Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

The Great Circle Literary Sagas by Maggie Shipstead

95 reviews

nickibreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Truly a gripping read, everytime the POV altered that character became my favorite again except for Hadley at the end because Marian was just soooo exciting). Even when the characters are making bad decisions, I’m still right there with them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Suicide and Abortion

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.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Abortion, and Murder

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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

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

madamelacy's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

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

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion

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.

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Content Warnings

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

karingforbooks's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

3.25

The premise is interesting and what parts focused on the circumnavigation were fascinating and enjoyable. But the author jumps around a lot and I’m not sure what the point of Hadley was. She felt superfluous since we had all the other info through Marian anyway. Also the focus on sex and relationships drove me up the wall. Every other page there was a reference to or discussion of sex that was unnecessary and added nothing. I think if this were 300 pages it would have been much better 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Abortion

hinkleh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and War

Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy

ppppaula's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

I adored the main story about Marian and all of the historical side stories, but the present day story about the actress added nothing and to me, was unnecessary. This would have been a 5 star read without it.  The writing was spot on, and the historical stories were so well told from the get go and really gave a sense of place and character. I really could picture the different places, especially Missoula, Alaska, Seattle & Antartica. Loved the stories about Addison, the ship,, Jamie, Eddy, Caleb, Wallace, and of course Marian. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Abortion, Abandonment, and Alcohol

antoniav's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, and Sexism

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Abortion

ell_n's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Abortion