Books and Writers Community

Messages

Prospero Blocks

Hot Money Searches

Chat Center

	Books & Writing chat room Topic: Whatever you want
	Diana Gabaldon's books Topic: A place for Diana's fans to chat in 'real time'

Board Folders

	Books & Writer... 23445 msgs in 1543 dscns Latest: 2:05 AM
	Writing Biz ... 24739 msgs in 1094 dscns Latest: Nov-24
	Research & Craft 94712 msgs in 3693 dscns Latest: 4:08 AM
	Literary Reading 9332 msgs in 500 dscns Latest: Nov-24
	Genre Reading 7052 msgs in 661 dscns Latest: 3:43 AM
	Writers Exercises 21573 msgs in 1098 dscns Latest: Nov-24
	Journalism/NonFic 29684 msgs in 1185 dscns Latest: Nov-24
	Stage & Screen 7538 msgs in 486 dscns Latest: 1:43 AM
	The Algonquin/... 71487 msgs in 3241 dscns Latest: 3:56 AM
	Writers Workshop 9407 msgs in 563 dscns Latest: Nov-24
	YA/Children's ... 15423 msgs in 1221 dscns Latest: Nov-24
	Diana Gabaldon 59747 msgs in 1892 dscns Latest: 4:14 AM

Message Area

To list

New

...

Diana Gabaldon

ECHO: Chapters 92-103

Print Discussion

#1 of 1424 Posted Sep-21 8:46 PM

From Karen Henry Posts 4706 Last Nov-24
To All [Msg # 65285.1 ]

Discussions of Chapters 92-103 go here.

* * * SPOILER WARNING * * *

You WILL encounter spoilers in this thread. Spoiler space is NOT needed. If you don't want to know yet, stay out of this thread!

Visit my blog here.

Edited Sep-22 by Karen Henry

Options

#2 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 2:07 AM

From Claire G/ SL Exercises Posts 3966 Last Nov-24
To Karen Henry [Msg # 65285.2 65285.1 ]

OMG! OMG!!

There's an awful lot of stuff in this book that I didn't see coming- and it's BRILLIANT. But... but... well, I'm looking forward to more people hitting chapter 95 to see what the reaction is. I shall save my opinion until then <g>

Claire

Blogging at Stones, Bones and Artillery Shells
and Firefly Designs

Options

#3 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 5:33 AM

From Karen Henry Posts 4706 Last Nov-24
To Claire G/ SL Exercises [Msg # 65285.3 65285.2 ]

Claire:

My reaction to the Claire-Lord John subplot was:

a) Incredulity (I started out by sputtering "but...but...but...", just like you did, and it took a while before I managed to articulate any words <g>)

b) Absolute denial. ("No no no no no, this is just WRONG! I can't really be seeing this, can I? Did that really happen? Surely I'm imagining this!" etc.)

c) How could she??? Even if she thinks Jamie is dead, how could she??? (Oddly enough, my instinctive reaction was to blame Claire. Not really fair, under the circumstances, but I wasn't really thinking clearly at this point. <g>)

No, I didn't like this, AT ALL. Whether it will get easier to accept on re-reading remains to be seen. Of the four spikes on that caltrop, this one was by far the hardest one for me to deal with.

I'll be VERY interested to see what other people make of this.

Karen

Visit my blog here.

Edited Sep-22 by Karen Henry

Options

#4 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 5:53 AM

From Barbara Schnell Posts 6292 Last Nov-24
To Karen Henry [Msg # 65285.4 65285.3 ]

The thing is ... Diana posted Lord John's proposal as an excerpt here _eons_ ago. It was probably the last excerpt I ever read -- but of course I still knew what was coming, at least basically.

I translated the Surgeon's Steel bit for the Companion, of course, so I was familiar with that as well, but it wasn't as bad a spoiler as the Lord John Scene.

Never. Again. *s*

Barbara Schnell
www.bschnell.de

Options

#5 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 5:58 AM

From Karen Henry Posts 4706 Last Nov-24
To Barbara Schnell [Msg # 65285.5 65285.4 ]

Barbara:

You may remember the discussion here a few months ago about that Claire-Lord John excerpt, in which Diana said something to the effect that she'd discarded that particular snippet because it "didn't fit what was evolving".

