SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read chapter 84 in AN ECHO IN THE BONE.
Ian. (sigh) Poor Ian. My god - who knew? Who knew I'd cry like a baby when he died? It was bad enough we were already faced with the fact that Young Ian and Claire were gone. But the death of Ian Murray? What a poor sweet soul. I am crushed. He was the only brother Jamie ever knew after Willie died. (sigh) Just absolutely crushed.
I am not really handling Young Ian's departure that well at all. Dude your dad is D-Y-I-N-G. And you need to "fly - be free"??? WTF?! I dinna care HOW restless you are in your skin; your father has barely any time left on this earth. Stay and be with him! God it's mind-boggling to me how he can be so selfish. And for what? Some girl you met a few weeks before you left for Scotland?! You are going to regret this until the day you die, my friend. Until the day you die (which please, lord, dinna let happen in this book. I dinna know why but I have such a bad feeling about Young Ian these days.)
My goal is to finish this weekend. I couldna NOT keep going. I'll keep you all posted. (Laura - email me and send me your info so I can send you updates!)
I may be remembering wrong, but didn't Ian tell Young Ian to go?
ReplyDeleteYes, and Jenny told him to go, too.
ReplyDeleteI will say that it's taken several rereads of that part to get a handle on the depths of Young Ian's despair and why both his parents told him to git. I think I was sort of like Carol at first--not understanding why he would leave--but the fact was that no one really knew how long auld Ian had, and I think both auld Ian and Jenny wanted their boy to move forward with his life. And once it was set that Claire was going back to Philly, sending Ian too sort of killed two birds with one stone--he could go back and act as an escort for Claire. (Was I the only one who had a major panic attack at the fact that JAMIE WAS GOING TO LET CLAIRE GO ACROSS THE OCEAN BY HERSELF??????)
Also, it took me several rereads to figure out the "his mother called him a man" part. I was like, I don't see it--where is it??? Um, it's the Gaelic, no?
And as for auld Ian.... let me just say this. I know we've seen a lot of people die in these books--some closer to the Frasers than others. But to me, this was the first real DEATH. I felt like I had lost a limb (no pun intended). Sigh [wipes tear].
I haaaated Ian's death. Just when you're not sure how many more losses Jamie can bear (and Jenny too, of course, but lord am I pissed at her right now), this one also really broke my heart. Is it weird that this moment recalled to me when Jamie returned to the MacKenzie castle and was told that the soldiers ate the horses? Because Ian's death is also the death of a way of life that once existed in Jamie's Scotland - just like the horses were a harbinger of that death too.
ReplyDeleteAnd no matter how much I love little Henri Christian and am so happy that Ian met someone, I think that at this point everyone should have learned their lesson about getting separated. No good can come of it people! Jesus!
Poor Ian...And why the heck did DG have to make him die a horrible death like that?!Why Diana? Why. He did not deserve that!
ReplyDeleteI hate to say this, but I actually think I would have liked it better, and I can't BELIEVE I am saying this, if Ian had asked Jamie to "hurry him", like Jamie said when the two of them where walking one day.
There would have been something oddly poetic about that...
So sad that Ian died :( And I can't imagine what Jenny is going through losing her husband but I am over her treatment of Claire. Why doesn't Jamie tell her to back off - Claire didn't abandon me - you met our daughter 10 years ago didn't she seem a little out of place ?!?!?! ( worse than Marty in Back to the Future - he only went back 30 years ) Not France - Boston 200 hundred years in the future?!?! ugh. sorry Jenny really annoyed me
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about Ian leaving his dad too but then I assumed that it was the only way that Jamie was going to let Claire leave.
This was probably the hardest scene in the book for me to read. We're talking it's 1:00 am and I am sitting up by myself sobbing. It wasn't even so much the death _scene_ as the one that followed, where Jamie realizes Ian's last words were "on your right, man" and Jamie assures his sister that Ian is right with them, always.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I didn't mind so much Young Ian leaving. Ian knew he was dying; he had made his peace with it and said all he needed to say to each of his children. Young Ian was able to say his good-byes and leave with his father's blessing to find happiness.
