Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

O Grande Círculo by Maggie Shipstead

75 reviews

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

shannonsnell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Death, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

onewoman_bookclub's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and War

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

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

narpetcards's review against another edition

inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and War

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

booking_along's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

 i was born to be a wanderer. 

it’s a great epic story mostly about the life of a woman that didn’t just fit her time but also gender stereotypes, that wanted to be who she was but accepted that it would be easy for others. 

i think  this book would have been enough telling marians story without adding the drama of the actress into the story.
marians story is unique and strong and loud.

there wasn’t a need to add more or another loud voice into the mix.
it didn’t necessarily delude marians story but i also don’t think it added anything.

and since i already complaining: i think this book focused a little too much on sex in some scenes. and i didn’t see the need for that at all? 
i just don’t think all the mentions of sex was necessary especially the brutal scenes.
i get that sex apparently sells and it’s part of life but i don’t think it’s necessary to always describe it in every book. maybe just my opinion, but sometimes it’s not necessary to have all the details. 


beside those things the book was great!

i loved the passion and need the book really managed to show, the necessity that marian felt to fly, to go, to keep in the air and moving. 
but at the same time, that she clearly loved her bother and caleb and didn’t ever really to manage to actually leave them behind.

i loved the ending of the book,
i really enjoyed how it all connected together, from marians parents to her last flight.  

it’s a really great book and a wonderful story.


“circles are wonderful because they are endless. anything endless is wondrous. but endlessness is torture, too. i knew they horizon could never be caught but still chased it. what i have done is foolish; i had no choice but to do it.”

“life gives you lemons, you cave off their skins and garnish your martinis”

“….i didnt deserve to be there. and maybe i didn’t, but you can’t measure fairness in a lab. you can’t know if you deserve something. probably you don’t.”

“i own him my life, lloyd had said many times. 
your life can’t be a debt, she’d countered once, or then it’s not really yours, and nothing has been saved.”

“everyone knows men don’t get old, at least not in a way that matters”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Abortion, Incest, and Sexual content