Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Circle by Dave Eggers

6 reviews

queen_of_vice's review

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

It's not worth it because it doesn't add anything new or relevant to the conversation within it's genre.

I'm so disappointed we read this garbage in school instead of a good dystopian novel.

The author literally bragged about not having researched anything about how the internet and technical stuff he tried to include in his story work and it shows. 

All the characters are unlikable and the 'romance' plot was so unnecessary and bad. The sex scenes were even worse.
The author can't write realistic women either.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming

Moderate: Suicide, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

bookish_bridget's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was so excellently written and provides amazing social commentary. It really makes you think about the reality that we live in and where advances in technology can take us. I was so engaged the entire time I read this and it had me wondering what was going to happen next every time I read it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual assault

samdalefox's review

challenging 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? It's complicated

2.5

I read this because I had heard good reviews from people who don't usually read dystopican sci-fi type books, plus I saw the film advertsied on netflix and thought I'd like to read the book before trying the film. So I didn't have high expectations, but I did have expectations. I think that people like The Circle so much precisely because they've not read other dystopian scifi. If you’ve never swam in the ocean then of course a pool seems deep. The Circle is ok, but it's nothing new (totalitarian corporate capitalist technocracy has been around for decades) and it's certainly not done well. Eggers even cocks up the references and definitions by referring to it as communism....twice.

The usual themes emerge: the use, scope, and abuse of power that comes with who can own, access, and benefit/be penalised by technology. The limits of personal privacy and individualism vs the 'collective good' of transparency. The importance of consent and having the option to opt out. Very limited commentary on the role and limitations of democracy. It touched upon more modern ermeging issues such as changes to people's sense of identity, belonging, and self worth i.e., "The tools you use, artificially manufacture unaturally extreme social needs". Plus the addictiveness, feeling of urgency, and faux-connectedness of being 'very online'. In a nutshell, a society that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.

I agree with the review referenced below. I will also add that I found Mae's character unbelievably naive. Even accounting for her desperate need for praise and age. For me things went downhill rapidly after the end of book one with her announcement

of going transparent

. Most events that occurred did so slowly, repetitively, superficially, predictably and naively. The ending did not surprise me or disappoint me, it was simply one big meh. It didn't scare me at all. In short, there are other books out there that have covered these topics in greater depth, with more interesting angles, and with a better command of storytelling. I'd recommend first reading Liu Cixin's scifi short story 'The Mirror'.

dllh's review: 

"This is fine, if a bit long and baggy, for like commodity fiction, but it was really disappointing as a book from an author with literary proclivities. It's an important subject whose potential is ruined in this book by a failure at some of the basics of writing well. The characters are just barely two dimensional, and their interactions often feel as if written by somebody who has never actually witnessed human interaction outside of badly written dialogue. The details of the book are sufficiently close to our current reality as to not feel outlandishly dystopian but sufficiently off kilter as to not feel quite real, which makes reading it a really strange experience. To work well, fiction of this sort needs to be either outlandish or close enough to reality that the divergences from reality are really significant, and I don't think Eggers achieves that balance."

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

robyn_fenix's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Suicide, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Cancer, and Stalking

Minor: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Abandonment, Slavery, Cancer, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, and Sexual assault

mizreads's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Started out hating this book because I felt the characters were flat and boring and kinda forced. I would've dropped it if it weren't for the fact I had to read it for class. Decided to listen to an audiobook so I'm able to read while playing games. Not a bad experience - the narrator's voice was pretty good and I liked his performance, and was probably a big reason why I didn't completely drop the story altogether.

On the content - it's really interesting but unfortunately I think it goes around and around in a circle (ha! pun intended) a little too much. A lot of things could've been cut down in my opinion. Regardless, I do like the fact that we see Mae's slow turn into a villain, I actually quite liked it. I'm still not the biggest fan of Mae, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicide

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