Outlander

Outlander
Diana Gabaldon
734 nook pages
Publisher: Dell
Source:  Nookbook ebook
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary of the novel here.

I'd heard about this book on the message boards on thenest.com but, not knowing what it was really about, never thought to read it until it came up as a free Nookbook one week last year.  I "purchased" it right away hoping for a good book to read, considering all the positive reviews I'd seen about it.  What I didn't realize when I started the book is that it's almost 800 pages and it involved time travel.  Great, a long book about something that normally doesn't interest me - yet my compulsion to finish every book I started kept me reading.

The book starts with former WWII nurse Claire and her husband Frank exploring the English countryside.  Through a series of events they eventually come to discover a very old rock formation that, upon her investigating, sucks Claire back in time to the mid-eighteenth century Highlands.  I don't want to give the whole plot away, but eventually she marries a man named Jamie and various adventures ensue.

The author does a spectacular job with imagery that leaves the reader with a clear picture of what each setting looks like.  From fields to forests to castles, I could picture the scene clearly.  In addition to that, her descriptive skills are powerful.  Descriptions of Jamie caught in fights for his life were graphic to the point where I was a little bit nauseous to think about it, though that can be considered a good thing.

I found the novel to be pretty historically accurate overall.  Several other readers have complained about the violence Jamie expresses to Claire both in and outside of the bedroom, but that was a socially acceptable way for men to treat women at that time period.  It's not something we can fault Jamie for, or the author for, now.

Diana Gabaldon is obviously a wonderful writer that deserves five stars, but I only gave this book three stars because the plot was just not for me.