Spoiler Alert: Dinna read unless you have finished Chapter 29 in A Breath of Snow and Ashes.
Am I the only one who - in the midst of all the murder and mayhem - was THRILLED to see badass Claire Fraser BACK IN BUSINESS?!? She kicked ASS in the abduction scene. I felt like we were back in Scotland and she and Jenny were trekking through the brush, looking for Jamie. Or like Claire was back at Wentworth, dealing with wolves (or Dougal, Murtaugh, Rupert, Colum, etc. LOL) Or like she was dealing with douchy Jack Randall at Fort William ("I'll thank ye to take your hands off my wife" - easily my favorite line in the series, which came from Jamie at the window when Claire was at Fort William and Randall was trying to rape her - as if he'd have been able to - not.)
Wow ya know - when I read that scene way back in Outlander, I was like "Holy CRAP! Claire might actually get raped!" and Jamie came to save the day. I just realized it has really happened. God, Tracey's not kidding with this Post Traumatic Stress Disorder thing. Dang.)
Bottom line - Claire is one KICK ASS character and I had forgotten that side of her, what with all her ministrations at the Ridge and the Gathering - LORDDDDD THE GATHERINGGGG!!!
Oh, Claire was so bloody awesome throughout the entire experience that I don't even know what to do with my bad self. I am going to have to post more when I'm home from work with the book in my hands, b/c there are so many examples of her badassness that I need to cite. One off the top of my head: leaving hairs for Jamie to track. HAIRS!!! CURLY HAIRS!!! I am so doing that next time a bunch of marauders kidnap me.
ReplyDeleteWe have not talked yet about her beating at the hands of Mr. Fuckhead Whose Name I Canna Remember, but even THEN she was amazing. I am going to start calling her Clambo--LOL,
It's been such a long time since I've commented on your blog. I've been away and have been so behind on reading. BUT, I'm caught up now and have to TOTALLY agree on Carol's recent posting. I had a phone convo with Carol earlier where I told her how much I LOVE Claire. She rocked in Part 4! She was my hero in this whole section. Not Jaimie but Claire. Also, DG wrote chapters 27-29 so well....I was right there with Claire....every moment....
ReplyDeleteI agree....this whole abduction-rape-rescue part is very vintage Claire. I´m also amazed at how well written it ALL is, how it´s not over the top or cliche,I´m guessing that as a writer it would be pretty easy to fall back on the stereotypes or what has already been written/said ....once again : I bow down to Diana!
ReplyDeleteGot to give Claire credit:
ReplyDeletea) She thinks very fast (and I agree, leaving hairs for Jamie to track was a brilliant idea).
b) She has an amazing will to live. "Don't cry. You're dead if you cry." Can you imagine living through that? Can you imagine setting your own broken nose?? Let alone doing it in the condition Claire was in at the time?
c) She doesn't sit around playing the damsel in distress, waiting to be rescued. Far from it! Even at the very end, when she might be forgiven for being too traumatized to do much of anything, she's still fighting with everything she's got. Jamie's right, she is one very brave lady.
Karen
And were we not able to fully focus on how awesome Claire was due to the fact that Brianna seemed to be completely absent from Part 4 altogether. -- There was no Brianna swinging through the trees to the rescue! Therefore we were better able to appreciate the strength of Claire that we'd come to know in earlier books.
ReplyDeleteLOL true dat, Jennifer!
ReplyDeleteI loved the part when Arch Bug offers Claire the dirk so she can kill one of the abductors herself and Jamie intervenes and says, "It is myself who kills for her." Gives me goosebumps! Then Ian pipes up and says something like "And I."
ReplyDeleteCarol, I don't think it will spoil anything if I tell you that what I call a heart-to heart talk between Jamie and Claire will be along eventually. I love those tender moments between them and it seems to me that they are almost renewing their vows.
I agree with you all. SO much. Jenn M is so right - we were all right there with Claire through the whole ordeal.
ReplyDeleteSome of us have said how much we'd love to read the same chapters from Jamie's POV - and I still feel that way - but if there was only to be one POV written, it had to be Claire's.
I think this is why I feel like I'm in a funk... and Tracey has been suffering Post Traumatic Stress; we feel like it happened to us. This is why we love Jamie, too; we feel like he has saved us, married us, made love to us, spanked us, made babies with us, built homes with us and loved us. To anyone who poo-poos first person narrative, I say "You don't know what you are missing!!!"
Tracey I loved the hair on the bushes but I'd love even more to know if they worked. (Hint, hint, Karen, our DG expert!)
Emmes you are SO RIGHT!! I don't really "do" cliche... which is why I love this series. Claire is so believable because she's tough... yet (inwardly?) vulnerable at the same time.
Karen - SO TRUE. Love that comment - she doesn't play the "damsel in distress". Brilliant. Claire learned early on in life that you make your own way in life and there is no free lunch. She was not about to take that abduction lying down. I also loved how we heard her saying things like "don't cry, you're dead if you cry". I kept wondering what I'd be saying to myself in that situation. I don't even want to ponder it!
Jennifer - you get the "I Made Carol Giggle Loudly and Thoroughly" award for the comment about Bree swinging through the trees. I am so thankful that we got a good chunk of Bree-free reading so we could truly take in everything that happened to Claire. Now it's back to Bree's inventions...Band Aids today - indoor plumbing tomorrow! (Although I do have to give credit where it's due; indoor plumbing is the first thing I'd have been working on if I were her. Poor Jamie would still be in bed with a snake bite because "syringe" would have been far down my list - below "working toilet" and "hair dryer"
Terry - totally agreed. When he said that to Arch Bug, I got chills. I felt like he was getting down on his knees and swearing his loyalty to her all over again. (oooh I have to read that part again; hell - what book was it even in? DIA???)
how about tampons? why has she not invented tampons?
ReplyDeleteLOL I know, right? I'm sure she has and we just haven't heard about it. In fact, BREE probably invented some industrialized tampon you only change twice a year.
ReplyDeleteBree is not my favorite character but she is growing on me. I think if when we had known Bree at first was in Engineering School and had a brain like this we wouldn't be so put off by all this stuff. I certainly don't remember any thoughts from Claire about Bree being extremely intelligent when it came to putting together gadgets in present time. Do you think it could have made a difference how you perceived her. She does have Jamie's and Claire's genes. That is verra powerful in itself.
DeleteJust a thought.
I did think these 2 chapters were the most memorable of all as far as making one think. I think emotions were all over the place.
Do any of you remember when we first read about the idiot who broke Clair's nose? I so want to go back and read what was done to him that caused him to have so much hatred toward Claire but I can't remember what book that was in. Terri
ReplyDeleteHarley Boble first appeared in The Fiery Cross, at the gathering. He was the thief-taker who tried to arrest Manfred McGillivray.
DeleteMikki in Sacramento, CA
Wow. I think I need a reread. I am soooo fuzzy on the particulars!
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