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Outlander (Outlander, #1)

Diana Gabaldon

Start date: June 2, 2016

Finish date: June 30, 2016

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What Members Thought

Feb 29, 2012 Anne OK rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-reads

UPDATE: I am thrilled to re-rate Jamie and Claire's beautiful story in OUTLANDER. It has taken me a long time to get to this place. What I first started in March 2012 finally came to fruition. I admit it -- I had a lot of help from the television series. It just excited me and got me revved up. I have now reread both Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber and loved the reading experience. I'm about to start in on #3 Voyager. I can't believe I ever rated Outlander 2 Stars -- something was definitely st ...more

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Aug 11, 2014 Ami rated it liked it

OK, so I definitely think that this book is interesting and readable for all of the reasons other reviewers mention: Diana Gabaldon has a great eye for historical detail and description. The character of Claire is three dimensional and believable, at least in as much as you can believe that someone was transported magically back in time by a small version of Stonehenge.

It is also horribly, vividly, gruesomely *violent* in a way similar to how the Game of Thrones books are violent. People die mi OK, so I definitely think that this book is interesting and readable for all of the reasons other reviewers mention: Diana Gabaldon has a great eye for historical detail and description. The character of Claire is three dimensional and believable, at least in as much as you can believe that someone was transported magically back in time by a small version of Stonehenge.

It is also horribly, vividly, gruesomely *violent* in a way similar to how the Game of Thrones books are violent. People die miserable deaths in prisons. Supposed witches are burned at the stake. Boars and poison remain something all characters in a historical novel need to pay a LOT of attention to.

The part that feels different from other violent historical novels is that the main character of Claire is from more modern times--she's been transported back from post-Blitz London. Because of this, violent actions from the past are evaluated and justified or not through Claire's eyes. The violence and rape and brutality of GoT is embedded within its time. Any attempts to explain why that violence is right or wrong can be slapped away with the response that that's just how life was back then.

Not so in The Outlander. Claire brings back with her a viewpoint that is vastly different than 1700s Scottish clan mentality. To their credit, nearly everyone she encounters is willing to accept her as a physician (although they do sometimes prefer to say "healer"). She gets away with her filthy mouth (although generally because no one has any idea what she's saying).

But the book spends a LOT of time justifying the beatings that women and children receive at the hands of men. It may be historically accurate that every man alive beat his wife and children at times--I personally have no idea, but I'm willing to accept Galbadon's research on this one. However, the beatings of women and children, unlike the murders and prisoner beatings and witch burnings, are justified via these intense discussions between Claire and her paramour, Jamie.

Jamie describes in detail how his father used to beat him when he was a child. It's clear that Jamie holds no ill will about this, and believes it was even necessary, and while Claire engages him in conversation about it, her reasoning is treated by the book as clearly ridiculous. Jamie intervenes when he feels that someone has gone "too far" in their beatings of a child--but only because a line has been crossed.

Even more problematic is the beating Jamie administers to Claire. I suspected that when I came to the Goodreads reviews of this book, I'd find many justifying the beating as it is historically accurate. Which may be true. But the pages and pages spent evaluating how essential it was, and the softening of Claire to begin to "understand" Jamie's position made me uncomfortable. She begins to see that her beating was not only essential, as the rest of the men in the group they traveled with demanded it for her dangerous behavior, but actually feels that Jamie had been kind to her by administering it himself. Naturally, once she's been beaten, a light joke in the book involves all of the men in the group patting her raw ass in jest. Totally normal behavior, that even a human of our times can smile at!

It's in the justification of beatings and in these little unevaluated "jokes" that Gabaldon starts to lose me. Claire's beating is played, after a few pages, for the humor of the reader. Jamie's justifications melt Claire's heart in such a way that they melt the reader's, and we start to think, a little bit: would I forgive Jamie? Do I understand why such a joke is funny? This is where my discomfort starts and ends.

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Mar 15, 2015 Ama rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: repeat-read, audiobooks, all-time-favorites, fiction-adult, historical-fiction, romance-erotica-adult, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2017

Oh how I love this series!!

I think Claire and I would get along quite well – other than the fact that Jamie Fraser is my fictional husband.

Over the years, I’ve read this book at least 4 times. Every time I enjoy it immensely. I’ve always listened to the audiobook.

Davina Porter (the narrator) is phenomenal. She is excellent at differentiating between the characters – regardless of age, gender, or origin. My only complaints isn’t about her narration, but rather about the pauses, dubs, and other ...more

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May 04, 2015 Jocelyn rated it liked it

At last. I thought it would never end.

