Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

30 reviews

jodar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Well-written and strangely absorbing, but what an odd mix of themes: semi-orphans abandoned to an incapable uncle; a frontier-like childhood; a nasty marriage with liquor-running adventures; wilderness solitude (more than once); a war story; a movie star; an adventure story of long-distance flight.

Scarcely an admirable character appears at all, except perhaps for secondary and tertiary characters. How to think of the MC, her twin brother and closest childhood-then-adult friend? Introverted, certainly, but none to me are attractive. All have their own obsessions (flying, art, wilderness) and seem to care only about their own selfish needs.

There’s sexual promiscuity by the main characters throughout, with barely any consideration for consequences to others. Steps to avoid pregnancy are detailed, but non-historical is the lack of any concern for venereal disease at a time of horrible and inadequate treatment. This ignorance doesn’t even make sense while the characters are young and isolated from society, as the prostitutes the MC befriends would surely be knowledgeable. It’s anachronistic behaviour till after the 1950s–1960s at least, when effective treatments became available and the ‘sexual revolution’ began to take off. The trope of non-heterosexual relationships as some sort of forbidden and secret enlightenment arises, of course; it’s seemingly unavoidable these days.

From time to time throughout the MC’s life and for sure at the end, the futility of existence and a resigned nihilism comes to the fore:

All the times she [the MC] has brushed against death, she’s never given much thought to what might come after. Now she considers it. She supposes there will be nothing. She supposes each of us destroys the world. We close our eyes and snuff out all that has existed, all that will ever be. (Final chapter, “The End”)

This is the malignancy that American individualism and its preoccupation with freedom looks like, I suppose, when it is untempered by a wider Christian concern towards others in society or a belief in the ultimate importance of our actions. I doubt this is what the author intends the reader to come away with, however.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Abandonment, Death, Suicidal thoughts, War, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abortion, Murder, Grief, and Infidelity

hayleyvem's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Gun violence, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Violence, War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Rape, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

madamelacy's review

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book recounts the life story of a fictional female aviator, Marian Graves. There’s also a dual timeline story with Hadley, an actress who’s playing Marian in a movie based on her life.

I really liked Marian’s story, but there were so many digressions, insertions about aviation history and bits which simply felt irrelevant. 

I didn’t like Hadley’s story and I really didn’t feel like she added anything to the story. The denouement could have been done without her. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and War

Minor: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Homophobia

bonz_authorshipdown's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This book is honestly one of the best I’ve ever read. The blurb and the summaries do not fully explain what you will go through reading this, the entire explanation of Marian’s parents, then her childhood, the characters of Jamie and Caleb, all of it is a perfect illustration of her story.
The story of Hadley echoes this too, all that surrounds her and her personality is also wonderful, showing sides of modern people not often reflected in a way that Maggie writes them.
Marians love of flying, her growing up, girlhood, her marriage, her love and her sexuality is all explored incredibly, and I would really recommend this to ANYBODY.

An absolute work of art. A wonderful book, thank you.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, War, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Incest

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

I need to put an indefinite pause on reading non-genre adult fiction by mainstream authors from mainstream publishers. Even the most reputedly "groundbreaking" among them have a resigned conventionality that just... exhausts me, and much of their so-called novelty is authors retreading old ground while trying to one-up each other in how "edgy" they can be.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Death, Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infidelity, War, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Postpartum depression

baileylemoine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and War

antoniav's review

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, War, and Rape

Moderate: Death, Alcoholism, and Sexism

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion

rosie_b's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is a tricky book to review because I enjoyed the second half but the first half was SO slow and meandered aimlessly. I almost gave up on it a few times but kept reading because another review on here said the ending was satisfying, and it was. I think I’d have enjoyed the book more if the first half had been condensed.

Additionally, I found the grooming storyline really hard to keep reading.

 
Check out the content warnings because there’s a lot, and the first half especially contains some hard to read stuff. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Abortion, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Grief, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Mental illness

maryclaire92's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Reading this started as a marathon, but finished in a sprint! I enjoyed learning every little tidbit I could from every scrap of text about Marion. The switches in POV and time kept the story fresh and added to the momentum for me. I found myself the least interested in the modern actress Hadley who is portraying Marion in a film, but loved the way that she was tied in more meaningfully towards the end and couldn’t put the book down for the last 150 pages or so. 

If I’m being honest, it dragged at times for me, but that can also be attributed to me reading it towards the end of this semester of grad school. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Rape, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Homophobia, and Misogyny

sophiegs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Abortion and Grief