A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander #6)
Five and a half Outlander books in and I am done, folks. I cannot decide if these books are getting more homophobic or if I’ve gotten more sensitive to conservative dog-whistling, but I cannot finish this series. The completionist in me is dying, the Jamie Fraser #1 Stan Fan Club member in me is dying, but the person in me that believes that gay men aren’t pedophiles and that feminism and equality should be fought for, is rejoicing my decision.
This book picks up a few years before the revolutionary war and Jamie, Claire, Brianna, and Roger are all living their hard lives on Fraser’s Ridge.
The first moment I had to trudge through, and really it became this book’s death knell, was when Claire and Jamie discuss if Claire helping a young man with his hemorrhoids was dooming him to be raped by the young man’s gay employer. Please note, the gay man IS THEIR FRIEND and yet they go ON and ON about, “what if he buggers this young man now? Well, I guess he’s consenting to it, right? Right?” They eventually come around that it will be fine, but the damage is done. The anti-gay dog whistle has already sounded and all gay men are rapists.
The coffin nail for me was the MULTIPLE times that Claire, who was born in the early 20th century, who made her name as a female doctor, pushing against the tide of the patriarchy and her daughter, Brianna, who was born in the 1950’s - a strong-willed woman to her core - would have these thoughts about, should I push back against the expectation of women in their current time, 1775, and every time THEY LET IT GO. Just saying, “nah, it would be too hard” or “isn’t worth the trouble.” Every time they choose to stay in the box the time period has forced them into. And I just couldn’t. I couldn’t take “modern” women being gaslit and believing they deserved what they got.
As one of the first romances I read, I remember being titillated by Claire’s voracious sexual appetite, that a woman could love and want sex like she did. And hell, a strong, Highlander would do it for any person into that kind of thing. These books started me on a path to exploring my own desires and put quiet a few dirty thoughts in my head, but I’ve grown as a person and as a reader, and I need - demand - more from my stories. Like, equality and dignity for the characters. -Ford
