No longer a Sassenach to the Outlander Fandom

 On beginning the book and the television series:
(Don’t worry, for your sake—and mine— No spoilers included)

So last week, I just began reading Outlander. First published in 1991, the ongoing book series, which was recently joined by an 8^th novel, is acclaimed internationally. My sister Jasmin first recommended it to me years ago, my mom’s cousin in Germany has read every single Outlander book that’s been translated into German thus far, and now I’m only left with regret for not reading it sooner. Recently, my friend Lindsey and I have started a long-distance, two-person book club and are reading the semi-historical, semi-fantastical story together.  (Wow, that was a lot of hyphens in one sentence.)

Diana Gabaldon’s writing is eloquent and captivating, making the roughly 800-page novel well worth the read. As of yet, here are a few of my favorite quotes from the first couple chapters:  

• “It’s a good country for myths. Things seem to take root here.”
• “Getting up once in the dark to go adventuring is lark. Twice in two days smacks of masochism.”
• “With no nearby city to veil the sky with light, the stars here held undisputed dominion over the night.”

What makes it more exciting for me is that the book is set in Scotland, and I only just got back last month from my holiday in Scotland, so reading about places I've just visited, such as the Scottish Highlands and the city of Inverness, makes me feel more connected to the story I think, than I would had I not been there. I can still vividly picture the ruins of Urquart castle and feel the fog encompassing me while boating on Loch Ness, so when it’s described in the book, I resonate with it all.

I’ll post more about the book after I’ve finished reading it, because in this post, I’d also like to focus on the new Outlander television series! The red carpet premiere occurred just last week, only 2 hours south from me at San Diego’s Comic-Con. It will officially debut on the Starz network on August 9, but Starz has made the pilot episode available online one week in advance. 

Let me tell you: It lived up to the hype.

Click here to watch the full episode.

The first episode, titled “Sassenach”, covers the first three chapters of the book. Of course, there were minor discrepancies here and there, as with all book-to-television or book-to-movie instances, but that can only be expected when you’re trying to cram pages of characters and description into the exposition. Despite omitting certain characters and scenes from the first three chapters, the episode stayed true to the essence of the story.

My favorite scene in the episode was the dance of the druid maidens clad in white. Ethereal and beguiling, the scene was even more mesmerizing than I had imagined it to be while reading the book. I also quite enjoyed the scene with Claire’s frantic run through the forest while an overture of bagpipe music ignited excitement in the hearts of the audience (or maybe just me). I’ll stop there with scene descriptions so as not to give away any storyline or plot for those of you who are still Sassenachs to the Outlander fandom.

The decision to cast Caitriona Balfe was a good one, in my opinion, as she comes pretty close to how I imagine Claire in the book. However, she did smile too much for my liking in the first half of the episode, for her character anyway, although I get that all the optimism was just to mask her underlying unhappiness and discontent. As an aspiring actor, I do understand the need to not “play the problem,” so I understand a lot of her acting choices in the scenes.  It was a bit excessive, that’s all, especially being aware of Claire’s thought process in the book. However, it might just be a personal preference thing, and I thought her performance throughout the rest of the episode was excellent. As for Jamie, Sam Heughan was the perfect actor to cast for his character.

I’m pulsating with excitement for this whole series, especially because it consists of so many elements my soul resonates with: forests and fog and rain and Europe and adventure and myth and history and beautiful accents. What isn’t to love? (besides all that smiling)