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A review by mbkarapcik
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
4.0
Great Circle tells the story of a famous female aviator lost at sea and her rise in the field of flying. Marian Graves grows up an orphan with her twin brother Jamie in the rough and rural landscape of Montana in the early 1900s. You observe as she stops at nothing to learn the art of flying and become a pilot through unusual and sometimes sketchy means.
While you're introduced to Marian, you also meet tabloid heavy starlet, Hadley Baxter, who attempts to escape being pigeonholed from her lost role as a star-crossed lover and heroine of a series like Twilight with a superhero twist. She gets the coveted role in a new film about Marian and starts researching her role, gathering some unexpected information and insight. Both women seek out the near impossible--aviation and independence for Marian, love and acceptance or maturity for Hadley.
This is a very different turn for the author who wrote two great books before this. I was so excited to get a copy of this because I've been waiting for a new book from her. Her latest differs from the last two and is a sweeping saga with intriguing characterizations, good stories, and superb descriptions of the landscape.
Unfortunately, it is such a long book that some parts drag. Also, if you're not interested in the mechanics of flying, those parts become tedious. Same goes for the wartime scenes during World War II. You meet some interesting characters, but I would rather delve into the characters instead of the less colorful flying scenes.
The last flight, though, at times, is incredibly exciting even though you await for the gloom of the lost flight with bated breath. The author ties up the endings for Marian and the characters in her story very well without being too neat about it. As for Hadley, we never go past a certain point, which felt disappointing.
The author put a lot of heart and research into this book, so I don't really want to discount the effort. I'm not interested in dryer topics like flying mechanics and more in-depth descriptions of the terrain or animals near the terrain, but other readers may like it. No matter, it was worth reading, and I'm still thinking about it.
Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! It was a pleasure!
While you're introduced to Marian, you also meet tabloid heavy starlet, Hadley Baxter, who attempts to escape being pigeonholed from her lost role as a star-crossed lover and heroine of a series like Twilight with a superhero twist. She gets the coveted role in a new film about Marian and starts researching her role, gathering some unexpected information and insight. Both women seek out the near impossible--aviation and independence for Marian, love and acceptance or maturity for Hadley.
This is a very different turn for the author who wrote two great books before this. I was so excited to get a copy of this because I've been waiting for a new book from her. Her latest differs from the last two and is a sweeping saga with intriguing characterizations, good stories, and superb descriptions of the landscape.
Unfortunately, it is such a long book that some parts drag. Also, if you're not interested in the mechanics of flying, those parts become tedious. Same goes for the wartime scenes during World War II. You meet some interesting characters, but I would rather delve into the characters instead of the less colorful flying scenes.
The last flight, though, at times, is incredibly exciting even though you await for the gloom of the lost flight with bated breath. The author ties up the endings for Marian and the characters in her story very well without being too neat about it. As for Hadley, we never go past a certain point, which felt disappointing.
The author put a lot of heart and research into this book, so I don't really want to discount the effort. I'm not interested in dryer topics like flying mechanics and more in-depth descriptions of the terrain or animals near the terrain, but other readers may like it. No matter, it was worth reading, and I'm still thinking about it.
Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! It was a pleasure!