Outlander Book Club: Book 1, Chapter 1 breakdown
The connections to the TV show
Our final section of the Outlander book club is focused on how this chapter was transformed for the TV show.
There were certainly a lot of characters cut out. Claire mentions two characters that weren’t once mentioned in the show. They’re minor characters, so it’s not surprising that they were cut from the series. Their storylines could be connected to Reverend Wakefield, who is important.
Mrs. Baird doesn’t really have as big of a part in the show. That’s not surprising either. Really, her role is that of the B&B owner just to start the story.
Many of Claire’s thoughts about Frank’s love of history and the conversations they have are shown with the two having conversations. Or they’re told through Frank having a conversation with Reverend Wakefield while Claire is around. We get to see her way of amusing Frank as he is so passionate about his research. During the show, we see it play out in real-time and then we see things through flashbacks when Claire is in the past.
This was the best way of handling the first chapter in the series. The show needed to offer a pilot that captured the network bosses and would offer a great insight into the show for both book-first and show-first fans. Turning the first chapter into the show would have taken up a lot of time in the pilot and there probably wouldn’t have been enough time to introduce Jamie.
After all, the first chapter took me about 30 minutes to read slowly to capture all the details—and the way Diana Gabaldon writes, there are a lot of details. We’ve only just got to the ghost!
Speaking of the ghost, the book only tells us what Frank tells Claire. This is a story written from Claire’s point of view. Something the show manages to do is show us Frank’s point of view. TV needs the third person point of view, allowing for more developed side characters.
Oh, and by the way, Claire buys vases in the book. In the show, she’s only looking at one vase and she doesn’t buy it that we see.
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What did you notice in the first chapter that you’ve never noticed before? What connections did you make to the TV show? Share in the comments below.
The Outlander Book Club continues daily on Claire and Jamie.