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A review by spudmarine
Virgins by Diana Gabaldon
3.0
After watching the series and receiving the first four books for Christmas, I decided to wade into the written world of Outlander. I read the first book, which tracks pretty well with the series. Before reading the second book, I thought I would try this novella. I was hoping for a brief but insightful foray into Jamie’s adventures in France.
All told, the story was ok. A bit random and inconsistent at times. As mentioned in other reviews, Jamie and Ian were much less interesting and compelling as characters in this novella.
My biggest problem, however, was with the “Jewish” motif that runs through the book. Perhaps Gabaldon was attempting to shed light on anti Semitic sentiments of the period? But otherwise, it felt overdone and made me feel uncomfortable. The final straw for me along these lines was the end, where Jamie decides on a whim to flash/sleep with a bar maiden/prostitute at a local tavern for the sole purpose of proving to her that he “wasna a Jew.” That definitely felt overdone, aggressive, and ruined the character of Jamie for me.
I’ll continue with the book series, which so far has been better, and push this little blip of a narrative out of my mind.
All told, the story was ok. A bit random and inconsistent at times. As mentioned in other reviews, Jamie and Ian were much less interesting and compelling as characters in this novella.
My biggest problem, however, was with the “Jewish” motif that runs through the book. Perhaps Gabaldon was attempting to shed light on anti Semitic sentiments of the period? But otherwise, it felt overdone and made me feel uncomfortable. The final straw for me along these lines was the end, where Jamie decides on a whim to flash/sleep with a bar maiden/prostitute at a local tavern for the sole purpose of proving to her that he “wasna a Jew.” That definitely felt overdone, aggressive, and ruined the character of Jamie for me.
I’ll continue with the book series, which so far has been better, and push this little blip of a narrative out of my mind.