Thoughts on Outlander

Photo by Martin Zangerl on Unsplash

If you’re someone who’s into historical fiction or romance, you’ve probably heard of the show Outlander, based on the novel by Diana Gabaldon. I’d heard the show was well-liked, and I’ve always been interested in historical novels; I haven’t watched the show at all, but I decided to give the book a try. So, prepared for a captivating romance across time, I cracked it open.

Outlander has a great premise, which is what pulled me into the book initially. Claire Beauchamp Randall is married to Frank Randall, and they’re vacationing in Scotland as he investigates his family lineage. Soon enough, she’s pulled back two hundred years—from 1945 to 1743—and confronted with her husband’s family tree in the flesh (the English soldier Captain Jonathan Randall). She also spends time in the company of the Scottish clan MacKenzie, and in particular, young Scotsman Jamie Fraser.

After a reasonably strong beginning, my interest in the book waned rather quickly, mostly because I found the plotline to be weak. The book has no overarching goal or main plotline. While one might think Claire would be doing everything she can to get home, that’s really not the case; what could be a driving force behind the book (a desire to get home) is ignored in favor of a more episodic structure. Claire thinks of her home, and Frank, a handful of times throughout the book, resulting in a bunch of incidents strung together to make a story. A crisis occurs, and is solved. Then a new problem arises, and that gets fixed too, and so on, until the book ends. Even the main villain of the novel (who I won’t mention by name, for the sake of spoilers) is nonexistent for much of the book. All of these factors combined to create a plotline that I found lacking in both depth and innovation.

I had high hopes for the characters too, although they ended up being a bit of a letdown as well. Claire is a typically “unusual” woman for 1945, not to mention 1743; she has unruly hair and curses, which regularly shocks the gentle sensibilities of the men around her. She also has far less emotional capacity than expected from a character who’s meant to be a nurse and doctor—a caregiver. I liked Jamie throughout the beginning of the book; his personality was a refreshing surprise from what I expected of a male character in a romantic book. He was sweet, gentle, and kind; unfortunately, his character completely turned around partway through the book. As a character, Frank Randall had enormous potential, both as someone interesting and as a unique addition to plot and romantic tension, but he’s set up from the beginning of the book to be both unlikable and unimportant, which is a true shame.

One of my biggest issues with Outlander is the overuse of violence, both physical and sexual. I’ve read many books, and as a general rule for media I consume, I don’t mind violence or sex, provided neither is gratuitous and they contribute in some manner to plot or emotional depth. The violence in Outlander was, I thought, both unnerving and unnecessary. The ordinary sex scenes were outlandishly numerous, and seemed to be used as the sole tool to carry the story forward, when the author wasn’t relying on near-rape scenes. The rape scene in the book (towards the end) didn’t, I think, give the story or the relationships enough to warrant it being there, since the readers already know the main characters love each other no matter what and ‘til death do them part. I found it a cheap use of an important issue, but if you’ve read the book, I’d genuinely like to know what you thought of that particular scene.

I had issues with Outlander, clearly, but there are parts I honestly enjoyed. The book was extremely detailed with its history and setting, and the author obviously did a lot of research to give readers the most realistic experience possible, which I appreciated. I also thought the Scottish dialect throughout the book was good; it didn’t bother me at all, and from what I know of Scotland (which, granted, isn’t much), it seemed fairly accurate. And, like I said earlier, I think the premise of the book is great, if not necessarily executed in the way I expected or wanted.

All in all, my experience with Outlander isn’t one I’d repeat, but I’m glad I took the chance to see what it was about. It wasn’t the book for me, but if you’ve read it and enjoyed it, or just disagree with what I’ve said, I’d love to discuss it more in the comments below!

~K