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The Outlander
by
Gil Adamson
In 1903 a mysterious young woman flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, Mary Boulton has just become a widow--and her husband's killer. As bloodhounds track her frantic race toward the mountains, she is tormented by mad visions and by the knowledge that her two ruthless brothers-in-law are in pursuit, determined to avenge their...more
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published
May 1st 2008
by Ecco/HarperCollins
(first published June 30th 2007)
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Jun 14, 2008
Rachel
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
literature-of-the-west
A suspenseful plot drives this story of a widow on the run through the mountains for Canada from her vengeful brothers-in-law. Even in the sections where she is no longer running, there is a sense of anxiety because the reader knows her brothers are still out there searching for her. I liked this book because the plot moved swiftly but it didn't sacrifice character development. It has one brief but very PG-13 section. It is handled with tenderness but may be too much for sensitive readers. Other...more
Not every book that has people spending time in the mountains is on the same literary level as Cold Mountain. Despite the book jacket's comments, however, Adamson gives us an interesting adventure story, possibly better compared to Enger's Peace Like A River. I did not feel close to the characters in this story as I did to Frazier's, but the story is tight, the landscape is its own character, and I enjoyed the last line!
4 likes · like · see review
I thoroughly enjoyed this book—it’s a real page turner. It concerns a young woman who murders her husband and is on the run. The characters she encounters on her journey remind me in a way of “The Odyssey.”—The loner who saves Mary's life and steals her heart; the mining town minister who becomes her protector; the dwarf who runs the only store in the mining town of Frank; the miners, the stragglers, and the settlers—each has his or her own vitality and consciousness. Even the old tracker who di...more
10 likes · like · see review
This is an absorbing narrative written in 2007, not to be confused with D. Galbadon's Outlander series. While there are some maddening stylistic inconsistencies and awkward sentence structure at times, it's a compelling story of a young woman's struggle to survive in the Banff wilderness at the turn of the last century. Ingenious plot devices include the true occurrence of a devastating landslide in 1902-03, the worst in mining history. This gets a 5 from me because it's THAT interesting, so who...more
7 likes · like · see review
I was tricked into reading this book. For whatever reason, I don't read a lot of women writers. After reading reviews (many of which compared the book to works to "Cold Mountain" and works of Cormac McCarthy, I picked up the book. I was very surprised to find out that Gil was a woman. However, that being said, I'm glad I did. This is the story of a widow on the run across the turn of the century west from her two brother-in-laws after she murdered her husband. During her journey she encounters m...more
A story about nothing, full of characters you care nothing about. Sure there are some great descriptive passages - about rainbows, darkness, the smell of horses... yada, yada, yada; but all these mental pictures connect a whole bunch of empty. I dunno - something about new Canadian writers and trying TOO hard to be clever. All those words completely got in the way of developing the story. I did not care one speck about the main character - the widow - and so her "adventure" meant nothing to me....more
Jun 08, 2008
Amy
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Adults
Shelves:
2008-books
When I started this book, I was sure that I would not finish it. Several times, I told myself that I didn't really care how it worked out. At some point, I changed my mind. I think I was nervous at first, because it was another book about a woman with a mental illness. This book was nothing like the other one (Almost Moon) that I read, except that this woman also killed a family member (her husband). You can tell that the author is a poet, and occasionally this gets in the way of the story. Othe...more
This is a remarkable first novel, reminiscent of Tenderness of Wolves, with a smattering of Cold Mountain, it's beautifully written. Very descriptive, not just of the landscape, and believe me the Canadian Rockies sound very bleak, but also of the despair and hopelesness that existed at this time. As her story unfurls,we realise that Mary is a real heroine, not always likeable, but as courageous as a lion. She meets some wonderfully quirky characters throughout her journey, who add some spice an...more
Have just finished reading The Outlander, by Gil Adamson. Again, found this just by chance in a charity shop, hadn't heard of it before, but the recommendation on the cover by Michael Ondaatje (one of my favourite authors) was enough to tempt me. I immediately liked the preface of a solitary outsider, a young woman not fitting into conventions and social mores of the time and being so different that she is considered 'weird'. The first 100 pages or so were a little turgid at first, but then the...more
Jul 11, 2012
Nipuna
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who like to read about the outdoors in contrast to human inner landscapes
This was an interesting story and it immediately and continually reminded me of Cormac McCarthy's The Road but it was less visually desolate. It was lonely and vast at times but it was in the beauty of nature. The desolation was inside her thoughts. There was a sense of dread the whole time and small flashes of hope and discovery. The end was almost predictable but that's likely because of the author's foreshadowing. Toward the end, there was a part where the widow thinks she's gone deaf and I r...more
Gil Adamson’s first novel is a yarn well-spun, full of improbable, implausible, and near-mythical events. It is the stuff of legend, with one foot planted firmly in accurate history, and one foot treading the ether-sphere of picaresque adventure.
