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Book Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Aug. 20th, 2011 11:28 amTitle: Outlander
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Published: New York: Delacorte Press, 1991
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 627
Total Page Count: 106,551
Text Number: 308
Read Because: personal enjoyment, borrowed from the Corvallis library
Review: Reunited at the end of World War II, Claire and her husband are spending a second honeymoon in Scotland—until Claire touches an ancient stone and is ripped back in time to tumultuous 1743 Scotland. There she must do all that she can to survive and to find a way home, but when she crosses paths with a remarkable young Scotsman, Claire finds it increasingly difficult to leave. Outlander reads, almost unapologetically, like fanfiction. It may not build on preestablished characters or settings, but it's still boldly self-indulgent id-fulfilling hurt/comfort fic—and as a result, many aspects that would be gratuitous or unacceptable in another book (like dozens of sex scenes and some discomforting representations of sexual violence and corporal punishment) feel perfectly at home. It's also a book that gives you everything but the kitchen sink: it has a surprisingly strong (if not always accurate) historical context but no plot to speak of: rather, Claire lives, loves, and survives a number of months in historical Scotland in a rambling odyssey that stretches hundreds of pages. Her first person narrative is of the sort that I detest, too present to ignore but never strong enough to be convincing; as a whole, the writing is unremarkable. The characters are a bit better, and as Claire is the older and more sexually experienced of the romantic pair the book manages to invert and defy many romantic tropes and bring fresh life to those it does engage.
Outlander is by no means high literature, but it is a book to lose your mind in. It rambles, it indulges, it seems unending but never drags, it glories in suffering and heaps on the sex scenes (which, amusingly, grow increasingly explicit as the book goes on); it's not too taxing or intense, despite its darkness; it provides almost exactly what you'd want from a romance epic that reads like novel-length fanfic, without being entirely predictable or unoriginal. While hardly essential reading, readers intrigued by such a description wouldn't go wrong to pick it up. Personally, I enjoyed the book but have no need to read it again or read anything else by the author. I prefer more intensity and stronger writing in my own pleasure-reading, but Outlander was a fun diversion.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Published: New York: Delacorte Press, 1991
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 627
Total Page Count: 106,551
Text Number: 308
Read Because: personal enjoyment, borrowed from the Corvallis library
Review: Reunited at the end of World War II, Claire and her husband are spending a second honeymoon in Scotland—until Claire touches an ancient stone and is ripped back in time to tumultuous 1743 Scotland. There she must do all that she can to survive and to find a way home, but when she crosses paths with a remarkable young Scotsman, Claire finds it increasingly difficult to leave. Outlander reads, almost unapologetically, like fanfiction. It may not build on preestablished characters or settings, but it's still boldly self-indulgent id-fulfilling hurt/comfort fic—and as a result, many aspects that would be gratuitous or unacceptable in another book (like dozens of sex scenes and some discomforting representations of sexual violence and corporal punishment) feel perfectly at home. It's also a book that gives you everything but the kitchen sink: it has a surprisingly strong (if not always accurate) historical context but no plot to speak of: rather, Claire lives, loves, and survives a number of months in historical Scotland in a rambling odyssey that stretches hundreds of pages. Her first person narrative is of the sort that I detest, too present to ignore but never strong enough to be convincing; as a whole, the writing is unremarkable. The characters are a bit better, and as Claire is the older and more sexually experienced of the romantic pair the book manages to invert and defy many romantic tropes and bring fresh life to those it does engage.
Outlander is by no means high literature, but it is a book to lose your mind in. It rambles, it indulges, it seems unending but never drags, it glories in suffering and heaps on the sex scenes (which, amusingly, grow increasingly explicit as the book goes on); it's not too taxing or intense, despite its darkness; it provides almost exactly what you'd want from a romance epic that reads like novel-length fanfic, without being entirely predictable or unoriginal. While hardly essential reading, readers intrigued by such a description wouldn't go wrong to pick it up. Personally, I enjoyed the book but have no need to read it again or read anything else by the author. I prefer more intensity and stronger writing in my own pleasure-reading, but Outlander was a fun diversion.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
