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A review by themclaughs
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Torture
Moderate: Child abuse