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youngthespian42's review
4.0
I could not stop listening to this book. The anxiety loop of social media has never been better captured in fiction I’ve read. I love the Kafka nature of this insane story. I am jumping into the sequel immediately and cannot wait.
izzylashley's review
2.0
Like the fuck. This book started off phenomenal and I really enjoyed the direction it was going in with the whole electronic dystopia because I mean, as a society that’s where we’re heading. However, Eggers totally dropped it at the end and Mae is an idiot, like not a single redeeming quality at all.
i_am_a_wug's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
katias's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
scary, because too close to the truth. Always thought it's not a good book, because I've read negative reviews - turns out I really enjoyed it (If you can say enjoy with a dark book like that).
nellekeh's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
bettinavanruiswijk's review
2.0
Love the bigger theme, but man it's slow. Too slow to finish, so i skimmed the last parts.
ingo_lembcke's review
2.0
Was put of reading it by the many not so good reviews, and now at 27% I am sure I should have DNF'ed it earlier - if not for the fact, that I want to compare it to the German book (available in some other languages, but not English, as far as I have checked) [b:ZERO|20871473|ZERO|Marc Elsberg|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392831945s/20871473.jpg|40209932]. That one was a fast paced page-turner and also some philosophical commentary on our current reality re-Facebook/Twitter/Mail/Snowden/Anonymous/etc. - something to think about.
So far, that is all missing here, most is boring work-stuff and some inner dialogue from the unsure and un-likeable MC, boring. May well be a 1 star end-result, but I still have hope.
So far could have been cut about 80% without missing any story.
MC is a spineless git, putty in the hands of her superiors and co-workers.
51% Update:
Some Sex-Scenes, but still mostly boring, very little happens, just too much work and too many things for the MC to do simultaneously - pressure gets higher, but no suspense and not very interesting. Real interesting things are integrated very subtly, the things Circle is doing, also with the critics, are nearly hidden in the non-story of the MC. Which makes me fear if I try to read this in Fast-Forward, I will miss the few good points this book tries to make.
But it drags on and on, and I have yet started a second (and third and ...) book in-between reading.
30-Dec-2016 / 68% Hope to finish it this year (2016), might go FF till the ending. One of the most boring books. Reading both Circle and [bc:Nerve|13088498|Nerve|Jeanne Ryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1338287597s/13088498.jpg|18259748] (with a different cover, the Movie-tie-in-Cover) and hope to finish both before 2017 starts wither a whimper, not with a bang.
And then I will probably never again start a book by this incredibly bad author. Hopefully the movie is more entertaining.
28-Jun-2017 / 81% yawn, going through the motions. Will try to end this one way or the other this year, hopefully. Worst writing ever. Promising idea butchered by someone who does not know how to write interesting.
Ending was ok.
So 2 stars, not recommended, so far one of the worst written books I finished - somehow, with going fast-forward through the text - 1 star for the idea, 1 star for the ending.
As I tend to rate the ending with a star, you might think, 2 stars is too much.
Too long chapters, no action, nearly no sex, unlikeable, unbelievable bad MC, who is the typical cult-follower, would have felt right at home in Manson's Clan. This book could have done with more action, more sex, more everything. Instead it consists of the inner thoughts of a person I would glad to not ever have known her. For some reason I think of Katniss (Tributes of Panem), with all the manipulation. Only Katniss was for the Greater Good, while this one (name forgotten) is not.
So not recommended, stay away from this author and this time-waster of a book. Hopefully someone more skilled writes a better book with the same idea. The time it took me to get through this, with more than a year (May 2016 till July 2017) is testament I should have DNF'ed this in the beginning, but I was blended as this is supposed to be a bestseller AND filmed. OK, now I have been burned by quite a few books (Gone Girl, probably also Girl on a train, not DNF yet), so I should know better, I will try to keep that in mind for the future.
So far, that is all missing here, most is boring work-stuff and some inner dialogue from the unsure and un-likeable MC, boring. May well be a 1 star end-result, but I still have hope.
So far could have been cut about 80% without missing any story.
MC is a spineless git, putty in the hands of her superiors and co-workers.
51% Update:
Some Sex-Scenes, but still mostly boring, very little happens, just too much work and too many things for the MC to do simultaneously - pressure gets higher, but no suspense and not very interesting. Real interesting things are integrated very subtly, the things Circle is doing, also with the critics, are nearly hidden in the non-story of the MC. Which makes me fear if I try to read this in Fast-Forward, I will miss the few good points this book tries to make.
But it drags on and on, and I have yet started a second (and third and ...) book in-between reading.
30-Dec-2016 / 68% Hope to finish it this year (2016), might go FF till the ending. One of the most boring books. Reading both Circle and [bc:Nerve|13088498|Nerve|Jeanne Ryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1338287597s/13088498.jpg|18259748] (with a different cover, the Movie-tie-in-Cover) and hope to finish both before 2017 starts wither a whimper, not with a bang.
