this simply never happens.
Outlander in a nutshell: too much sex, not enough feeling. Too much action, not enough introspection. Too much sickening violence without motivation. This is not historical fiction, but a plot-drive romance that left me empty.
Book Review: A fantastic adventure...
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't really say anything new about this book, because it has already been said by the countless reviewers before me. I am just in awe. What a wonderful journey I was on! Diana Gabaldon has spun quite a yarn, leaving me to make my own "Scottish noises." Luckily, I have the next book in the series to ease my withdrawl!Book Review: A great book
Summary: 4 Stars
I admit it: the book kept me riveted to the very end! I just felt a little bad for the husband left behind, and I think that more could have been done with the time travel aspect. Very romantic.Book Review: A literal bodice-ripper
Summary: 3 Stars
Well, it wasn't what I expected. I thought Outlander was a fantasy novel and was disappointed to discover it really isn't, much. It's a historical romance, as it turns out, something I finally figured out after reading the gazillionth graphic sex scene, interspersed with dialog straight out of Harlequin, right down to the lovers shouting names at each other and resolving their adolescent arguments with yet another roll in the hay. I obviously didn't do my homework beforehand.
I'm not a fan of romance novels, obviously; I find them smothering and dull. All that emphasis on the relationship between two characters, with the rest of the world as mere backdrop. This one added a lot of elements of S&M, including rapes, intended rapes, and homosexual rapes and attempted buggery. The main female character gets her bodice ripped and body groped and displayed on multiple occasions, and there's one especially disturbing scene between her and her beloved husband where he rapes her until she gives in and just enjoys it. An even more disturbing scene involves the main male character graphically describing his own rape and sexual torture. I skimmed over this; I felt the author was enjoying it all too much, which was just creepy. Everyone in this story seems to want to have sex with Jamie or beat him or both, which just got tiresome. I wanted to tell the author that she and her character should just go rent a whip and get a room.
So. Why didn't I just give it one star? Because the author keeps you reading, in spite of all this. She knows how to move things along. There are occasional glimpses of other interesting characters; they're not all two-dimensional, at least up until the last third of the book, when the the story line felt rushed and not as well thought out. Also, I kept reading because of the premise; I hoped we would hear more about time travel and the rich dilemma that it presents and the tough decisions one would have to make about affecting the future, etc. Gabaldon set up a great premise there but unfortunately didn't pursue it in this book. It's such a strong idea for a story that I'm pondering reading the next one to see if she eventually follows through. We'll see, though; there are a lot of books in this series and my patience is already wearing thin.
Book Review: A major disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars
So many folks recommended this book to me and after hearing of the plot and reading interviews about Gabaldon's research process, I was ecstatic to get started. Unfortunately, the experience of reading this book was far different from the one I expected to have. I really wanted to be amazed, but just couldn't bring myself to be.
This book started out with an interesting and strong female lead, but by the end, she felt completely useless to the plot and as if she were a completely different character than who she started out as. Claire's change from steely combat nurse to lovestruck fish out of water in Scotland began well enough with she and her husband, Frank, enjoying a holiday to help heal the wounds of their long absence from one another.
Many facts were introduced and situations set up, but when Claire is transported to Scotland through ancient stones, all of these angles which made Claire an interesting character with flaws and a convincing relationship were pushed aside for an obsession with Jamie, the perfect romantic hero who sweeps her off her feet. Frank, whom she had obvious affection for despite their issues, seems all but forgotten and an afterthought to the growing center of attention, the Scot with the charming good looks.
From the point Jamie's enters the scene, Claire dissembles into the heroine who always needs saving and, despite random mentions of her husband, seems unconvincingly guilty of her relationship with the Scot. Whatever inner turmoil, pain, and anguish that would have made her an interesting character as she and Jamie grew closer is seemingly forgotten or barely mentioned so that this plot feels more like an excuse to get them in the sack than an interesting storyline that would have let them come together naturally through hardship and turmoil in a way that did not feel so contrived.
Speaking of sex scenes. There are plenty in this novel, which would be perfectly fine if they would propel the plot forward. Many felt extraneous and awkward, as if we're being given far too much detail for an act that soon became repetitive and meaningless for this reader.
Toss in a character like Jack Randall, and you have the same exact problem. He started out as dangerous and intriguing with his patient ways of torturing the characters, but dissembled all the same into what felt like an evil stereotype with no other seeming explanations for his villainry than a resolution of very scant details which are revealed in a sentence near the end. His resolution was completely unsatisfying and added nothing to his character, letting all his potential as a villain go to waste.
All in all, this novel felt too contrived, too emotionally unconvincing, and far too vicarious for this reader. If you like Romance, it may be for you, but for a lover of more convincing dramas, this left me completely unsatisfied. I give it two stars instead of one only for the fact Gabaldon's style is well-developed and immersive where characters failed to hold my interest.