Monday, December 10, 2012

"Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon

Where Did I Find This?
I found out about the Outlander series from an old coworker of mine, Stephanie.  Since we have a similar taste in books and love for historic fiction, I knew I had to check it out.

What is the Book About?
Outlander is the first of seven novels under the same name.  Claire Randall and her husband Frank retreat to the Scottish highland in order to rekindle their marriage after being separated for years by World War II.  Frank, being a history professor, is excited to learn more about his ancestral roots linked to the area.

With Frank is occupied with old paperwork and dusty bookshelves, Claire decides to go and check out Craigh na Dun, a group of old standing stones, to find a rare flower that she is interested in.  While it's rumored to have been linked to mysterious powers and pagan rituals, who can really believe all of that?

While collecting the plant specimens, Claire starts to feel dizzy.  When she fully wakes, things look the same but different.  The landscape looks strange. Then, the people that she meets in the next hour spin her life in a completely different direction than what she was intending.  In the year 1743, 200 years before the morning that she had woken up from.

Would You Recommend it to Others? 
When I was about half of the way through the novel I recommended it to my grandma.  The woman might be a Catholic saint but I knew that she read novels that had a little bit of romance smut in them.  Right up her alley!

Then it happened about 3/4 of the way through.  Think sadistic, torture, disgusting...and the whole thing was totally unnecessary for me.  In a shocking turn of events, it was no longer grandma appropriate.  I told her at Thanksgiving NOT to get it!  When she asked what it was, I told her that it was too gross to even explain.

I did enjoy the following:
  • The characters
  • Bits of historic information
  • Descriptions of Scotland in the 18th century
  • The love and romance aspects
Liked it so much that I'm reading the second novel.  But, I'm having a hard time deciding if I'll be reading the third...and it all links back to the extremely dark scenes that surround a certain character.

So, while I want to recommend it, I'm just not sure it's possible because of the disturbingly graphic scenes.

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