Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

48 reviews

creeepybones's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

I honestly have no idea what the hype or gross fixation people have with this book. 
I could understand how the basic story line could be romantic; but the toxicity and open sexual violence and misogyny is sickening. 
I did not enjoy it at all. 
As well as it being such a slow read. 
I would not recommend to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

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

irenevh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

After starting on the outlander TV show, which I quite enjoyed, I decided to also give the original book a go. The problem in this is that the shows is a very straight adaptation so most of the book was near exactly the same as the TV show I watched. But I guess that is my own fault. 

The main difference is that with the book I actually felt how dense this story is. Over 700 pages long this book has so many events propped in there I think it could easily have been split into two books. Add to that the fact that often times after reading for about half an hour I was left disappointed by how few pages I had read, and I was left somewhat demotivated by the book and how slow my progress was. This doesn't immediately impact the story, but definitely did impact my reading experience. 

The story overall I do like. And I think Outlander does a better job than most time travel stories like these, to explore how weird it is to be in a different time period. How many things we say and know would be unknown or strange to the past. And of course as a woman also the role people expect you to take and the rights you have on any given day. 

While reading I also couldn't help but wonder how much shorter this book would be if the author would spend less time focusing on what Claire and Jamie get up to in their bedroom (and so many other places as well), as at some point those scenes just get very repetitive and add very little to the plot. 

Despite my liking the premise and the overall story, the amount of pages and the denseness of the book does provide somewhat of a hurdle. So although I am curious to see what happens next, there's a good chance I'll rather watch the TV show than to continue reading these lengthy books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

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

lou_loo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This is wonderful.
Everything about this is extraordinary: the characters, the plot, the writing, the pacing, the atmosphere and ambiance...
Diana Gabaldon wrote a masrerpiece and I adore her for it.
(However, having watched the Starz series and now read the 1st book, I will not recommend it to anyone because I know it is not a book and a story for everyone)
I am very excited to read the rest of the series and dive even deeper in the Outlander Universe !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, and War

callie_pearce's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

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

au_conn1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? It's complicated

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Vomit, Grief, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion