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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
Crazy ideas and possible nightmares! This story seems so far-fetched and just right around the corner all at the same time. Definitely for people who think that social media is the beginning of the end. Technology seems so easy and fun, but at the same time it could easily get carried away. Great book. Now I want to see the movie and see if it's similar or not.
What a beautifully awful tale of a girl who falls face first into a sinkhole of a cult.
While I will do my best to avoid spoiling plot in detail I will tag this as having spoilers.
You have been warned.
Mae is an “average girl” working a crap job post college. Her friend Annie invites her to a job at The Circle, the world’s most up and coming technology company, promising success and a career to last a life time.
What no one knows is this decision would lead to the unraveling of life as everyone knows it.
The Circle morphs and over the course of the three “books” we see the stages Mae goes through in becoming a member of what even her ex, Mercer, describes as a cult.
By the end she betrays the person she seemed to love, Annie is near dead on a ventilator, and Mae has become one of the most influential members of The Circle as they continue to march towards Completion- total control over information, people, and the world as a whole.
While there are some detractors in terms of the way Mae is written (male authors can sometimes cause some oddness in their mannerisms) I would give this a (edited after forethought) 4/5.
I have not read a book in years that took me this long to finish and this long to get past 40%. There were times I felt the beginning dragging on, but having finished it I can see the slow burn taking its time so that the ending can have its intended impact.
By the end you’ll feel for the character she betrays, screaming “Mae! No!”.
A suspenseful horrifying tale, with a resounding recommendation.
With reality quickly approaching this nightmare, it may be a good chance to devour it before it’s too late.
——————————————————————————————
Read more reviews like this here or other socials when posted @thelibraryfromscratch . We haven’t scanned our full library but own well over 1,000 books including this novels sequel - The Every.
A short aside I bought The Every, published in 2021, not knowing it was a sequel. Glad I chose to pick The Circle up, rather than exchanging The Every for something else.
Thank you for reading, I’ll see you next time!
While I will do my best to avoid spoiling plot in detail I will tag this as having spoilers.
You have been warned.
Mae is an “average girl” working a crap job post college. Her friend Annie invites her to a job at The Circle, the world’s most up and coming technology company, promising success and a career to last a life time.
What no one knows is this decision would lead to the unraveling of life as everyone knows it.
The Circle morphs and over the course of the three “books” we see the stages Mae goes through in becoming a member of what even her ex, Mercer, describes as a cult.
By the end she betrays the person she seemed to love, Annie is near dead on a ventilator, and Mae has become one of the most influential members of The Circle as they continue to march towards Completion- total control over information, people, and the world as a whole.
While there are some detractors in terms of the way Mae is written (male authors can sometimes cause some oddness in their mannerisms) I would give this a (edited after forethought) 4/5.
I have not read a book in years that took me this long to finish and this long to get past 40%. There were times I felt the beginning dragging on, but having finished it I can see the slow burn taking its time so that the ending can have its intended impact.
By the end you’ll feel for the character she betrays, screaming “Mae! No!”.
A suspenseful horrifying tale, with a resounding recommendation.
With reality quickly approaching this nightmare, it may be a good chance to devour it before it’s too late.
——————————————————————————————
Read more reviews like this here or other socials when posted @thelibraryfromscratch . We haven’t scanned our full library but own well over 1,000 books including this novels sequel - The Every.
A short aside I bought The Every, published in 2021, not knowing it was a sequel. Glad I chose to pick The Circle up, rather than exchanging The Every for something else.
Thank you for reading, I’ll see you next time!
Definitely food for thought. Can one company take over our every thought? Do we have a right to privacy? Are secrets lies? Midway through I found myself thinking "this is about a cult" and "how can she buy all this BS" yet here in Silicon Valley, I can picture others wishing to join this fictional company. I love technology as much as the next person (as I sit here connected to wifi on the train typing on my work laptop while my tablet and smartphone rest in my backpack) but reading this book makes me want to take a step back, unplug for awhile.
This book was a good treatment of the complexity and dangers of the digital age and its increasing levels of exposure. The writing, especially the dialogue, was much better than Your Fathers, Where Are They? And The Prophets, Do They Live Forever? by the same author. It was more engaging and "thrilling" than that book, which also addressed some issues that plague this generation in particular. Being genuinely known takes more than data. The line by Mercer regarding the day and night was particularly eloquent. Overall, a good read, worth the time to read and thoughtfully consider the principles.
What an incredibly long-winded book with an infuriating main character! I wanted to like this book much more than I did - there were so many good concepts that I found interesting however the tangents and boring detail did not make it possible to enjoy completely.
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
If Google, YouTube, Facebook and Yelp merged and required their employees to actively engage with each of their tools, this would happen. Aka our future.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
THIS BOOK STRESSED ME OUT. i didn’t like mae at all, she lost all of her morals so easily and it made me angry. mercer and kalden were the only real ones in this book. it ended in such a disappointing way too. honestly props to dave eggers for writing a book that made me this uncomfortable and stressed as i’m sure that was at least part of his goal when coming up with this story.
So I'm huge on dystopian fiction. This one was a mix of Brave New World, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451.
I didn't care for the main character. She just wasn't a likable person. Some of the metaphors were super obvious to the point of being disappointed like Francis vs. Kalden (The Circle vs. Freedom)
I also thought some of the "twists" were pretty predictable and obvious.
But all in all the ending disappointed me. But considering how stupid and unlikeable Mae was as a character, wasn't surprising.
Overall I enjoyed the book but I don't think it added anything profound to the genre.
I didn't care for the main character. She just wasn't a likable person. Some of the metaphors were super obvious to the point of being disappointed like Francis vs. Kalden (The Circle vs. Freedom)
I also thought some of the "twists" were pretty predictable and obvious.
But all in all the ending disappointed me. But considering how stupid and unlikeable Mae was as a character, wasn't surprising.
Overall I enjoyed the book but I don't think it added anything profound to the genre.