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oleducky's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Difficult to read due to excessive repetition and the dumbest main character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Minor: Car accident, Body shaming, Child abuse, and Child death
asafekindofhigh's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicide, Body shaming, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
cecinamo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Really good and terrifying book!
Sometimes it really stressed me out reading about how social interaction and having no privacy were basically mandatory o_o…
The mc is a classical unreliable narrator. It’s maddening how self centered and close minded she is at some points.
The book explores the dangers of a completely digitalized and surveilled world. It’s very interesting and scary.
I think the ending fell a bit short, but overall it was very good! :>
Sometimes it really stressed me out reading about how social interaction and having no privacy were basically mandatory o_o…
The mc is a classical unreliable narrator. It’s maddening how self centered and close minded she is at some points.
The book explores the dangers of a completely digitalized and surveilled world. It’s very interesting and scary.
I think the ending fell a bit short, but overall it was very good! :>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Car accident, Suicide, Alcohol, Animal death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Gaslighting, Blood, Stalking, Misogyny, Grief, Death, and Mental illness
theloveroflovers's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
The characters are so unlikable that at some point you get the urge to keep reading to see them realise their stupidity. The writting stile is good but to detailed, slow-paced. The book was too long and the end wasn't sadisfying.
If you wanr to read the book, listen to the audibook instead.
If you wanr to read the book, listen to the audibook instead.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Car accident, and Sexual content
Moderate: Child abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Pedophilia, Cancer, Cursing, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Classism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Murder
augie_'s review
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Death, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Child death, and Child abuse
eule's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I like and loathe this book simultaneously. This book is important to read. It’s important to understand and stress the right to anonymity. „We must all have the right to disappear“ as a certain character (no spoiler) put it in the book. While I believe this book is crucial to read, I still hate it wholeheartedly. Why, you may ask?
- I hate nearly all characters, especially the main character, Mae Holland (arrogant, naïve, selfish, indecisive, biased, disgusting, facile, ignorant, … the list goes on)
- I hate the weird relationships she has (never call the tip of a penis crown again)
- I hate Mae’s non-existing personality (why did they chose poor Emma Watson in the movie???)
- I hate that this book has no chapters (Is it meant to be a circle with no ending or beginning?)
- I hate that character development is missing (she had so many chances to change her behavior), even though that’s the whole point of the book: she is supposed to represent the people blindly following a monopoly system
- I hate the fatphobia and the CONSTANT MANIPULATION, HELP
- I hate and love simultaneously that the plot is „just“ about the life at the company and how it takes over the world
- I am confused about the tension. I was sometimes bored to death because she was rendering about her „dumb friends (Mercer and Annie) and family (her parents). And in the next moment I wanted to know if we will ever get revenge on this entitled bitch and the inveterate circle
You see, I am enraged about this book and that’s the whole point, I believe. We have to understand that this book, even though it was published 10 years ago, is a mirror to today’s reality (have Google, Facebook and co in mind). Still you could have easily shortened the book by 100/200 pages.
Ps: thank you to my friend Nex for letting me buy this book from him :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Medical content, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Abandonment, Child death, and Colonisation
jayjaystrawbae's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Ok. This book was an interesting read. Reading one page left me wanting to read more. I loved how enjoyable the first section of this book was. I wanted to live in their world , until I didn’t. It delves into a technology dystopian world that is not too far off from our own. Many people have said this trope has been done before, but I cannot speak on that as this is the first dystopian book that I have read. But it was really scary to see the world become progressively more and more totalitarian. And I enjoyed it. You follow the main character Mae through life at the Circle. And i think Eggers did a good job at showing the effects of a lack of privacy.
Now, my one digression is with Mae. She constantly showed the readers how much she lacked a brain. While, I try to understand the fact that the Circle has become her life now, I’m also shocked that even after everyone leaves her, she still believes in the power of the Circle. Even after the death of Mercer, which had been done by her hands. Or the loss of a relationship with her parents. Even her best friend wanting to get out of it all. Who was obviously not mentally ok. Now I’m not sure if Annie tried to kill herself or not, but we can all agree Mae showed a lot of obliviousness to the entire situation.
One thing I can say, Eggers did an amazing job at making me dislike her. Which I don’t think is a negative quality. While annoying, i saw it as her being a product of her environment. She hated her life before the Circle. She hated not being seen and heard, but they gave her the chance to be loved in ways she never got before. Why would she leave that? To go back to an office job she hated. Or parents who don’t want anything to do with her.
The end of the book was a mess. But I’m glad she didn’t choose to be convinced by Kalden so easily. And it really exemplified how far the Circle would go to “know” everything.
