Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

45 reviews

chloescozycorner's review against another edition

3.0

1. The narrator of this MAKES the story worth it. She’s incredibly talented
2. This book is VERY graphic at times and very traumatizing as well so be warned. I was audibly gasping and very uncomfortable many times.
3. There is toooooo much pretty imagery and description which is why this is 32ish hours long. Definitely could have been shorter. There’s also new plot line after new plot line introduced which I feel that it crammed a lot into one book.
4.  The ending just is kinda like “yay we love each other”. I was looking at the minutes left like this is it?? Such a mild ending to a GIANT book. 
Overall it’s not bad. It’s not amazing in my opinion, but I did enjoy Claire, Jaime, and many of the other side characters. I also really enjoyed the setting and historical pieces. But the graphic parts, some of the crazy plot lines, and the ending brought it down for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Animal death, Cursing, Sexual assault, Violence, Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Infertility

Moderate: Child abuse

kmac14's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Misogyny, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Infertility, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Infidelity, and Medical content

Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Abortion, Chronic illness, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, War, Gun violence, Vomit, Cursing, and Confinement

laserorchid's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Gore, Medical trauma, Blood, Medical content, and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide

themclaughs's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I think this book was… problematic, at best. 

There’s great actual writing here, but there are way, way too many negatives with the plot to really offset the style of writing. 

I did some cursory google searches and apparently the nickname Claire is given was used as a slur, which I find just… absolutely mind boggling. 

There are multiple scenes of what I can only see as marital rape, which is horrible normally, but is made even worse because of the attempts at spinning it as love. 

There’s also a huge dialogue to be had about beating your children/spouses in a book about going back in time, but it is completely inconceivable to me that someone from “the future” would forgive being beaten, and then being told how hot she was while being beaten, in about 24 hours and then just sleeping with the attacker again. 

All of this, before we get to the male rape scenes and how utterly disgusting one of the characters is. 

Maybe in a couple days my opinion of this story will change but it just… I was so disappointed that Claire forgives horrible things (by today’s standards, or WW2’s) and seems to have zero real issues whatsoever acclimating to the past. Yikes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse

bookish_village's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Gore

breegoux's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Outlander is an interesting read and I'm not quite sure how to classify it. Historical romance isn't quite right as it spends a good deal of its time setting up a deeper political plotline, but historical fiction doesn't fit either because (at least to me) it ventures a little too far into the drama aspects of someone is always captured/in trouble/under threat to quite fit there. So probably closer to dramatic historical romance? And there is something to be said for "well what does the genre really matter?" which is fair, but I found myself constantly bouncing around in the narrative confused as to what exactly the book was trying to do or where we were going - it just wasn't cohesive to me. Some plotlines had me hooked and unable to put the book down and others had me thinking that Gabaldon had really lost the plot somewhere. All that being said, it's easy to see why Outlander is such a hit and a bestseller - it's hard to put down. It keeps you on the edge of each page wondering what's going to happen next, the characters are loveable if not rough around the edges, and the landscape of 1744 Scotland is magical. Where it failed for me is the repetitive "oh no they're captured again" narrative and over the top drama that seeped into a lot of the subplots

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, War, Blood, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Body horror

adeperi's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Child abuse

amy_sl's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

The book begins relatively "innocently", with characters and themes suitable and likeable for the time period that Claire is transported into. However, trigger warnings for the last part of the book

descriptions of rape, body horror, wishing for death, torture etc. overall just unpleasant and disgusting. If you are sensitive to any of these things I wouldn't really recommend it. Though reoccurring themes throughout the whole book, the final third of the book takes it all a step further and, honestly, it's all just unnecessary as well.

I Had a pretty enjoyable read up until this point, but this last part definitely knocked off a few stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Sexism, Body horror, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia and Infertility

Minor: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

gellyreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I feel like this book is just an absolute mess.

She’s abused and forgives him too quickly.

The romance is paper thin. The fantasy and time travel elements were the most interesting, but it’s not really the point.

Why couldn’t we see more of the “witches?”

I don’t get it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, War, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abortion, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Infidelity, and Infertility

Minor: Pedophilia

rachel_reads_them_all's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I could read this story a million times and not get tired of it. Gabaldon's story telling is so rich with detail, history and her story telling makes you forget that her books are so long. I can fall right into Claire's world, never missing a beat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Vomit, Torture, Sexual assault, Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual violence, and Blood

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, War, and Vomit