Diana Gabaldon

I rarely take the time to write reviews. Here's the thing: Diana Gabaldon has written something quite masterful.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but there is one HUGE problem that is going to keep me from going on to the next books and that kept giving me pause and making me cringe throughout this one: casual rape culture.

I'm not talking about the times when rape is handled appropriately in this book. The main character is attacked and defends herself or is saved and it's clearly traumatic, show more but reflective of the time: a young beautiful woman was not safe alone on the roads. Fine. Another main character is actually raped. Again that is treated like a trauma and is appropriate.

What I'm talking about is the repeated spousal rape. Non-consensual sex between spouses is rape. No means no. There is simply no justifying rape.

If you want to have rough sex, you want to be dominated, you want to say in advance "here's my safe word, but I'll be choosing to say 'no' because it turns me on and tonight only my safe word means 'no'," fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. That's your naughty prerogative.

But if a woman says not tonight dear and then a man is penetrating her anyway because "he knows she wants it" that. is. rape.

Sigh. Why is this in here Ms. Gabaldon? Why would you ruin a wonderful epic with this BS?? The main character is strong and independent. She stands up for herself in tons of other ways, rejecting 18th-century marital norms. Why couldn't you just address this issue? Have her push back against the casual rapey culture of the 18th (and let's be real 20th and 21st) century? Is that asking too much?

For the writing and overall story, I say 5 stars. For the repeated, nonchalant, easily forgiven rape of a spouse I have to say absolutely no, no, no. Sigh. So disappointing. For now, I'm splitting the difference but may decide eventually to give it 1 star. show less

Claire is on a second honeymoon after the war when she steps through a circle of stones and finds herself 200 years in the past. In Scotland of 1743 she is an English intruder, a Sassenach wench, and in serious danger. Married in 1945, but with no choices in 1743, she must marry James Fraser or risk being handed over to Black Jack Randall, an English captain with the face of her first husband and a soul as black as his name.
This is one of my favorite stories. I have been reading and show more rereading this volume every time a new one came out for decades. Claire's competence as a physician, Jamie's competence overall, and their love story hit me hard every time I read this book. show less

How do you describe a book like "Outlander"? Drama, fantastical adventure, magical realism, historical fiction, love story? It is all of these things, but above all, a heart-throbbing, maudlin, intensely passionate, soulful, beautiful love story. Everyone should consider themselves very fortunate to come somewhere close to the kind of love Gabaidon describes of her heroine and hero - Claire Beauchamp and Jamie Fraser.

When Claire and her history professor husband Frank Randall are on a show more vacation in Scotland, Claire roams off alone one day sightseeing to a historical monument called Craigh na Dun. She accidentally presses herself against a monumental boulder and finds herself physically transported back 200 years in time and this is where the story begins.

Arousing the reader with a somewhat skeptical “I’ll give it a try” attitude, Outlander begins at a slow pace, lays the groundwork, and before you know what happened - you are hooked! It’s a page turner alright! As far fetched as the notion is of magical time-travel, Gabaldon makes it believable with her vividly colorful descriptions of Scottish countryside, primitive 18th century living conditions, historical details, mythology, and just the right amount of humor.

Rape, murder, torture, thievery, kidnapping, superstition and betrayal juxtaposed against herbal healing, religious faith, kindness and loyalty, sacrifice and love. I don’t know if Scotland had swashbucklers or if there was ever a female amongst those so titled, but the heroine of this series surely qualifies. And the best part of all is that it is merely book one of a series. When you close the book on that last page it is not farewell to Claire and Jamie - you can move right on to Book 2 - "Dragonfly in Amber".

However, be for-warned - contrary to my opinion, not everyone will love the series. Outlander has received some less than stellar reviews. It’s been criticized for various offenses: too violent, too much sex, too much violent sex, too fantastical, too boring, too preposterous, too degrading to women, too misrepresentative of Scottish history, and not enough focus on history.... so read at your own risk.

