Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

139 reviews

steph51581's review against another edition

dark emotional

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

I, for the life of me, will never understand why so many women are obsessed with Jamie Fraser. A character who, not only beats and rapes the fmc, but enjoys it. It was legitimately one of the grossest, most disgusting things I've ever read.

I literally just read a review that said something to the effect of "Can Jamie catch a break? Poor guy!"

Well, he's a wife beater and a rapist so actually this series could only improve after book 1 if he enjoyed some really inventive, torturous death (a personal preference of mine for how a story's villain should be treated), but unfortunately I'm aware that doesn't happen. Also he can just fuck all the way off. 👍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Rape

isabellajay_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Certainly problematic at times. If you're after sex and enchantment, stick to the TV show. If you want never ending conflict, and character backstory - the book is good. The narrator is incredible. This story will always hold a place in my heart, so perhaps I'm being a little biased in my rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

The medical scenes aren't as detailed or as gory as the TV show. The sexual assault between a captor and prisoner descriptions are more graphic.

shanmul44's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, War, and Classism

anne4discworld's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, and Kidnapping

kb33's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

This would be a 5 star read if it weren’t for the homophobia by the author and some of the other things that were more common in romance books written around the same time as this (originally published in ‘91 I think). Two men in the book are supposedly gay. One is a pedophile/rapist and barely has a part in the book, and the other is a torturer/rapist and does have a bigger part in the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, and War

Minor: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Infertility, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

mykingdomforabookworthreading's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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