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Jun 11, 2007 Maggie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2009, favorites, historical-fiction, series, time-travel, scottish, 2016-reading-challenge

3/23/16 - reread/audio still awesome!

12/10/2009
I just love this book, I always forget how much! I'm on to the second in the series and I'm going to finish them this time!

12/1/2009
I'm rereading this for...I think the 3rd time? I first read it YEARS ago and loved it, but I'm pretty sure I was in high school and I just never got around to reading any of the sequels. Then I reread it...i dunno, maybe about 5 years ago with the intention of reading all the sequels, I even ordered the next 3 or so, bu ...more

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Nov 24, 2017 Avigail rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, audible, physical-book, own, 2017

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Finally, I can say I finished this book. I bought it from New York layover (when I was still a flight attendant in 2008) because I liked the premise of the story. After buying it I discovered that even though the book looks very interesting the letter are too small and I never will get the pronunciation of the Scotish words, phrase, and places. That was also the time the audible app and it was the first book I was reading the hard copy as well as listening to the audiobook narrated by Davina Por Finally, I can say I finished this book. I bought it from New York layover (when I was still a flight attendant in 2008) because I liked the premise of the story. After buying it I discovered that even though the book looks very interesting the letter are too small and I never will get the pronunciation of the Scotish words, phrase, and places. That was also the time the audible app and it was the first book I was reading the hard copy as well as listening to the audiobook narrated by Davina Porter. Mrs. Porter's narration was absolutely fantastic. Loved the voices she did for every character and character. It is incredible how she remembered which voice she did for each character because the audiobook is 32 hours and 38 minutes for an 850-page mass market paperback.
Yes, this historical fiction with a little bit of fantasy and time travel and a lot of erotica book I found before I found BookTube. But I finished the book 3 years after I found BookTube and it has become a famous tv series (I haven't watched the series yet because I didn't want to get spoiled, even though I know each of the first two seasons was only the first book of the series).
With this book, I had a strange thing I was getting into it and then I was starting another book and forgetting about it. This time I found it and said to myself you have to finish it because you need to continue with the series. I also introduced these series to friends and they continued with the series. I also know that when I will continue with the series I will also buy the audiobook and follow the audiobook while reading the hard copy.
Mrs. Gabldon's writing is very atmospheric and I got a lot of information about the English and Scotish history of the 18th century, that I was never taught on my school years. There were parts very descriptive both for bad and good, but well done that you always understood what was going on the plot.
These books make you want to travel to Scotland after reading the first book of the series. I believe that I DNFed the book a couple of times I believe because of the length and not because I didn't enjoy because every time I saw the book on my bookshelf I said to myself you have to finish it because you like it. (The same thing happens with Ken Follett's World Without End Kingsbridge #2, with this book I don't have the audiobook because I had read The Pillars of the Earth Kingsbridge #1 without a problem. I also have to continue with this book because the third of this book has come out in September 2017).
I would like to buy the 25th-anniversary edition of this book and most probably I will buy the floppy paperbacks and not the mass market paperbacks. ...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Jennifer Provost rated it really liked it

Wow, this was good. It's the sort of book that is intimidating due to the page count, but it goes quickly. I was so obsessed with Claire and Jamie that if the book was any shorter, I would have felt cheated.

The story is told by Claire Randall, and set after the end of WWII. She was a field nurse in the British Army; her husband was also in the British Army but we don't know what position. She's just a wee bit dissatisfied with her married life, but then she steps into a stone circle in the High ...more

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Aug 16, 2014 Heather - hturningpages rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: loved-it, favorites

It usually doesn't take me this long to read a book unless I start to loose interest. In this case I just wanted to make this book last a nice long while. I know there are a lot more books in the series but I just enjoyed slowly making my way through Claire and Jaime's love story as it unfolded.

There are so many interesting elements in this story, but I think what is unique here is the way that the author deals with the impracticalities of time travel in a frank and honest way. It's easy to wri ...more

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Feb 08, 2014 Mandy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

I would give it four stars if I hadn't struggled with the first half so much. The 2nd half, I loved. It took me so long to get through a lot of it. Plus I found it annoying that she 'accepted' she might get beat by her husband 'for her own good'. I guess it fits with the time she went to but it was disconcerting. ...more

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May 21, 2010 Stacie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, audio-books, chick-lit, adventure, fantasy, romance

This book is definitely an undertaking, but so worth the hours spent! I am looking forward to continuing the series and can't wait to see what happens next in Claire and Jamie's journey! ...more

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