Book Review: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

Title: Voyager

Author: Diana Gabaldon

Description:

From the author of the breathtaking bestsellers Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, the extraordinary saga continues.

Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her… and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.

Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her…the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland… and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite or forever doom her timeless love.

RATING

I am very disappointed writing this review. As some of you might know, I absolutely loved The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon and although the books are quite long, I decided to read one book from this series a year. Unfortunately, after having read this book, I will not be continuing on with the series.

It all started out pretty good. I was looking forward to the big meeting 20 years later and I was eating this book up. However, after the meeting (which was very anti-climatic just so you know), it all seemed to go downfall.

The main and quite large problem is the obvious racism. Rasicm towards Asian people, towards black people and Native Americans all throughout the book. And you may try to explain this to me by saying “Yes Soph, but isn’t this book set in 1700s?”. YES it is, but it still doesn’t give the author right to make it racist. Also, Claire was born in the 20th century and she was still very insensitive and disrespectful. AND also, this book was published in the 90s which wasn’t that long ago and if the author felt comfortable degrading other cultures and races, I will not be supporting her.

After I read this book, I immediately went on Goodreads to see if others had the same opinions. However, the first page of reviews was filled with 5 star reviews and a couple of not so positive ones which minded how long the book was (which is actually very true). Only after reading some discussions did I see people who saw how problematic this book was.

Mr. Willoughby, Asian man who fled China, was almost made a caricature and a laughing stock for the public. He was belittled by everyone, especially Claire who kept calling him and I quote “Chinaman” and “Chinese” as if that was his name. Also, the author kept mocking the way he spoke and made a perv and a heathan out of him as well as mocking and fetishizing his culture. In my opinion, Mr. Willoughby was such an interesting character and I absolutely loved his stories and poetry and he didn’t deserve this one bit.

Here I listed only a few parts of the problematic content. Something I’m interested in is how this was addressed in the TV series, surely they wouln’t put something so insensitive out. But I don’t know since I still haven’t seen it (and I most likely will not).

I’m very disappointed but I’m not sad. This book was lacking in other parts as well. It was full of boring plot twists which made the book unnecessary long. I was reading this for 3 weeks. Not everything needs to be a thousand pages long to be quality content. Diana Gabaldon did disappoint me as author, and although I believe in separating the art from the artist, in this case when the author obvious inspiration for the plot and some characters is herself, then there is no difference.

Did any of you read this and did you also notice this problem? Please let me know down below.