Mary Boulton is a murderess, plain and simple. One may argue that she is the victim of postpartum depression, or overwhelming grief at the death of her child; she may even be insane with jealousy over her husband’s indiscretions. But no matter which way...more
Mary Boulton is a murderess, plain and simple. One may argue that she is the victim of postpartum depression, or overwhelming grief at the death of her child; she may even be insane with jealousy over her husband’s indiscretions. But no matter which way...more
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2 likes · like · see review
I really loved the sound of this book when I read the back cover description whilst in my local Waterstones and my curiousity was immediately hooked and I had to buy it.
We follow our main character, Mary Boulton "the widow" who is running away from killing her husband and is being pursued by her two brothers in law through 19th century Canadian wilderness.
The language and prose used are just exceptional conjuring up in your mind with each paragraph the intensity of the situation Mary finds her...more
We follow our main character, Mary Boulton "the widow" who is running away from killing her husband and is being pursued by her two brothers in law through 19th century Canadian wilderness.
The language and prose used are just exceptional conjuring up in your mind with each paragraph the intensity of the situation Mary finds her...more
This is one of the stranger books I've read. At first, I wasn't sure where it was going and if it was going to get beyond the first big situation. But it did, and in surprising ways. I don't think anything I expected happened in this book. I weaker author would have had trouble tying together all the story chunks. But it does hang together.
The author is especially good at a kind of indirect storytelling. She reveals key bits of info not always through the eyes of the person experiencing it, but...more
The author is especially good at a kind of indirect storytelling. She reveals key bits of info not always through the eyes of the person experiencing it, but...more
A widow has killed her husband and is starting on an incredible journey. She has left home with nothing but the clothes she is wearing and is bring pursued by her husband's twin brothers.
The year is 1903 and the widow is being forced deeper and deeper into the wilderness, facing cold, snow, and hunger.
She does find some respite in a small town and is taken in by and elderly woman. Her life seems to have taken a turn for the better when her pursuers catch up with her. She is once again forced to...more
The year is 1903 and the widow is being forced deeper and deeper into the wilderness, facing cold, snow, and hunger.
She does find some respite in a small town and is taken in by and elderly woman. Her life seems to have taken a turn for the better when her pursuers catch up with her. She is once again forced to...more
In the early part of the twentieth century, Mary Boulton, nineteen year old murderer of her husband, runs from her home across western Canada, fleeing from her overlarge and scary brothers in law, facing one peril after another in the sparse, wild, cold and mountainous country. As in “Perils of Pauline”, Mary faces one daunting precipice after another, depends, like Blanche Dubois, on the kindness of strangers, and exhibits “True Grit” throughout. She meets an old widowed do gooder, a loving mo...more
It took me a long time to read this book just because I went through a rough patch in July and Aug. I had borrowed the book from the library in the beginning of July and was really enjoying it when my life took a turn for the worse. I just couldn't read any books with out crying or not knowing what I was reading. I finally had to return the book and waited a few months before I borrowed it again. I am glad I waited and didn't try to read it or just gave up on it.
I really enjoyed the book. The O...more
I really enjoyed the book. The O...more
It has become increasingly more difficult for me to find good books to read on my own. I ran across Outlander while in a frustrating search through shelves and shelves of books, various genre, and a multitude of 'also rans'.
