Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander was first introduced to me by my Mother, of all people. Like most respectable young readers, the last thing on the face of this blue planet I wished to do was read a book recommended to me by my dear mum. What if I thought the book wasn't as good as she claimed? How on earth was I going to break it to her? What if I found the brash Scotsmen frustrating and irritable? Or worse, above all else, what was I to do if I liked it?

Outlander - published in the United Kingdom under the name Cross Stitch - was first released in 1991. (Needless to say, I'm rather late to the party.) The story follows the adventures of WWII English nurse, Claire Randall, on her second honeymoon in Inverness. The trip goes awry, however, when Claire visits a standing stone circle on the fringes of town and is transported back in time - nearly two hundred years. She encounters devilish English dragoons, stubborn Scots, and even a witch or two as she fights to return home. But when the time comes, what choice will she make?

Outlander was recently adapted for television, and it took an episode to truly draw my interest. After years of denying my mother the satisfaction of reading her favorite series, I sat down beside her to watch what I was determined to be an hour of suffering on my part. For a history activist and accent connoisseur, I'm not sure how I expected to walk away unaffected. Like many before me, I walked away from the tv that night with a book in hand and a new story in my heart.

Outlander can be described in many words, but I shall choose two for the time being. Wild and Unexpected. While the lead-up to Claire's transportation back in time is rather slow, there is not one dull moment in Castle Leoch or the outlying Scottish Highlands. Claire uses her wit and skill to apply her medicinal skills to 18th century technology, and she makes it work. She is never without a retort, and withstands even the harshest comments from her male counterparts. In layman's terms, Claire is badass. Her counterpart, Jamie Fraser, is just as brilliant as she. A Scotsman with a price on his head, Jamie is reckless, loyal, and generously noble. He fights Claire's fire with - hey, more fire. Surprisingly, it works. I've read a lot of romances, and yeah, I saw this one coming. The catch? They're not perfect - and heck, we need more of that displayed in books. These two butt heads like nobody's business, but the relationship is gritty and real, just as a relationship usually is. Well, if you don't count the time traveling business.

This book is a romance, yes, but it's so much more than that. It's a study of the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland and the support gathered for Bonnie Prince Charlie, as well as an accurate historical description of the habits and reasonings of 18th century clansmen. If you are not up to date with your Scottish clan history, you walk aside Claire as she learns the rules and regulations of highlander life - and boy, are there many. The book is filled to the brim with real life historical attributes, things that really happened, and placed carefully in the hands of Gabaldon's original characters. She has given history life in the hands of fiction/fantasy, and I commend her for her ability. NOTE: This book is not for the faint of heart, and there are a few hard topics, some that I even still disagree with. However, that's historical accuracy for you; it's not always a pretty thing.

Favorite Quote: "You're tearin' my guts out, Claire." Because dialogue is everything. I've never seen pain so accurately described. Any other word choice would have gone completely unnoticed. I'm in awe.

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