Outlander (Outlander, #1)

by Diana Gabaldon

[celinenyx]

So, I finished the giant tome that is Outlander yesterday. It took me about a month, which isn't too shabby, considering its size. Somehow I still feel like I'm reading it - the ending of the book didn't give me the sense of something ending, rather of something starting.

Outlander is the story of Claire, a woman from the 1940s. She is warped to the 18th century, and becomes involved with a young Scotsman called Jamie Fraser.

It's hard to review a book of this length. Obviously, it has a certain quality of writing, or no one would ever finish it. And truly, Ms Gabaldon does a wonderful job of stringing sentences together. She knows how to tear on the reader's heartstrings, she knows how to paint a scene, and she definitely knows how to make her historical setting vivid. The setting of Outlander is absolutely fantabulous. Rarely does a writer manage to truly convince me of a setting - Gabaldon reminds me of Auel in this aspect. It was quite a surprise to discover that Ms Gabaldon had never been in Scotland when she published Outlander. The amount of research that must have gone into this book is staggering, and not once did I feel like I was reading a textbook.

My main gripe with this book is Claire. She is an empty glass, a pair of clear spectacles through which we see the world. She lacks introspection and a rationale. The heroine we are supposed to root for almost isn't there. This kind of heroine is popular in romantic fiction because it enables the reader to imagine herself in the shoes of the heroine without being impeded by the heroines personality. As a result, I would have a hard time to describe Claire to anyone. She's stubborn. A nurse. Loyal, I guess? Honestly though, she could have been Bella Swan if Bella had served in the Second World War and stopped with her angst.

Neither did Ms Gabaldon manage to sell me on Jamie. There was nothing attractive about him, except the fact that he's a stud in a kilt - but 50% of the men in this book are. His only personality traits are stubbornness, adherence to his family, his love for Claire, and being a mutilation-magnet.

About halfway I lost all interest in the main characters, and kept reading to see where the story would lead. Would Claire ever regret having left her modern-day husband? Would Jamie ever stop being beaten up by everyone he meets? How often will Claire be nearly raped? I'm ridiculing it now, but almost every pivotal event in Outlander involves severe violence towards Jamie's physique, or an attempt to get into Claire's undies.

On one hand, Outlander is so rich in world-building and lovable minor characters, yet on the other hand there is this slightly ludicrous plot. It is well-written, and I would hardly call it trash, but it didn't convince me either. I won't continue this series. Someone tell me how often Jamie gets beaten up when it's over.