And then I will probably never again start a book by this incredibly bad author. Hopefully the movie is more entertaining.
28-Jun-2017 / 81% yawn, going through the motions. Will try to end this one way or the other this year, hopefully. Worst writing ever. Promising idea butchered by someone who does not know how to write interesting.
Ending was ok.
So 2 stars, not recommended, so far one of the worst written books I finished - somehow, with going fast-forward through the text - 1 star for the idea, 1 star for the ending.
As I tend to rate the ending with a star, you might think, 2 stars is too much.
Too long chapters, no action, nearly no sex, unlikeable, unbelievable bad MC, who is the typical cult-follower, would have felt right at home in Manson's Clan. This book could have done with more action, more sex, more everything. Instead it consists of the inner thoughts of a person I would glad to not ever have known her. For some reason I think of Katniss (Tributes of Panem), with all the manipulation. Only Katniss was for the Greater Good, while this one (name forgotten) is not.
So not recommended, stay away from this author and this time-waster of a book. Hopefully someone more skilled writes a better book with the same idea. The time it took me to get through this, with more than a year (May 2016 till July 2017) is testament I should have DNF'ed this in the beginning, but I was blended as this is supposed to be a bestseller AND filmed. OK, now I have been burned by quite a few books (Gone Girl, probably also Girl on a train, not DNF yet), so I should know better, I will try to keep that in mind for the future.
rachd24's review
3.0
Check out my full review of the book and movie here:
https://confessionsofabookgeek.com/2017/08/18/review-the-circle-book-movie/
I’d heard about this book for quite a while before I finally decided to pick it up, the final push being the release of the movie adaptation, of the same name, starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks.
Originally published in 2013, Eggers book strikes at a time when the plot of The Circle really isn’t beyond the realms of possibility, which makes it both an incredibly interesting read, and a genuine concern for the future.
The plot of the book is enticing, as it plucks a young woman from relative obscurity, working a standard 9-5 job, and throws her into the exciting world of exploding tech start-ups, where you can earn a small fortune by being a social media influencer, and where attending on-site concerts is considered part of your job.
Mae is a difficult character, who is not only hard to like, but difficult to get to know, because it seems as though she has so few opinions or beliefs of her own. This makes it easier for Eggers to convince us that she follows along blindly with whatever she is told to do, but it also makes her feel less real, and we empathise with her less. This lack of personality may be intentional, to show an essentially brain-washed culture, but it let the book down, because she is so one-dimensional.
Both the movie and the book were exhausting to read and watch at times. The level of activity demanded by The Circle, the idea of always being “on”, the notion that privacy is no longer a good thing or a basic right, that privacy is corrupt and wrong, and therefore full transparency is the only way to live. That’s just scary as hell!
Overall, I found the book to be reasonably enjoyable, but, it wasn't quite what was expecting, and I felt so many of the ideas didn’t seem fully developed, and certain interesting sub-plots ultimately amounted to nothing.
The Rating
3.5/5
https://confessionsofabookgeek.com/2017/08/18/review-the-circle-book-movie/
I’d heard about this book for quite a while before I finally decided to pick it up, the final push being the release of the movie adaptation, of the same name, starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks.
Originally published in 2013, Eggers book strikes at a time when the plot of The Circle really isn’t beyond the realms of possibility, which makes it both an incredibly interesting read, and a genuine concern for the future.
The plot of the book is enticing, as it plucks a young woman from relative obscurity, working a standard 9-5 job, and throws her into the exciting world of exploding tech start-ups, where you can earn a small fortune by being a social media influencer, and where attending on-site concerts is considered part of your job.
Mae is a difficult character, who is not only hard to like, but difficult to get to know, because it seems as though she has so few opinions or beliefs of her own. This makes it easier for Eggers to convince us that she follows along blindly with whatever she is told to do, but it also makes her feel less real, and we empathise with her less. This lack of personality may be intentional, to show an essentially brain-washed culture, but it let the book down, because she is so one-dimensional.
Both the movie and the book were exhausting to read and watch at times. The level of activity demanded by The Circle, the idea of always being “on”, the notion that privacy is no longer a good thing or a basic right, that privacy is corrupt and wrong, and therefore full transparency is the only way to live. That’s just scary as hell!
Overall, I found the book to be reasonably enjoyable, but, it wasn't quite what was expecting, and I felt so many of the ideas didn’t seem fully developed, and certain interesting sub-plots ultimately amounted to nothing.
The Rating
3.5/5
peytondani's review
3.0
definitely one to read for the concept above anything else. loved that it was somewhere between “normal” society and dystopia, showing the transitional phase between the two. however, the characters were all mostly archetypal, the plot was largely predictable, and there were random bouts of fluff. while i can say that i didn’t expect the twist, i didn’t expect it because it makes absolutely no sense. but again, the concept is great and absolutely fits very well into our modern discourse surrounding technology and social media’s affect on privacy and democracy.