Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

O Grande Círculo by Maggie Shipstead

50 reviews

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.

campbelltoner's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, and Alcoholism

Minor: Murder

margardenlady's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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? Yes

4.25

Shipstead's writing is lyrical and lovely, even when she is writing about the darkest parts of the human soul.  This novel follows Marian Graves through her notorious (and fictional) life, with a sidebar story of the almost parallel life of Hadley Baxter, both orphaned and raised by uncles, but more importantly, they are women searching for themselves. Marian's childhood with her twin Jamie and neighbor Caleb is the kind of childhood that could not happen today, and despite its neglect strikes many notes of beauty.  Her adult years are a triumph of will against the odds. She is a heroine both admirable and selfish, but unfailingly human. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abortion, War, and Suicide attempt

ashleysbookthoughts's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow. Have you ever read a book that stuck with you so much that you dreamed about it? I’ve been dreaming of airplanes and Marian Graves for the past several nights. 

Great Circle was just the epic story I needed to close out the year. It’s almost 600 pages, but reads like a much shorter novel. Maggie Shipstead is a great writer. Her prose is descriptive yet readable and she manages to capture the sensations her characters experience. There are periodically asides (about the history of Missoula Montana, the history of women pilots) that in a lesser writer’s hands would be extraneous and annoying, but Shipstead manages to use these asides to add depth to her story. 

I don’t want to say more, because I think the discovery is a huge part of the experience of this novel. Suffice to say, I felt all the things while reading this: worry, rage, heartache, hope, and joy. I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Homophobia

ladymirtazapine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

emmagrace's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion, Abandonment, Animal death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, and Suicide

sjanke2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Biphobia, War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, and Child death

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.0

 *Booker Longlist 2021 Book 7*

Great Circle is the story of Marian Graves, a female aviator who attempts to become the first person to circle the globe longitudinally, taking in both north and south poles. Marian is a fantastic character, a spunky girl who overcame a hardscrabble upbringing and developed into a determined, if not stubborn, woman with an adventurous spirit who refused to conform to the norms of her day. Her story incorporates some key historic events - the Depression, Prohibition and World War II, as well as all the aviation history of the era - and these are integral to the plot rather than mere background noise. Marian‘a is also a story that contains elements all too familiar to far too many women, most notably rape and domestic abuse.

Interspersed with Marian’s story is that of Hadley Baxter, a Hollywood starlet who hopes to revive her career by playing Marian in a biopic. Hadley’s character lacked the charisma of Marian, and her storyline felt trite by comparison, even though there were many points of similarity linking the two women.

This is undeniably well-researched and well-written and I enjoyed reading it. The story telling is great and the book has an almost epic feel, covering more than half a century and much of the globe. And yet if failed to wow me, lacking that undefinable x-factor.

Final Verdict - Solid, engaging historical fiction (albeit one with a less engaging second storyline) featuring a feisty female protagonist.
 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, and Toxic relationship

ninadb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexism, and Homophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty and Death of parent

A dramatic and adventurous epic tale on a grand scale geographically, historically, emotionally.

emilygigs's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Homophobia