I made a decision. I was going to begin reading from authors whose names began with A, then B, then C and so on. I went to the 'literary' shelves and spotted "Outlander" by Gil Adamson. Within the words of the first page I was hooked. I looked through the other books in fron...more
I made a decision. I was going to begin reading from authors whose names began with A, then B, then C and so on. I went to the 'literary' shelves and spotted "Outlander" by Gil Adamson. Within the words of the first page I was hooked. I looked through the other books in fron...more
The opening page starting with, "It was night, and dogs came through the trees, unleashed and howling" pulled me right in. I could feel the frantic energy, "The girl scrambled through ditchwater and burushes, desperate to erase her scent." Soon I learned the girl, called, 'the widow' through most of the book, was Mary Boulton, a 19 yr woman who had shot and killed her husband. This book is well-written and crafted. Sometimes the wording poetic. But too often the fragmented sentences left me wond...more
An unusual novel for a book club choice - only 2 of 8 liked it, including me. The heroine is raised by a loveless grandmother & absent father after her mother dies & consigned to the first man who wants to marry her. She is 17, uneducated & unskilled in either womanly or survival arts when she leaves with him for the Canadian Rockies at the turn of the 20th century. He has no money, they live in a tent bungalow where she bears a child who dies quickly from ignorance & neglect on...more
Sep 18, 2009
Jennifer D.
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
canadian,
books-i-own
I rate this book 4 Stars.
From Adamson's web site:
"Set in 1903, Adamson's compelling debut tells the wintry tale of 19-year-old Mary Boulton (“widowed by her own hand”) and her frantic odyssey across Idaho and Montana. The details of Boulton’s sad past—an unhappy marriage, a dead child, crippling depression—slowly emerge as she reluctantly ventures into the mountains, struggling to put distance between herself and her two vicious brothers-in-law, who track her like prey in retaliation for her ki...more
From Adamson's web site:
"Set in 1903, Adamson's compelling debut tells the wintry tale of 19-year-old Mary Boulton (“widowed by her own hand”) and her frantic odyssey across Idaho and Montana. The details of Boulton’s sad past—an unhappy marriage, a dead child, crippling depression—slowly emerge as she reluctantly ventures into the mountains, struggling to put distance between herself and her two vicious brothers-in-law, who track her like prey in retaliation for her ki...more
Gil Adamson’s The Outlander focuses on “the widow,” a nineteenth-century woman we quickly learn who has killed her husband and, as the novel opens, is on the run from his two brothers.
The widow herself is unremarkable. The plot, likewise, leaves something to be desired. The widow encounters a series of figures who help/hinder (but mostly help) her escape in the fashion of a children’s book where a lost lamb tries to find its mother and must first meet a duck, horse, pig and cow before at last fi...more
The widow herself is unremarkable. The plot, likewise, leaves something to be desired. The widow encounters a series of figures who help/hinder (but mostly help) her escape in the fashion of a children’s book where a lost lamb tries to find its mother and must first meet a duck, horse, pig and cow before at last fi...more
Sep 17, 2009
Susan Poling
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-on-facts
Good book. I'm a little embarrassed to say that it was the cover that got my attention while wondering through BN the other day. (A woman wondering through the snow covered forest in the snow.) Of course, the actual story was of a much more rugged escape, filled with terror, starvation, and danger. The heroine is escaping the brothers of the husband she has just murdered - hense she is referred to as "the widow" throughout the book. As the story develops, she does as well - from a young girl of...more
1 like · like · see review
Not knowing anything about this book, the cover was what attracted me initially in the book store (a woman in black leading a horse in a stowstorm). I must admit I picked it up and debated buying it on at least 3 different visits before I finally bought it. I'm so glad I did. The book is well-written, suspenseful, and pulled me in from the first page.
Mary Boulton ("the widow", as she is referred to in most of the book) is a young 19-yr old woman who has killed her husband and is fleeing across...more
Mary Boulton ("the widow", as she is referred to in most of the book) is a young 19-yr old woman who has killed her husband and is fleeing across...more
This book is hard to get into and once you sort of like it, it really is disappointing. There is just too much extra info. that, I think, takes away from the story itself. And the other problem is the amount of cursing is distracting. The intimate scenes aren't too bad but the author just writes very graphically and it's just not my choice of entertainment. Choosing and reading a good book is my outlet and as a mom w/very little extra time, I wouldn't waste it on this one.
