Throwback Thursday (5/31): Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your post.
 
My throwback for this week is…

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I was first introduced to Outlander  by a friend who insisted it was an amazing story, plus it was free on Amazon at the time (sadly, it’s not now), so I figured, what the heck?

Outlander is the story of Claire Randall, a nurse celebrating a second honeymoon with her husband, Frank, with a trip to Scotland in 1945. The trip is going wonderfully, until Claire accidentally touches an ancient stone and is abruptly and violently transported back to 1743. Utterly confused and completely out of her element, before she knows it, Claire has joined up with the powerful but dangerous MacKenzie Clan at Castle Leoch.

Desperate to get back to her own time and to Frank, Claire unwittingly finds herself in perilous situation after perilous situation. Further complications in Claire’s life include her tentative alliance with rebellious clansman James Fraser, and her appalling realization that her husband’s doppelganger ancestor, Jonathan Randall, is a sadistic and merciless psychopath.

Outlander is one of the most beautiful and realistic love stories I’ve ever read. It’s not insta-love. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. It’s complicated, it’s difficult, and it’s sometimes extremely painful. But it’s also beautiful and sweet and innocent.

As for the rest of the story…it’s just gorgeous. The settings are lush and vivid. The supporting characters are extremely well-developed. The mystery surrounding Claire’s accidental time travel is intriguing, and the tension between the MacKenzie Clan and the British soldiers is nearly palpable. The intricacies of life within the Castle Leoch are fascinating. And Jonathan Randall is one of the scariest and most dispicable villains…ever.

A warning to all the YA fans out there: Outlander is an Adult book, with a capital A-D-U-L-T. It does not shy away from torture, violence, and assault. Plus there are several explicit sex scenes. So if you are a fan of the glossing-over and the euphemising and the fading to black…this is not the book for you.

However, if you can handle the adult content, I highly recommend this book to fans of romance, adventure, time travel, and historical fiction. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful story. And as an added bonus, the series is still ongoing. Although Outlander was released over 20 years ago, the seventh book, An Echo in the Bone, was released in 2009, and the eighth book is coming in 2013.

This is a Blog Hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!

14 thoughts on “Throwback Thursday (5/31): Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

  1. Whoa… I had no idea it was released over 20 years ago! I’ve read this book no less than five times. I always stall on book 5 though. I get halfway through it and stop. I need to just push through so I can finish the series!

    Are you participating in the Outlander Read-a-long?

    • I’m not – I have so many other books I’m trying to read right now, tackling Outlander again just wasn’t in the cards this time. I am checking in with participants on occasion though and living vicariously 🙂

      I’m actually still on book 5 too. I checked it out from the library, got halfway through, then had to return it…and it hasn’t been available since. Grrrr!
      TheHouseworkCanWait recently posted..Throwback Thursday (5/31): Outlander by Diana GabaldonMy Profile

    • Eventually I’m going to run out of Throwbacks that are as epic and amazing as Outlander and Assassin’s Apprentice, but I figured I should start out with the best! So glad you’re participating this week! It’s nice to have a blogging soulmate 🙂

  2. I love thise theme! I’m going to take advantage of Throwback Thursday soon. Very cool!

    Outlander is one of those books I have pretty strong feelings on; I can absolutely see why people like it. I zipped through it in a matter of days, and it’s fairly hefty. But I had so many issues with the violence and how Claire reacted to it. This is the perfect book club book because it draws so many reactions from readers. I admit, I was a little disappointed the time travel aspect was not explored more. My mom swears it is in later books but I’m not quite invested enough to go through more. Still, it’s a book I love to hear opinions on, which makes sense that it’s stil so popular 20 years later.

  3. Read this tale a couple of years back more than that, actaluly, but who in the heck is counting! I was expecting a bodice-ripper. I had never read one and didn’t know exactly what to expect. I was shocked to learn it was a fantastic read. It was an old-fashioned read. One that felt like the books I read back when I was young, many years ago. That is, it was what we all expect when we pick up a book, but find only in rare instances. It was a great entertainment. Just exactly what I wanted at the time, but was fearful it would be a bore. It was anything but. Will pick it up in its new life. Thanks,Sumner Wilson

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