Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Great Circle

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

59 reviews

cboll's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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dannb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.5

4+ for the Marian story… the characters were well-developed and interesting.
2 for Hadley… other than she facilitates “the loop”, I felt like her story detracts from the rest of the book… and makes it unnecessarily long

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nickibreading's review against another edition

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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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sandorando's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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jodar's review against another edition

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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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hayleyvem's review against another edition

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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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madamelacy's review against another edition

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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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