Review: Interesting but Not Memorable Novella on John Grey
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 25, 2012
This is probably the first work by Diana Gabaldon to which I have assigned a three star rating instead of a five. My major issue with the novella is that it seemed to lack focus -- for such a short work it tried to cover too much ground (a duel, a wayward cousin, a courts martial, information on the hero's father's death, a battle, a brief romantic encounter with an Indian). The outstanding scenes in the work include the opening sequence at the eel party -- it was the fashion for a time to have the owner of an electric eel appear at a social gathering, and then have the guests join hands while some patsy (in this case, John Grey himself) grasp the eel. The electric current would pass through all the guests and send them reeling, and at this party it literally stopped John's heart for several seconds. This scene alone was worth the price of admission, as it was humorous and informative.After apparently killing a guest at the party in a duel, John is whisked away to Canada to attend the courts martial of an old friend. There he looks up his cousin to give him a miniature of the cousin's wife and child, only to find out that said cousin has had an out-of-wedlock child with a native woman. As if this weren't enough, John is able to sneak away for a romantic week in the wilderness with a brave who is an ally of the English against the French (the setting is the Seven Years War, aka in the colonies as the French and Indian War). Just as an aside to those who sometimes object to strong sexual content in Gabaldon's books, there is no explicit sex in the work. The climax of the book occurs on the famous Plains of Abraham, where the Highlanders scale the cliffs in the dead of night to confront the astonished French the following morning.It all just seems a bit much to me to try to cover all of this in such a short work. The courts martial fizzles out and seems more like a device to get Grey to Canada than anything else. The encounter with the brave seems rather improbable in this setting as well. One of the most interesting characters in this short book is the English commander Wolfe, who leads the Highlanders against the French -- if you don't know his ultimate fate, I will not spoil it for you. Wolfe actually came alive for me, and I found out something I did not know -- that he recited a well-known poem on the eve of battle (I will let you find out which poem!). In her afterword, the author discusses her use of French, something that always gets her in trouble with some readers. She consults several sources prior to making the selection as to how the characters are going to say their parts in French, knowing that she will be criticised soundly by many. Indeed, one of the reviewers on this site dealt with nothing but what she saw as "fractured French" to the point where she could write about nothing else. I don't read French, and am a novice at the spoke language, so when I encounter it briefly in a novel my reaction is "okay, someone said something in French and got an answer."  As to the entire book, while this quick read was enjoyable enough, I think nothing was developed in great depth -- I hope for a longer work the next time.