Sunday, December 13, 2009

Jamie and the Savages: Takes One to Know One

SPOILER ALERT: Dinna read unless you have read chapter 15 in DRUMS OF AUTUMN.
OK Sassenachs... I am starting to get a little nervous as to the direction this book is taking. Not so much this book, but the whole series. I have mentioned my Outlander mentor, Tracey, who has told me that halfway through Drums, I'll start to see where the series is headed.  I had a hard time once they started talking about settling in the US - down south no less. (You Southerners know I love ya - but I told ya; I'm a Yank. It's in our blood to roll our eyes when hearing Jamie and Claire are going to settle anywhere south of Newark, Delaware.)

OK so anyway... cue Waltons music now, Peeps. Will Claire and Jamie be settling on Fraser Mountain, perhaps?? Na na na na na naaaaaa... "Goodnight Sassenach"... "Goodnight Scottish Bastard".


And now allow me to change gears, if you will. When I realized we were going to start having run-ins with "the savages", I sortof changed my tune about what direction this series might be taking.  Let's just say that I just stumbled on a (verra cool) site - lallybroch.com - and looked at readers' renditions of Jamie Fraser - and happened upon a picture of a fellow in some sort of suede ensem with arrows strapped to his back. At that point I closed the webpage and thought "Was that supposed to be Jamie? Or was it some random "savage"???

And that's when Kevin Costner reared his aging head in my imagination and I thought "Oh no. Oh please, God, please no."  Please dinna tell me Jamie and Claire will be running around, selling furs for wampum and coming up with names for each other like "Leaf Lover With Large Bosom" and "Red Warrior Who Canna Be Gentle About It".

And then I started pondering what will happen if Jamie and Claire settle in the garden of earthly delights... and make a home for themselves as regular old Jamie-the-former-Highlander and Claire-the-surgeon... and then the Red Coats come-a-callin and stir up trouble at their happy home. And I started having visions of Jamie having dinner with John and Abigail.... and holding the kite for Benjamin...and telling Cornwallis to kiss his not-so-wee arse... and it all became crystal clear:
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V

                     THIS:                           is verra much like                         THIS:
 

Now run along and think on that, Sassenachs. I've got to get back to my book. Ian's still with the "savages", and something tells me it's not going to be as easy as Jamie thinks to meet him with old Mr. Third Ball in 10 days...

6 comments:

  1. "Red Warrior Who Canna Be Gentle About It"--LOLOLOL!!!!

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  2. Oh Tracey. While I was working on this particular entry (which took some major editing because I'm not exactly the most proficient blogger on the planet) I was thinking "Please! Please just let me get it all finished before Tracey sees it!" We have a few more fans, too. Beth just started DinA and Jen L. just finished it. They like it a lot but aren't quite as rabid as Jenn, Shannon and myself. We'll see how they feel as they go on...

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  3. Keep reading! Truth be told, I wasn't all that thrilled initially with the idea of a move from dear ol' Scotland to the USA, but I love all these subsequent books as much as the rest.

    Dinna fash Sassenach, Diana knows what she's doing. (At least I think she does!) ;)

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  4. Just got to this part in Drums. You guys are so much fun.

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  5. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Goodness me, never in my adult life of reading blogs have I enjoyed an entry as much as this specific one. I am literally on my knees on the floor as I type because I dinna ken if I can sit up again from laughing so hard. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    As much as I've loved this book so far, I can't help but be LIVID - and it's all to do with slavery. I'm glad that Claire and Jamie want no part of it but some irrational part of me wants them to stand up and kick someone's ass and let "my people" go! (If you haven't guessed I am a person of colour - from South Africa - I'm taking this all very personally)

    Okay rant over... I was particularly upset in reading the chapter about Rufus who chopped off Byrnes's ear. I have no idea what the overseer did but I'm sure I would have done the same. All throughout reading the chapter and subsequent chapters I have been silently raging. Claire did the best she could, I'm sure, by putting a quick end to the man's misery but I keep wondering if there's not more she could have done.

    Remember the scene in Outlander when the thieving boy's nailed by the ear to the post? They found a way to save him. Honestly, until I started reading the next chapter and old Jocasta was planning a dinner (mmphm) I thought Clamie (Claire & Jamie) would find a way to help Rufus. I had the crazy idea that they would fake his death somehow, take him somewhere where Claire could heal him and then let him loose in the woods to find his way at some point. Am I being completely ridiculous?

    If they could help the boy with his ear nailed to the post in front of so many onlookers, couldn't they help Rufus as well?

    Aye sassenachs I'm going to struggle through this book. Like Claire, I'm not sure if I can manage it.

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    Replies
    1. Sorry for the long rant (oops!). Also thanks for this blog, looking forward to reading what you have to say as I read the rest of the books :)

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