This is the story that takes place just after the turn of the century. A woman has killed her husband and she is running away from her twin brothers-in-law who are determined to catch her. The woman's story evolves in bits and pieces throughout the book.
The author's prior works were poetry and short stories. I felt that the style of the novel was sometimes more like a number of short stories. We're put in difference places and meet various characters, but I'm not always sure why and what the co...more
The author's prior works were poetry and short stories. I felt that the style of the novel was sometimes more like a number of short stories. We're put in difference places and meet various characters, but I'm not always sure why and what the co...more
The best word to describe this book is "uneven."
This is a fast, tense read. It's definitely not great literature, but it was different and I enjoyed it. There were some really great moments, and you can definitely tell that Adamson is a poet at heart. It's dark, but there's a lot of hope and pleasure and happiness as well. Interesting characters, who are not particularly well drawn, nor believable. A lot of inconsistencies. A few that were hard to forgive.
My biggest disappointment was with the...more
This is a fast, tense read. It's definitely not great literature, but it was different and I enjoyed it. There were some really great moments, and you can definitely tell that Adamson is a poet at heart. It's dark, but there's a lot of hope and pleasure and happiness as well. Interesting characters, who are not particularly well drawn, nor believable. A lot of inconsistencies. A few that were hard to forgive.
My biggest disappointment was with the...more
FIrst started reading this book and my thoughts were along the lines of "This is SO bizarre!" I like historical fiction and at the beginning I could decide if this was even set in our own history. However as I kept reading I liked it more, definitely a book one should read a couple times to get all of the nuance in plot. A few people had said the characters were hard to relate to, and I suppose that could be true but I also think they were portrayed in an accurate way in relation to the time the...more
If this hadn't been a book club selection, I think I might have given up on it, as it was hard to get into and I just wasn't in the mood for this type of book. I'm very glad I stuck with it as it turned out to be a great story.
Mary Boulton, who is mostly referred to as "the widow" throughout the book, is on the run from her brothers in law after killing her husband. She is living in the shadowy world of mental illness, particularly at the beginning of the story, and we see much of the story thr...more
Mary Boulton, who is mostly referred to as "the widow" throughout the book, is on the run from her brothers in law after killing her husband. She is living in the shadowy world of mental illness, particularly at the beginning of the story, and we see much of the story thr...more
I did not enjoy 'The Outlander' by Gil Adamson. In fact, I quite disliked it. In my opinion, at it's worst, 'The
Outlander' is a glorified harlequin romance, written in a ponderously poetic style calculated to elevate the
status of the heroine to that of mythical proportions. The use of 'the widow' instead of a real name also
serves to segregate the central character, thereby relegating the reader's role to that of observer instead of
active emotional participant.
In a nutshell, in 19th century Canad...more
Outlander' is a glorified harlequin romance, written in a ponderously poetic style calculated to elevate the
status of the heroine to that of mythical proportions. The use of 'the widow' instead of a real name also
serves to segregate the central character, thereby relegating the reader's role to that of observer instead of
active emotional participant.
In a nutshell, in 19th century Canad...more
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Gil Adamson (born Gillian Adamson, 1961) is a Canadian writer. She won the Books in Canada First Novel Award in 2008 for her 2007 novel The Outlander.
Adamson's first published work was "Primitive," a volume of poetry, in 1991. She followed up with the short story collection "Help Me, Jacques Cousteau" in 1995 and a second volume of poetry, "Ashland," in 2003, as well as multiple chapbooks and a co...more
More about Gil Adamson...
Adamson's first published work was "Primitive," a volume of poetry, in 1991. She followed up with the short story collection "Help Me, Jacques Cousteau" in 1995 and a second volume of poetry, "Ashland," in 2003, as well as multiple chapbooks and a co...more
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“I loved him right away," she said. "Almost on sight. Some things are so obvious when you look at them. And when that happens there isn't any choice.”
—
7 people liked it
“Here was a man who wore his scars on the outside and held a merry heart within. How much better that was than its opposite.”
—
4 people liked it
More quotes…
Sep 08, 2008 02:26pm