Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Outlander

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

17 reviews

honestlyyours77's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

5.0

This is a reread as I needed an audiobook to listen to before bed that I didn’t have to 100% focus on.

As always it’s a favorite and I love listening to Davina narrate.

I think at nearly 35 years old it should be reading modern classic status as boy does it stand the test of time!

Content Warnings

deutschemausi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Spoilers for sure!

This book is excellently written but damn it’s so long 😂

I was a tad bit bored at first but I’d say about a quarter of the way through I was all ears. It does get a bit repetitive every once in awhile but that reqlly isn’t a biggie.

My biggest issue was the god damn treatment of women. I know that’s how it was back Then but it’s still incredibly difficult to read.

I really liked Jaime at first I was so hoping he would be that one guy that was a decent human being and I know it’s an unpopular opinion but he’s a piece of shit. Sorry he really is,

there’s things he does that he says he’s obligated to do or wants to have sex with her where he does not care about her decision, regardless if she ends up enjoying herself or forgiving him does not MAKE THIS OK. gah.

Also beating Claire so bad that she herself says within an inch of her life just because she disobeys him (which almost led to her own brutal rape yet again so I’m sure she learned her lesson either way)?! And then forgives him the next day??? What is that?! No matter what time point this is, Claire herself is from a future where this isn’t ok and although in her time point violence against women is still a little more prominent then it is today she still knows it’s not acceptable behavior. So why is she forgiving him the day after?

I do not believe all the defenses of oh it was “spanking”. Spanking and beating someone so bad they can’t do anything more then lay down for several days are two very different things.

It says and I quote “Gentle he would be, denied he would not.”

That’s rape. And it maybe wouldn’t bother me as much if

a. This kinda shit didn’t happen all the damn time in the past and still happens today

b. This book and show is so god damned popular and Jaime is seen as an amazing partner and husband and person!

He’s not and he’s scum and I hate that he’s defended. I will not do it.

And the absolute normalization of molestation and rape is appalling for both men and women.

Given that this book is a representation of the past I can live with that. I think my biggest issue here is that people in today’s world defend him. That’s where my true issue lies.

And I’m sorry he was raped too but just because a rapist is raped doesn’t forgive the rapes they’ve done themselves.

I just don’t get.

Now saying all that and obviously I didn’t enjoy those parts of the book but it is amazingly written which is why I gave it a higher rating. This writing is impeccable and I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that I can dislike and enjoy at the same time. Gabaldon is a true storyteller and an amazing writer.

Content Warnings

im_jennaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

walking_cheese's review against another edition

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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? Yes

1.0

Content Warnings

travellingbibliomaniac's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

ailsaod's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

1.0

This review contains vague spoilers throughout.

I genuinely don't understand why this book and show are so popular. For starters this book would do better to be re-named fifty shades of tartan! This is almost 900 pages of increasingly less consensual sex scenes with the occasional bit of historical set dressing. I honestly don't get how this book was so long - its not like much happens and there was a good stopping point at about the third of the way through that I wish had been the end of this book.

I had heard going in to this book that it probably wasn't going to be my cup of tea but I kept on hearing about it and I am far too nosy for my own good. Nosiness and spite is all that got me through this book - it contains literally EVERY content warning you can think of that could possibly be crammed into that time period. I am not kidding; you can play sensitive topics bingo and you will always win (and lose in doing so I guess). It gets to a point where it feels gratuitous as it is one thing to write about these subjects - it does not take a genius to realise that there is going to be a lot of sexism during Jacobite times for example - but some of the things that come up seem unnecessary. Like how is Jamie's story about how a lord groomed him and tried to assault him when he was a teenager funny? I am not a scholar of Jacobite Scotland but it seems weird that everyone would know about an individual being a paedophile - and with a particular liking for boys too - and find it entertaining. Even I know that during that time the people here were very Christian. Even weirder is that Claire (who is from the 1940s) also thinks it is funny and sides against Jamie?!

There are many things in this book that made me question if Gabaldon is existing in her own universe. She has publicly claimed to have researched everything in her books but they are full of inconsistencies - apparently traditional Scottish marriages now include blood oaths?? Nessie is real and there are specimens in the British Natural History Museum? Claire is supposed to have an interest in wild flowers and yet she can't identify a forget me not (one of the most common and easily identifiable wild flowers in the UK!). It is bizarre as there are a lot of details in this book regarding the society and clothing and what was used as medicine that seem accurate and yet Gabaldon is happy to just chuck any semblance of her precious historical accuracy away whenever it concerns something that is actually relevant to the plot. Also why are we using Sassenach as a pet name? It's a very complicated word as in Gaelic (which is spelled Sasannach) it just means "English man" but in scots it is more like "English scum" and that is before we get to the misinformation where some people claim it used to mean lowlander. In the book Sassenach is translated to mean "outlander" which is quite a reach. I am not aware if Gabaldon is aware of the quagmire she wandered into with this one but it just isn't a thing most Scots say anymore and it was uncomfortable to read. After a while Jamie seems to just forget Claire's name entirely!

The best thing about this book was Jamie and even then that only applied until the romance begun. If this book just chucked out the time travel (a sentiment I commonly feel when reading time travel stories) and had this story be about Jamie's tragic circumstances it would be greatly improved. Early book Jamie comes across like a halfway decent person (which in this book is quite something) and I actually wanted to hear his backstory. However that all changed as soon as he has sex for the first time - he immediately becomes demanding and feels entitled to sex and on one occasion enjoys beating Claire.

I won't go into everything I disliked about this book - we would be here far too long! - but there is one particular scene that I would like to mention for all those nosy folks like me. Late in the book there is a character who is on deaths door after being sexually assaulted and badly injured and Claire (someone qualified as a nurse!) decides the best thing she can do is force them to relive their trauma by simulating the assault they experienced. I may have sounded appalled earlier in my review but really a lot of it fades into insignificance next to this one scene. I have never read something so heinous before and I hope not to again. This scene was so bad it was apparently cut from the TV show entirely and I am not surprised!

To conclude I would strongly advise against reading this book unless you enjoy this sort of story (good for you?). Curiosity will kill the cat in this situation!

Content Warnings

gellyreads's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

greenrosepdtl's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

1.5

This book is way too slow with too many graphic rape scenes. One of which is legitimately torture and the author goes into DETAIL. I'm not sure a trigger warning even does it justice.

Content Warnings

strawberrypinch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

laurenleigh's review

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tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

What a bizarre reading experience. This was a TERRIBLE book with a FANTASTIC narrator. I’ve heard the book and the show described as “rapey,” and that is spot on. How the hell are there like 9 more books and 8 seasons of this?? I can’t believe I actually made it through 33 hours. Davina Porter was just so magical with all the different voices and accents. I enjoyed listening to her so much! I guess I gave up trying to make excuses for the plot and had to laugh at it instead. Except I’m not laughing at all at a husband beating his wife. That scene and the aftermath were so twisted. So much about the plot and Claire’s character make absolutely zero sense to me. Pretty much only giving stars for the narration.

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