I never did see the excerpt (it must have been posted here LONG before I found the forum), but I took her comment literally. A good deal too literally, as it turned out. <wry g> And so I was flabbergasted to see this subplot actually appearing in the book.

Karen

P.S. Yes, I am now 100% convinced that I made the right decision by avoiding excerpts. <g>

Visit my blog here.

Options

#6 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 6:55 AM

From Nikki Posts 911 Last Nov-24
To Karen Henry [Msg # 65285.6 65285.5 ]

Karen,

In all fairness to Herself, she did scrap the scene that was posted years ago. It not only involved LJ marrying Claire, but Jamie rescuing Claire from jail and somehow in the process William finds out about the other side of his family. I don't remember every detail, but I do know it was a very different set of circumstances.

FWIW.<g>

Nikki

Options

#7 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 7:05 AM

From Diana Gabaldon Posts 15859 Last Nov-24
To Nikki [Msg # 65285.7 65285.6 ]

Dear Nikki--

Hey, I just said I wasn't going to use that excerpt--not that I wasn't going to use the notion. <g>
--Diana
www.dianagabaldon.com

Options

#8 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 8:01 AM

From Nikki Posts 911 Last Nov-24
To Diana Gabaldon [Msg # 65285.8 65285.7 ]

Dear Diana,

Oddly enough, I was not all that surprised when I read that bit. I was surprised enough at other parts to make up for it, though.<g>

Edited to add: Great now I have this song stuck in my head. Thanks a million, Diana! :-(

So I'd like to know where, you got the notion
said I'd like to know where, you got the notion

to rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby
rock the boat, don't tip the boat over
rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby
rock the bo-o-o-o-oat
Nikki

Edited Sep-22 by Nikki

Options

#9 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 8:36 AM

From dina Posts 84 Last Nov-24
To Diana Gabaldon [Msg # 65285.9 65285.7 ]

Dear Diana,

Having tracked down the previous excerpt, this section makes me appreciate how much LJG's character has developed and deepened over the years. I was far more shocked by chapter 94 than by chapter 95, which I found touching - LJG and Claire both devastated. I can see that if one has not read the LJG stories closely this might seem incomprehensible, but to me it seemed quite in character. And you set the stage for Claire brilliantly in the flashback scene just prior. I don't feel John is just being selfish here but going out on a limb to pull Claire back from the brink - he sees.

I'm also fascinated by Jamie's response and can't wait to see how this all plays out. <VBEG> indeed!

dina

Options

#10 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 8:39 AM

From Claire G/ SL Exercises Posts 3966 Last Nov-24
To Karen Henry [Msg # 65285.10 65285.3 ]

Hey Karen,

EXACTLY my reaction, too. I imagine most readers are going to react in the same way.

But my eventual feeling was a little different to yours- after the shock had passed, I felt like it was... well, I don't know. All right, in a way. I mean, knowing that Jamie was NOT on the ship that sank, it wasn't good, but at the same time there was something almost non-sexual about the sex. It was each of them firmly in their own heads, but grieving in a physical way. And the tenderness in their being naked together was... unexpected. But nice.

*However*, I can't believe Diana was quite so evil as to leave it where she did with Jamie just calmly asking John why- OMG! What's he going to say to Claire when he sees her?? This is why I DO read the excerpts- because I'm way too impatient to wait and find out how things like that turn out <G>.

There were a lot of unfinished endings in this book- everyone seemed to finish their story in motion. What's Willie going to do now? Will Ian and Rachel live happily ever after? What happens between Jamie, John and Claire? How is Jenny going to adjust to life in America? And the biggest of my questions is reserved for Roger (through the stones again, hunting for Jemmy, when Jemmy's not even there? Argh!), Bree (damn that Rob Cameron! I KNEW he was no good!), and *Jemmy* (trundling through the dark toward the buzzing! Oh no!). What a place to end THEIR story!!

The next book is going to be an absolute corker (not that we didn't already know it, but still) <g>.

Claire

Blogging at Stones, Bones and Artillery Shells
and Firefly Designs

Options

#11 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 9:38 AM

From Karen Henry Posts 4706 Last Nov-24
To Claire G/ SL Exercises [Msg # 65285.11 65285.10 ]

Claire:

> And the biggest of my questions is reserved for Roger (through the stones again, hunting for Jemmy, when Jemmy's not even there? Argh!), Bree (damn that Rob Cameron! I KNEW he was no good!), and *Jemmy* (trundling through the dark toward the buzzing! Oh no!). What a place to end THEIR story!! <

Yeah. Talk about a cliffhanger! I couldn't believe it when I realized the book was coming to an end with Jemmy still trapped down in the tunnel. And I agree, I knew Cameron was no good from the beginning.

