Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

60 reviews

noemieblue's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

Big big revelation for me. I went into it thinking that it was going to be so far out of my comfort zone and tricky to get through, and ended up getting so sucked into the story and its characters that I read 250 pages in one day. The length of the novel allows to develop every character that comes into the story, to dig into their past and future and it makes the universe so much more real. There is a great payoff at the end. I had such a wonderful experience reading this. Putting together the puzzle that is Marian Graves life was fascinating. Turns out I love historical fiction, and the few links to contemporary-Hollywood also helped with the relatability. Really great surprise! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence

juli_powers's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book primarily follows two story lines - the life of Marion Graves and that or Hadley who is cast as Marion in an indie film on her life. The author focuses on Marion and has an easy to follow quick note to begin each chapter that tells you where you are chronologically. While it occasionally jumps, it's quite easy to tell where and when you are. Marion, her brother Jamie and their friend Caleb have a rough childhood and all take different paths in life. Marion is dead set on flying planes and will do anything she can, including cropping her hair and dressing like a boy to smuggle moonshine for money, to do so. Meanwhile Hadley lost her parents in a plane crash and is similarly raised by her uncle until his untimely death. Hadley is wealthy from her movies and TV shows, but otherwise a mess. She ends up on a mission to discover what really happened with Marion and her plane disappearance. 

The one thing that threw me is that there are so many characters. It can be hard to recall who someone is. The author is quick to provide a back story on someone new and cleverly ties then into the story itself. This book ended and I returned to reread the beginning as it captures Marions thoughts before her final leg of the flight and it was great to reread it. This book was a wild ride that I just didn't want to put down. 

"I thought I would become more than I am, but instead I know I am less than I thought.

No one should ever read this. My life is my one possession.

And yet, and yet, and yet."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Alcoholism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, War, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Animal death

Minor: Abortion, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Pregnancy, and Incest

nicoleamanfu's review against another edition

adventurous reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, Addiction, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, War, Dysphoria, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gore, Sexism, Alcoholism, Abortion, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Hate crime

kaitlanl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Addiction, War, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Incest

Minor: Suicide attempt, Abortion, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Suicide

prettycloud's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I kept catching myself wanting a movie of this book, even though I know book-movies are often disappointing, and indeed the book itself shows how much movies can miss. But this book is so visually beautiful, a delight for the mind's eye that draws from perspective characters' longings and aesthetic sensibilities to set its scenes. Though it is a long book, I never felt weighed down—when the plot doesn't move forward, the characters do, and this book is much about people's relationships to themselves and each other as it is about Graves attempting her "great circle." I liked the meditations on disappearance and death, on people's purpose in life and the interactions of chance and fate. This book has so much life in it, so much energy and realness and joy. And yet it also explores the legendary, and there is a pervading larger-than-life feeling even as we read about Marian's day-to-day life. It will be a while before I finish processing this one, because the questions it asks are woven so neatly into the story itself, but they're there. I guess, bottom-line, if you find yourself spending too long reading the Wikipedia articles of celebrities, this book might be for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, War, Child abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Dementia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Vomit, Abortion, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Terminal illness

Minor: Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Child death, Body shaming, and Fire/Fire injury

About the adult/minor relationship:

There's a pretty extensive section where Marian is a teenager in a relationship with a gangster in his late twenties and early thirties. She loves and desires him, but he stalks, extorts, and rapes her as he becomes more desperate to make her into the woman he wants.

The main themes of the book have to do with death and grief, so that and suicide by extension are very present throughout the book, though the deaths that happen are seldom described in great detail.

jccausey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

paolina's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Took me ages to get through this one. I was always engaged while reading it, but seldom felt like picking it back up again when I set it down for a while due to all the hardships the characters go through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual violence, Suicide, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, War, Infidelity, Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

booknerdnative's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, War, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Addiction

Minor: Abortion

the_bitchy_booker's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, War, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

3.0

I didn't hate this book, I didn't love this book, it was very much a middle-of-the-road kind of book. I'm glad I read it, and I enjoyed parts of it. But I do think it was too long, and that made it hard to get through. I struggled with the audiobook too—it was hard to remember characters and dates, especially at the beginning, because there was a lot of back and forth between timelines and perspectives.

Anyway, things I liked include:
- Marian, of course, who gets some stellar development over the course of the story
- Jamie, the sweetest animal-loving vegetarian artist who I just wanted to hug
- all of the aviation stuff—learned a lot about planes
- the second half of the book
- older, Hawaii-living Caleb
- that the ending managed to surprise me, and it wasn't the kind of bittersweet/depressing/thought-provoking ending you'd expect from this kind of book. It was still thought-provoking, but in a different way that I liked and found more powerful

Things I didn't like:
- the first half of the book (and basically everything with Barclay McQueen...)
- most of Hadley's story...some of it was interesting but overall I was much more interested in Marian's story and wanted to stay in her storyline
- a lot of the relationships were doomed because of self-sabotage by the characters basically...I can only handle so much self-sabotage
- the length of this book

Basically I think I would've enjoyed this book a lot more if the beginning was pared down a lot, if it was just about Marian with no present-day timeline, and if I had read the physical book. I'm still glad I read it! But it's a hard one to recommend to people because of the length. Lots of people have loved it though, and there are some rave reviews out there. So read it if you want, and then let me know what you thought of it :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Rape, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse