Cross Stitch
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Product Description
Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a spouse in one century, and a lover in another…
In 1945, Claire Randall, a ex- combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her spouse on a second honeymoon–when she innocently touches a stone in one of the very ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach–an “outlander”–in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord…1743.
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot know, Claire’s destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted lacking warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life …and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a like so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire…and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.Amazon.com Review
In Outlander, a 600-page time-travel romance, strong-willed and sensual Claire Randall leads a double life with a spouse in one century, and a lover in another. Torn between fidelity and desire, she struggles to know the pure intent of her heart. But don’t let the number of pages and the Scottish dialect scare you. It’s one of the fastest reads you’ll have in your library.
While on her second honeymoon in the British Isles, Claire touches a stone that hurls her back in time to the forbidden Castle Leoch with the MacKenzie clan. Not understanding the forces that brought her there, she becomes ensnared in life-threatening situations with a Scots warrior named James Fraser. But it isn’t all spies and drudgery that she must suffer. For amid her new surroundings and the terrors she faces, she is lured into like and passion like she’s never known before.
I was lame and sore in every muscle when I woke next morning. I shuffled to the privy closet, then to the wash basin. My innards felt like churned butter. It felt as though I had been beaten with a blunt object, I reflected, then thought that that was very near the truth. The blunt object in question was visible as I came back to bed, looking now relatively harmless. Its possessor [Jamie] woke as I sat next to him, and examined me with something that looked very much like male smugness.”
Gabaldon makes characters that you’ll remember, laugh with, weep with, and cheer for long after you’ve finished the book. –Candy Paape
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I was enjoying this book well enough until about middle through. The time-travel premise, the colorful geographic imagery, the details about herbal remedies, very ancient Gaelic lore and pagan references (though to some extent inaccurate, truth be told — e.g., Beltane is not the Spring Equinox!) were right up my alley, and the characters very well-written and adroitly fleshed out. I could picture most of what Ms. Gabaldon was describing reasonably easily, a credit to any accomplished writer. But, sorry to say, the quality of the writing and the depth of the tale are not my reason for submitting this review — and not a positive one at that. To be honest, I have only read half the book. But the reason I’ve only read half is the same reason I will only rate it 2 out of 5 stars:
On the whole, I take issue with the “damsel in distress” role into which Claire, the lead character, is consistently and dismayingly thrust. Claire is held captive by British Redcoats and rescued by the Scottish clan MacKenzie no less than THREE TIMES by the approximate midpoint of the book. But really that’s just the start. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back occurred in chapters 20 and 22, respectively, in which Jamie, Claire’s friend-turned-spouse-by-necessity, first threatens her and then makes excellent on his threat to “tan your bare arse wi’ my sword belt” for disobeying his orders. When she rightly refuses to willingly submit to this despicable act of humiliation, he tells her, “Oh, you won’t? Well, I’ll tell ye, lass, I doubt you’ve much to say about it. You’re my wife, like it or not. Did I want to break your arm, or feed ye naught but bread and water, or lock ye in a closet for days — and don’t reflect ye don’t tempt me, either — I could do that, let alone warm your bum for you.” Claire does her best to fend him off, obviously, first with reason and sincere apology, and finally, with force. But in the end Jamie’s brute might and ill but stubborn sense of duty to his clan’s barbaric disciplinary code win out. (Scottish actor Sean Connery’s quip about women needing a slap on the rump from time to time, sprang unbidden to my mind.)
As a woman, I was both appalled and offended, to say the least, and all the more so because these characters and the above-quoted misogynist rant were written by a woman. What’s more, these are the two ROMANTIC lead characters upon which the novel and rumor has it that the series are based! The circumstances for Claire’s punishment are not significant. The fact that Claire soon after considers that maybe Jaime was right and that she was perhaps deserving of this beating — and forgives him — is. The tale is set in the 1700s. In modern times Claire would have been diagnosed as having Battered Wife Syndrome and Jaime would have thrown in jail for assault (at least in this country, the USA). This singular incident irreparably dashed all my enjoyment of the initially promising ESCAPIST(?!?) scenery of this tale, and any further interest in pursuing the relationship between Claire and Jaime was lost. Indeed, if this is any indication of what’s to come for these two “lovebirds” I’m best quitting while I’m yet to be, and opting for some lighter S&M literary fare such as “Exit to Eden.”