Lots and lots to speculate about over the coming months, that's for sure! <g>

Karen

Visit my blog here.

Options

#12 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 12:53 PM

From Marte Brengle Posts 895 Last Nov-24
To Diana Gabaldon [Msg # 65285.12 65285.7 ]

Here's the question that's been bugging me. :)

Claire assumed that Brianna had told Lord John "what we are," but if Brianna actually did tell him, she did it offscreen somewhere. She certainly offered to tell him everything at the end of ABOSAA after meeting William... but that particular conversation didn't happen at that point.

Is Lord John just being polite by agreeing?

infmom.net

Options

#13 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 2:46 PM

From Cristina H Posts 110 Last Nov-22
To Karen Henry [Msg # 65285.13 65285.11 ]

"Lots and lots to speculate about over the coming months, that's for sure! "

You mean years, right? <g>

I think that it was 5 years between ABOSAA and Echo. So if I'm lucky, I'll find out what happens to them as a 50th birthday present!

Cristina H

Options

#14 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 3:02 PM

From Barbara Schnell Posts 6292 Last Nov-24
To Cristina H [Msg # 65285.14 65285.13 ]

Four years.

Not counting the Lord John stories that were published during that period -- and that definitely do come full circle here.

Barbara Schnell
www.bschnell.de

Options

#15 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 8:50 PM

From Rachel W Posts 2259 Last Nov-24
To Claire G/ SL Exercises [Msg # 65285.15 65285.2 ]

Hey Claire,

Question for you - where did you get your copy of ECHO from?

The book stores I've contacted won't have it on the shelves until at least October 1st, and although I do have a copy winging its way over from Amazon, its estimated delivery date of 4th November (!!!) is beginning to seem way too long to wait. I want to read this book - NOW! <bg>

Rach
Blogging at Paris Empire

Options

#16 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 9:20 PM

From blueeyedbroad Posts 1003 Last Nov-24
To Marte Brengle [Msg # 65285.16 65285.12 ]

Hi Marte,

I caught that too and am assuming that Bree told John "offscreen". Supposedly that means, maybe, that John knew why Jamie needed a stone from him?????

Geege

Options

#17 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 9:35 PM

From A. Edwards SL-R&C Posts 6318 Last 1:37 AM
To Claire G/ SL Exercises [Msg # 65285.17 65285.10 ]

Dear Claire,

All I could think of was "Poor John." Can you imagine how he will ever get through this? How will he interact with either of them in the future?

I don't remember reading any book in the series that made me want the NEXT PART more!

All these weeks of reading people's posts about how they can't wait to read the book. I can't tell you how hard it was not to tell them that they'd feel worse at the end than they ever did at the beginning!! LOL

Allene

Organic Lifestyle Magazine & Green Lifestyle Magazine

www.organiclifestylemagazine.com

www.greenlifestylemagazine.net

Options

#18 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 9:37 PM

From A. Edwards SL-R&C Posts 6318 Last 1:37 AM
To Marte Brengle [Msg # 65285.18 65285.12 ]

I have some vague memory of her telling John something--but not the truth so that one got me wondering, too.

Allene

Organic Lifestyle Magazine & Green Lifestyle Magazine

www.organiclifestylemagazine.com

www.greenlifestylemagazine.net

Options

#19 of 1424 Posted Sep-22 9:51 PM

From dina Posts 84 Last Nov-24
To A. Edwards SL-R&C [Msg # 65285.19 65285.17 ]

Allene,

Yeah..."The wait for Book 8 is really killing me" - talk about watch out what you wish for.<g> Cliffhangers??!!?? I'd put money on the inevitability of a Book 9 just to wrap up the loose ends. Denys R-I???? Jemmy in the tunnel??? Roger & 'Buck'? Fergus and Percy?? I'm sure I left out a few, not to mention the fortunes of war and the vagaries of TT.

As for John - well since Jamie didn't kill him immediately I'm thinking they will all survive this...only Diana can imagine how. I have a sense that she's been setting this up for a while now...

dina

Options