Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

134 reviews

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

If I had finished the book I think it would have been 2-2.5 stars. There was a lot about the book I enjoyed and thought was well-written, but overall it didn’t appeal to me and didn’t keep my interest.

I was often bored and found it hard to focus on the book. There was also the issue of the book’s SA. It felt over done and like it was for shock value. There was just something odd about it and how often it was used. Like it was unrealistically being used for realism. The book’s men also made me uncomfortable overall. A mix of the struggle between overplaying the sexism of the time AND when the book was written. Even when male characters were meant to be likeable, I just found myself untrusting of them. The spicy in the book also felt a little odd, though it’s not as bad as the other issues.

That isn’t to say the book lacked merits.

The narrator herself was excellent. Her voice was very well-suited to the story and Claire. She also did an excellent job with the character voices. They were all well-acted and distinct. I also appreciated how much research it seemed was done for Claire’s medical knowledge. There was a distinct sense the author really understood what Claire would know and had access to after time travelling. Despite many of the men making me uncomfortable, I really liked the other characters. They all felt complex and unique. I found it interesting to sort out their struggles and secrets.

Overall I do see the appeal of these books and why people enjoy them, they just aren’t for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity

kengore's review against another edition

He is too abusive and she is too annoying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol

katmystery's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This book barely passes the Bechdel test. For something literally narrated by a woman, that is pretty bad.

For the first 40%, this was an engaging historical fic, albeit a bit slow, about a witty former WWII army nurse who finds herself brought back in time to 1740s Scotland. Then, when the romance plot started, suddenly it was all about her 18th century love interest, a character who Gabaldon endlessly romanticized despite his highly abusive and controlling behavior. When I wasn’t horrified by Jamie, I was bored by hundreds upon hundreds of pages of conversations and events that added nothing to the plot or character development, and I quickly grew to be so irritated by the narrator that I just wanted it to end. In addition to all of this, all the women who are sexually assaulted in this book (and there are a lot) are blamed for the assault, and the so-called “feminist” narrator does this, too. She’s barely more progressive than people from the 1700s; for half the book, she doesn’t care about anything but the abusive love interest.

I only finished this because of the sunk cost fallacy. 2 stars for the historical aspects, which were well done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Pedophilia

biliboc_diana_simona's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Torture, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

sem1995's review against another edition

Claire started off as a compelling character, but as the story progressed, her strength seemed to fade, making her less appealing and somewhat weak in my eyes. I found it hard to connect with her conflicted feelings between Frank and Jamie, especially given Jamie's abusive actions and their lack of conversational depth after the marriage.

While Jamie was bearable at first, his behavior as a husband became increasingly irritating. 
The way rape and domestic violence were portrayed left me feeling gross, and the romanticization of abuse as dominance was something I couldn't overlook. 
Although the plot showed promise initially, it eventually lost its depth, focusing mainly on Jamie and Claire's sexual dynamics post-marriage, at the expense of emotional complexity and substantial narrative development.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

glenn_toto's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

It was fine. Not nearly as good as people made it out to be when they were trying to convince me to read it. I found Claire to be more likable at the beginning of the book and found I liked her less and less as the story went on. Jamie is fine I guess. I liked the world building. I didn’t like the rape, domestic violence, and how the only “queer” character was sadistic and a “freak”. Poor representation, but I get that it was written a while ago and is meant to be representative of people in the 1700s. Again, it was fine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Rape

kira_laine's review against another edition

There was too much SA and too many near-rapes for me. The TV show might be better for me to enjoy the story.

The last straw was after Jamie beat Clair with a belt against her will and admitted that he liked it. He then coerced her into having extremely rough sex twice the next day. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

outofthepinksky's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Vomit, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Death of parent

sejw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical content and Pregnancy

luksie's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

1.75

Sterne nur für die Recherche und das erste Drittel. Danach war es einfach nur schlimm. Ab ca der Hälfte habe ich überflogen, da ich mir nicht noch mehr romantisierte Misshandlung geben konnte.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Rape