Frankly, I’m surprised that no one else has broached this theme in their review of “Outlander.” Jean M. Auel’s heroine character Ayla in her first “Planet’s Children” novel, “Clan of the Cave Bear,” suffered similar degradations at the hands of a particular member of her “clan.” But that epic is set even further back, in the Stone Age, and the man who mistreated her thusly was, reasonably factually, a Neanderthal, who was described as her enemy, not her lover, friend and spouse. Ayla, a Cro-Magnon woman, knew her culture-prescribed subjugation by Neanderthal men was inherently incorrect and remained defiant to the core, even if only inwardly so. In the end, she establish freedom, bittersweet as it was, from the abuse. Claire, on the additional hand, let Jaime off a small too easily, even for his “first offense” and despite her precarious circumstances. She’s less a heroine than a reactive and bumbling waif who seems to place more thought into the state of her hair and clothes than how she’s ever going to get home. And, Jaime — one of the supposed “excellent guys” — has lost all illusion of benevolence for this reader; nothing he says or does in future chapters of this book or in the subsequent novels of the series will redeem him.
What a bring shame on. I was mostly enjoying this tale until the leader’s abject humiliation of one of her two lead romantic characters by the additional spoiled it for me. I’ll be returning this book to the library tomorrow, unfinished, in sad disappointment and not a small disgust.
I don’t recommend “Outlander,” or it’s British title “Cross Stitch,” for anyone who’s offended by the glorification of unrepentant “might makes right” subjugation of women by men.
[Two out of five stars.]
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
I establish this to be a very excellent book, one that makes you want to keep reading. . . the charcters become real people you reflect you know, and you want to know more and more about them. . ..Hard to place down book!
If you liked this book, or want to read one that goes straight to your heart, read Stolen Moments by Barbara Jeanne Fisher. . .It is a gorgeous tale of unrequited like. . .for certain the like tale of the nineties. I proposed to give the book a quick read, but I got so caught up in the tale that I couldn’t place the book down. From the very beginning, I was fully caught up in the heart-wrenching account of Julie Hunter’s battle with lupus and her growing like for Don Lipton. This like, in the face of Julie’s impending death, makes for a tale that covers the range of human emotions. The touches of humor are fantastic, too, they add some nice contrast and lighten things a bit when emotions are running high. I’ve never read a book more deserving of being published. It has rare depth. Julie’s tale will remind your readers that life and like are precious and not to be taken for granted. It has had an impact on me, and for that I’m grateful. Stolen Moments is written with so much sensitivity that it made me want to weep. It is a spellbinder. What terrific writing. Barbara does have an exceptional gift! This book was edited by Lupus specialist Dr. Matt Morrow too, and has the latest information on that disease. ..A perfect gift for a name who ongoing college late in life, fell in like too late in life, is living with any illness, or trying to know a loved one who is. . .A Christmas gift to be cherished forever.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Well – I’ve read half of Outlander and I’m sorry Diana Gabaldon, but I won’t be finishing it.
I wondered when it was first recommended to me by an American friend, whether the leader had really spent any time in Scotland. A few pages into the book and I knew the answer – a loud “No”! There are many differences between the US and the UK, one of them being their different electrical switch orientation – i.e. when Claire switches the light switch down, she would have, in fact, made sure that they were in bright light and not the ambient candlelight she wished. Secondly, no Scot in their right mind would place cream in their tea!
I rest my case.
This is a fine book for you silly Americans but not for the Scots.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
I promised my national I would read this book, and it was torture. A small bimbo that is very simple to despise engages in polygamy by marrying a scottish highlander that is (surprise) a nice guy in a muscular rough exterior. The writing is infantile, the plot predictable, and if judged against additional science fiction, really doesn’t cut it. The only reason it is as legendary as it is is because it is marketed towards women, who will read anything that involves a sensitive guy in a skirt. Skip it, read something better
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
This book is a kind of parody of fantasy, romance, and s/m. Sorry to say, the leader seems to take this terribly written and ridiculous tale seriously. I do marvel, but, why she has 18th century Highlanders language Lowland Scots. She seems to have reasonably a following–well, there’s no accounting for tastes.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5