Outlander Part 1

Outlander is a story about a woman who lives in post WWII, 1945. She served as a nurse with the British forces, and has just been reunited with her husband after 6 years. They go to Scotland to have a "second honeymoon" and Frank (the husband) seems more interested in tracking his lineage through Scotland. Claire falls through a crack in a rock circle similar to Stonehenge and is transported to Scotland circa 1735.

Ok, so I realize I'm only half way through the book but I have a couple issues with it so far.

1) I think the "marriage of convenience" is completely unromantic. Granted, Jamie and Claire appear to care for one another but I've seen no display of actual love, said or otherwise. Jamie just seems eager to lose his virginity and "enjoy" himself with Claire all over the Scottish countryside. Claire seems to have lost her desire for her real husband and is enjoying getting lost in her new one. I realize that her marriage to Frank was not all that exciting and they had been apart for so long.

2) How can Claire go on as if she's not been transported through time? I'd do almost anything to get back to the rock circle and get back to my real life. And she seems to fit right in which I find unlikely (not that slipping through a time portal is likely). She does try to "escape", unsucessfuly a few times. However, she's a very smart woman and it seems she could lure someone in taking her there for some reason.

3) I'd like to see much more inner struggle with Claire. I'd like to "hear" her thoughts as she's with Jamie...is she thinking about Frank at all? Does it bother her that she can't properly shower??? Things that would certainly bother me. In fact, I'd like a little more description from the author on a lot of things. I find it hard to picture in my head what she has written. And find it hard to put myself into the story and therefore hard to "get into" it.

I know I don't know the whole story yet as I'm only halfway through the book. But I was extremely turned off by the whipping she recieved by Jamie, him not feeling the least bit sorry about it, and then the very violent love-making (scratch that), sex that followed when they returned to the castle. For some reason that really bothered me...and the way he kept saying she was his...I don't know. I was literally sick to my stomach after that. I know it was a much different time but my "women's rights" side has come out in full affect. :-)

More to follow...