“They needed to talk about Annie, the thoughts she was thinking. Why shouldn’t they know them? The world deserved nothing less and would not wait” (Eggers, 491)
Extra: I don’t have a problem with nothing happening with the sex tape between Francis and Mae. I just wish some accountability was taken by Mae. I would’ve loved anything that went against Mae and succeeded. A moment of failure for her. Apart from 368 people not liking her. Eyeroll. Mae was the example of a perfect person who still felt deeply troubled internally, while Annie’s family’s past led to her ultimate collapse. Mae was indeed not 100% transparent. About her feelings. Having to put on a show for the camera daily, when inside she just wanted to crumble away. What would’ve happened if she had done whatever she wanted, instead of whatever everyone else wanted. Ultimately, she became a slave to the Circle, leaving behind anyone and everyone who might actually care about her. And that, I think is her own personal punishment.
If you want to discuss more, dm me at @marklukesandman
Now, my one digression is with Mae. She constantly showed the readers how much she lacked a brain. While, I try to understand the fact that the Circle has become her life now, I’m also shocked that even after everyone leaves her, she still believes in the power of the Circle. Even after the death of Mercer, which had been done by her hands. Or the loss of a relationship with her parents. Even her best friend wanting to get out of it all. Who was obviously not mentally ok. Now I’m not sure if Annie tried to kill herself or not, but we can all agree Mae showed a lot of obliviousness to the entire situation.
One thing I can say, Eggers did an amazing job at making me dislike her. Which I don’t think is a negative quality. While annoying, i saw it as her being a product of her environment. She hated her life before the Circle. She hated not being seen and heard, but they gave her the chance to be loved in ways she never got before. Why would she leave that? To go back to an office job she hated. Or parents who don’t want anything to do with her.
The end of the book was a mess. But I’m glad she didn’t choose to be convinced by Kalden so easily. And it really exemplified how far the Circle would go to “know” everything.
“They needed to talk about Annie, the thoughts she was thinking. Why shouldn’t they know them? The world deserved nothing less and would not wait” (Eggers, 491)
Extra: I don’t have a problem with nothing happening with the sex tape between Francis and Mae. I just wish some accountability was taken by Mae. I would’ve loved anything that went against Mae and succeeded. A moment of failure for her. Apart from 368 people not liking her. Eyeroll. Mae was the example of a perfect person who still felt deeply troubled internally, while Annie’s family’s past led to her ultimate collapse. Mae was indeed not 100% transparent. About her feelings. Having to put on a show for the camera daily, when inside she just wanted to crumble away. What would’ve happened if she had done whatever she wanted, instead of whatever everyone else wanted. Ultimately, she became a slave to the Circle, leaving behind anyone and everyone who might actually care about her. And that, I think is her own personal punishment.
If you want to discuss more, dm me at @marklukesandman
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Bullying, Death, and Car accident
Minor: Child abuse, Alcohol, Child death, Classism, and Death
nenaveenstra's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Re-reading this book in 2023 was an interesting experience, because I could see a lot of parallels with current technology and attempts at making a complete online habitat, such as Meta, but at the same time I know how much people value seeing each other in real life and going outside and having privacy. Hell, people value privacy so much that they refused to take a vaccine because it allegedly had chips in it. I don't think something like the Circle would ever exist and that made this story much less terrifying. And I remember being terrified when I read this in 2016.
This time, I was mostly frustrated, because the main character doesn't challenge anything anyone says until she's brainwashed so much that she estranges herself from her family for the sake of transparancy. Considering how much she cared about her family before, it almost felt impossible. It's not impossible, of course, because the Circle is a cult, and its leaders are charismatic and good with words. And cults are very real. So I guess that's the more scary part to me - the way someone can influence you so much that you forget your own morals.
There were some passages in here that I think could be cut, like the aquarium scenes. Like, I understand that Ty uses the shark as a metaphor at the end, and sure, that's poetic and all, but it wasn't necessary in order to make a point and it made the book quite a bit longer than it needed to be.
I'm interested in the sequel, as I believe it's about people rebelling against the system, and that's exactly what I wanted from this book. Hopefully that one will be a little bit less frustrating :)
This time, I was mostly frustrated, because the main character doesn't challenge anything anyone says until she's brainwashed so much that she estranges herself from her family for the sake of transparancy. Considering how much she cared about her family before, it almost felt impossible. It's not impossible, of course, because the Circle is a cult, and its leaders are charismatic and good with words. And cults are very real. So I guess that's the more scary part to me - the way someone can influence you so much that you forget your own morals.
There were some passages in here that I think could be cut, like the aquarium scenes. Like, I understand that Ty uses the shark as a metaphor at the end, and sure, that's poetic and all, but it wasn't necessary in order to make a point and it made the book quite a bit longer than it needed to be.
I'm interested in the sequel, as I believe it's about people rebelling against the system, and that's exactly what I wanted from this book. Hopefully that one will be a little bit less frustrating :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Car accident, Eating disorder, and Terminal illness
Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Ableism, Death, and Sexual harassment
milaju's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
This book‘s characters really seem to have no to little personality whatsoever. The development of the story is boring and slow and there is no real plot twist that influences the story. If it had, I might have preferred the new ending. Mae fatshaming Mercer was on another level and portraits a very intolerant picture to readers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Minor: Child death and Slavery
norwegianforestreader's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Car accident, Chronic illness, Grief, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Suicide, Classism, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders