Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Circle by Dave Eggers

4 reviews

phantomgecko's review

challenging sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

I hated this book. It's agonizing to read.

But the 4 star rating isn't a mistake. Eggers had a message and related it perfectly.

Science fiction is a critique of the present. The Circle uses hyperbole but like just barely. The real possibility of this particular dystopia is chilling and sooooo frustrating.

Mae is the perfect protagonist. I didn't agree with a single one of her choices. Everything she chose was wrong or stupid. Her thought processes were believable, though, so it unfortunately all made sense. To have a character that swallowed all the propaganda (and helped create it) as the main character made the message that much more effective. More effective than just having the "bad guys" do all the bad things.

Honestly, I could write a really in depth literary analysis of this novel, but I don't have the time, and doing so would be too depressing/aggravating. And also patronizing, I think. I was originally going to point out specific things that happen in the book and how insidious they are, but...as a reader I trust you to see it. 

It's not subtle. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Classism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Cursing, Fatphobia, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

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 :)

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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

mordshunger's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

4.0

Nice: The writer knows how to produce availability clatter so intense it got my teeth grinding.

Not so nice: The protagonist cannot form a single critical thought and has angelic patience. There is no mention of anyone being as annoyed as I felt, inundated by the pings and rings, screens, metrics, inane messages, hurt egos, benign data flooding in.


I have turned off all notifications and deleted a bunch of apps after this, just for my own sake. Don't get an Alexa, people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Car accident, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Slavery

I think Annie would make a much more compelling protagonist

iridaceae's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Terminal illness, and War

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia