Reviews tagging 'Death'

O Grande Círculo by Maggie Shipstead

72 reviews

frogknitting's review against another edition

adventurous reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

The good: it was extremely well researched. The realism was very high, and I enjoyed the individual lines of prose. 

However, the longer I read the book, the more it started to grate on me. This book really, really didn't need to be as long as it was. The movie bits, while entertaining, were so sparse throughout that they seemed pretty much useless. They could've done something with how the public perceives her now as an epilogue type thing. 
Also, this book is extremely sexual. There aren't even any real sex scenes within it, but essentially everyone has sex with everyone else (an exaggeration, but not much of one), and people commit adultery like it's nothing. There's no way this many people would be alright with that, this many times. 
The first half of the book was more compelling, but it drug on for so long. It spend so much time

with Barclay, that when she left him, it seemed like we were just running along. Okay, this happens, now this, now this. There was barely anything about the flight itself!!

Also, idk, something made me uncomfortable about them bringing in Sitting in the Water Grizzly as a comparison to Marian, a white woman who is more comfortable in men's clothes. Now I know about a queer Indigenous historical figure, but he wasn't represented well in this story at all. 
Another thing: the characters in this seemed like vessels with which to tell the story. I read about Marian for 650 pages and I really didn't care about her once I was done with the book. I couldn't tell you much about her. She's determined? Loves to fly? Masculine and doesn't want a stereotypical relationship? Same for most of the other characters. Hadley was more fleshed out, but we saw so little of her that it didn't really matter.
Finally (finally!) I didn't like the ending.

It seemed like a cop out — you thought Marian died? Of course she didn't, you just think that because that's what's expected! She found some random guys and hid with them before running away to New Zealand, although that wasn't foreshadowed at all throughout the book! It was a rushed ending, and I wasn't a big fan of it.

This book could have done with serious editing and cut backs. By the end, I was just skimming. I think it would've been better at about 400 pages without the Hadley/movie subplot, as interesting as it was. Alternatively, focused it more on a half/half split between the two, instead of the 90% Marian that we got. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Death, Alcoholism, Sexual content, War, Infidelity, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape

mirireads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Minor: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Medical content

nadia's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

This felt like a few different types of books wrapped up in one novel, in a good way, though I definitely had a preference order! Overall, I really enjoyed the different styles and the writing was wonderful! I felt transported and Maggie Shipstead has a wonderful way of describing landscapes. Normally such content can bore me easily, but not in this book!

One where you’ll be thinking about the characters and their stories long after. Shipstead wrote the book in such a way that you’d be surprised they weren’t real!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, War, and Rape

Moderate: Abortion, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

Minor: Pregnancy

hannahebert's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

c_dalton's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Cursing, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, War, Abortion, Blood, and Death

Minor: Violence, Pregnancy, Animal death, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail

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

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

This is one of the best books I've read this year. I often enjoy books which tell a sweeping story following a character's whole life and I thought it was done brilliantly here. I was so invested in Marian Graves and she felt so much like a real person. However I was also really interested in Hadley, the actor playing Marian in a movie, which meant I never minded when the chapters switched to her story. I enjoyed seeing the parallels and contrasts between the two characters' lives and there was some fascinating commentary about truth and how to tell someone's story. It's a very long book and I've seen it criticised for that but honestly I didn't want it to end. It had so many elements that I loved and it's reminded me how much I enjoy certain types of historical fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Misogyny, Death, Rape, War, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Child death

gracemacdonald94's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

What a knockout! This book is gorgeously written, the plot twists, the characters feel full and deep. I appreciated both the historical and contemporary plotlines and was happy with the ways they were enmeshed. I truly think this is one of the better books I will read this year. There are many points of similarity between "Great Circle" and "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" but I am convinced that Great Circle handles everything better, more feelingly, and with more nuance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Child death

oliviareese's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Abortion

katewhite77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense 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

5.0

A wonderful story with a huge cast of amazing characters that made me think of my grandparents a lot as most of the book is set in the early part of 20th century through eyes of characters a little older than they were. 

My best book of the year so far. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Rape, Grief, and War