In the 20th Anniversary Edition Hardcover of "Outlander" Diana Gabaldon modestly writes in the introduction that when this book - her very first attempt at a novel - was first published in 1991, her editor said “This has to be a word-of-mouth book, because it’s too weird to describe to anyone.” and she addresses the reader, “This is true. That being so, I offer my undying gratitude to all the people who took a chance on it and then spread the word.” I am happily spreading the word. Just this afternoon I sat outside in the hot and humid sun to finish the last few chapters. The pages are now literally smeared with sweat.... and tears... tears were just dripping off my face onto those final pages.

I loved the book. Thank you Marie for turning me on to the series. show less

As this is the fourth novel in the series, there will most likely be spoilers for those who have not yet gotten this far in the story. Consider yourself warned.

I do love Jamie and Claire Fraser. They continue to be the couple that gets the entire idea of marriage - the give and take, the intimate knowledge of each other, the partnership of the entire relationship. Their banter and genuine support of one another is strikingly authentic and realistic. Any time the action revolves around them, show more the reader is in for a treat. If Drums of Autumn had been all about Claire and Jamie's struggles to forge a new life in the frontiers of America, I personally would have been okay with that.

Unfortunately, Drums of Autumn also brings Brianna Fraser to the forefront, and this is its biggest, most distracting flaw. While Jamie and Claire are pragmatic, careful, thoughtful, and intelligent, Brianna is the exact opposite. She's rash, impetuous, stubborn and frankly, childish. One could use her age as an excuse, and yet, she is not all that much younger than Jamie was when readers were first introduced to him. Any time the story revolved around Brianna, the story ground to a halt. The reader gets the distinct impression that even Ms. Gabaldon does not enjoy writing Brianna as much as she does Jamie and Claire, or even Roger and Ian, and the novel does suffer as a result.

This inertia in Brianna's story makes for a very long novel. If I had been reading it, I personally would have skipped over or at least skimmed through those pages where she was the main character. In addition, in this novel more so than in the others, the switch in narrators was jarring and obvious. Too often, it was quite a difference between one sentence; the reader would be seeing the story unfold in the first person through Claire's eyes and in the next sentence would switch to either another character's or an omniscient observer in third person. While this technique may have been employed in the previous novels, I do not remember it resulting in quite as jagged a story as it does in Drums of Autumn.

While there has always been a sense of the fantastic in the Outlander series, I feel that in Drums of Autumn, Ms. Gabaldon truly does stretch the reader's ability to accept the action. While it was one thing for Claire to be able to adjust to life 200 years into the past, Ms. Gabaldon does a sufficient job explaining why Claire is able to do so with relative ease. Yet, the reader is now expected to believe that both Brianna and Roger can also transition to life 200 years earlier without any problems, and this time, Ms. Gabaldon offers no explanations as to how this is possible. As a reader, I personally do not buy into this part of the story and find it a bit too far-fetched to stomach with ease. From Brianna's ability to accept service from slaves to Roger's ability to steal from a pirate back to Brianna's ability to cross Scotland, an entire ocean and most of the Carolinas without harm or assault - it was all just a bit too convenient, too pat and too easy. For the first time, the story stopped being possible and moved into the highly improbable.

Davina Porter, as always, is delightful as the narrator. Her ability to encompass the gruff Scottish temper, the coquettish maid, and the pragmatic doctor continues to impress and improve the story. Unfortunately, the story itself was so weak that no amount of oratory skill was enough to overcome its weaknesses. I truly struggled with listening to the entire novel and even found myself forwarding through scenes with Brianna in them, as I personally did not care what happened to her. She is not the force or the magic behind the stories, and I found I did not miss much when I did skip through those scenes.

In expressing my displeasure at this fourth novel, others assured me that it was their least favorite of the entire series. To this I can say I am not surprised. It truly is a weak storyline with very little in the way of danger and forward progress for Claire and Jamie, and ultimately my love for them is the only reason why I continue with the series. My hope is that the fifth novel moves away from Brianna and back to Claire and Jamie, where the main story deservedly belongs. Otherwise, I am not certain I want to invest more time in slogging through these novels. Even on audio, the novels are too long to continue if the main feeling while reading is a desire to skip to the end. Even with Jamie and Claire, Drums of Autumn left me with that particular desire one too many times for me to be able to say that it was a novel I enjoyed, unfortunately. It also left me in no particular hurry to get to the fifth novel as I do not want to continue to be disappointed. show less