Cross Stitch (Outlander, #1)

by Diana Gabaldon

once I got old enough for such a thing to be a possibility, he told me that a man must be responsible for any seed he sows, for it’s his duty to take care of a woman and protect her. And if I wasna prepared to do that, then I’d no right to burden a woman with the consequences of my own actions.’

Leaving this excerpt here for the people in the back 👏👏👏 I have so much to say about this book, I don't know where to begin. Firstly, for Gabaldon's first novel, the writing is impeccable. The book has been thoroughly researched, the storyline so unique, and you really felt you were there in Scottish Highlands- it definitely romanticizes what was surely a rough place to be. Some of the reviews I stumbled upon before reading suggested the story didn't follow a proper structure, but I disagree. It felt like the book was leading you to book 2. It was merely setting the scene for what is to come, and I finished wondering what will happen next. The elephant in the room lay in the non-consensual sex (rape) scenes between husband and wife. It's hard to read. It's not sexy. BUT, the book was written in 1991, with a protagonist from the 1940s, living in and married to a man from the 18th century. A woman's views on rape in the 40s were very different to now. What was deemed acceptable in a marriage in the 18th century-worlds away from where it is now. And even in 1991, consensual sex held a different meaning to what it does today. My point is, take the rape as it is and consider the context as to why this wasn't made a bigger deal of by our heroine within the storyline. All that in mind, I'm not sure if Gabaldon even set out to write a man that the world was supposed to fall in love with. I felt like the character of Jamie was just a man, and the story was supposed to be the story, and it had some hard truths to it. I think the audience gave too much credit to Jamie because reading this book, I didn't fall in love with the world's perfect man, and I didn't get the feeling that's what this book was supposed to be about (though book 2 might prove me wrong).