P.S. Jenny showing Young Ian the gravestone for his daughter? Also a great scene. I just really want Brianna to somehow clean up the stone in the future and realize whose it is.
I am so glad that you are continuing your reading! This part of the book is SERIOUSLY impossible to put down!! It only gets more and more crazy! And is it just me, or does anyone else have a crush on Young Ian?
ReplyDelete"On his right. Gurading his weak side."
ReplyDeleteYep, sent me straight into the ugly cry.
The emotion that DG is capable of stirring and bringing out is utterly amazing to me. Wow.
Young Ian's leaving needed a bit of process time for me as well. But, I believe father and son, and mother and son for that matter, made their peace with one another and they were comforted by Ian's finding someone he loved.
I'm with you, Shelly. I was SOBBING when Jaimie thought to himself what Ian's last words to him were. I was a goner! Tears streaming down my cheeks.
ReplyDeleteI was personally ok with Young Ian leaving before Ian died. I know I'm in the minority here. I feel like Shelly - that he made peace with his parents. And poor Young Ian has always been a rolling stone. Even in Lallybroch - he just didn't feel settled. For once in a very long time he was FINALLY feeling something again - for Rachel. So that's why I was ok with him leaving.
"rolling stone" .... love that as a description for Ian. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen auld Ian told Jamie he'd be on Jamie's right side guarding his weak side, I crumbled inside and dinna think I could go on. I feel like I felt the heart wrenching pain that Jamie had to have been feeling at the time. Jamie truly lost his brother when Ian died.
ReplyDeleteAt first I too was furious with young Ian for leaving his da but I can't help but think that auld Ian had a bit of happiness in knowing (not only that his son was alive and well after all those years apart) but that he'd found true love and would be going to find her. If young Ian had stayed to watch his da due then auld Ian would not have had that small piece of happiness amidst all of his physical pain.
I want to like Jenny, I really do. But I am not sure there has been a time that I ever have liked her. Other that the backstory of after Jamie and Jenny's father dies and how she had to care for Jamie. But ever since Jamie returned to Lallybroch the first time with Claire and he and Jenny had their go around, to everything with Leghair, I dinna like Jenny very much at all.
Jo M - I know, I know. I said that to myself. But at the end of the day - of course they're going to tell him that. That doesna mean it's the best idea. I just could never, ever do that. Ever. I dunno. Maybe it made Ian Sr. happy to know his son last saw him when he was alive... so I could be wrong about my feelings.
ReplyDeleteTracey - Totes agreed. I was so incredibly sad about Ian. Sobbed like a baby. In the school parking lot. Not a good look for me.
Sirena - I thought that too... about Henri Christian. I also thought it about Mandy when they went back through the stones.
Jeanie - I thought that too! I really thought they'd go that route... but I guess not.
Shanna - I totally thought that too! About Bree! She was never even mentioned! "Hey Jenny - you MET Bree! She STAYED here! Do you think I was going to let Claire stay here after Culloden, knowing she was pregnant? I MADE her go!" WHY didn't he say any of that???
Stephanie - the "on your right, man" thing was so poignant, I didn't know what to do with myself. I was so upset when we didn't know what Ian was saying... so I was so glad DG cleared it up. And AWESOME POINT about Bree possibly finding the gravestone!!! I think this is extremely plausible. I wonder if anyone has ever mentioned this on CompuServe? Karen will know.
Megs - I just told Jenn M how happy I am we continued. We were both way off on the ending. We thought Jamie or Claire might die. I know that sounds wacky but we thought they'd get separated - at the very least - and not find each other when the book ended! I was much happier with the actual ending.
Jenn M - love the Rolling Stone comment.
Jennifer - I sortof agree. Sometimes I feel like I only like Jenny because she's family and I have to. I used to think she was spunky and strong. Now she just seems bitchy. I hope that changes in Book 8.