Friday, July 25, 2014

Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

 
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Audiobook, Digital Download, Unabridged
Published July 2006, Recorded Books

Source: purchased on Audible



About the Book

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

My Review

This was a really difficult book for me to get into. I started it on audio years ago. Gave up on it a few times but finally picked it up again for a Instagram RAL. I mostly just listened to it on my drives to and from ceramics class in the city when I was on my own. Not really one I could listen to with the little girl in the car with me. 

I finally finished after a solo three hour drive to my parents house Wednesday and I still don't get the appeal. It was such a long book, with very long sections of nothing happening.  

I wanted answers to the many questions I had. How Claire ended up time traveling? Can she return home? Was it Jaime that she saw outside her window? What is Frank doing back home? What is the appeal of the Jamie and Clare relationship?

Well, that last one is really for other readers, I guess.

I don't know. I just didn't get it, I guess. And I was so excited to read a book about time travel and Scotland. So sad that it just didn't resonate with me.

Could it be that I listened to it on audio? I kept picturing Claire as a much older woman due to the voice of the reader. Seemed like an older woman.

 Would I have enjoyed it more had I read it myself? Maybe, but we shall never know. I don't think I will be giving it another try.



Happy Reading!
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1 comment:

  1. I was so surprised by all of the rape/attempted rape and misogyny. I really did not get the appeal, either.

    ReplyDelete

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