Reviews tagging 'Grief'

O Grande Círculo by Maggie Shipstead

33 reviews

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

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

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.

knittingtipsy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, and War

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

deedireads's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

I absolutely loved Great Circle. It’s sweeping, it’s emotional, it’s beautifully written. It kept me engaged and made me feel things — and what more can you ask for?

For you if: You like historical fiction that spans a character’s entire lifetime.

FULL REVIEW:

Great Circle officially landed on my TBR because it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. A friend who read through the whole longlist earlier this year told me they thought it might turn out to be my favorite of them all. And I think, perhaps, they might be right! At least so far.

The book has two main characters. First is Marian Graves, born in 1914, who becomes one of the rare woman pilots of her time and eventually (don’t worry, this is not a spoiler) disappears trying to circumnavigate the globe. Marian’s story is probably 75% of the book, if I had to guess. We follow her from childhood and all the way through her life. The other main character is Hadley, a modern-day movie star cast to play Marian in a film, who learns more about her than anyone else.

The book is long, just under 600 pages, but I didn’t mind it. As you read, you really become so immersed in these characters and their lives. Some people at book club said they did sometimes wish it was shorter, but they couldn’t think of anything they’d cut. In fact, some people lamented the fact that there wasn’t even MORE from Hadley. Personally, I thought the balance between Marian and Hadley was just right and pulled the story along nicely.

Random thought: One of my favorite backlist reads this year was The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo, and while they don’t have a TON in common, they gave me similar feelings — a years-long timeframe, lots of pages that I was happy to read, and lots of emotions.

Anywho, if you have the patience for long books and love novels that span a lifetime, this is for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, and Misogyny

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, and Sexism

Minor: Drug use and Abortion

solasuaine's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and War

ellipalmer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Beautiful writing. The characters felt so real and nuanced and the story so well crafted that I kept forgetting I was reading a novel and not non-fiction. It has some really intense and hard to read moments and deals with some intense some intense subject matter (see CWs). There were a few moments when I needed to take a break because of some really emotionally tough scenes. But nothing felt gratuitous or salacious. I don't even know what more to say, I just loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, War, Rape, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent

Minor: Transphobia

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