Great Circle

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Shipstead, Maggie, Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	Due 04-15-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	Due 05-25-2024
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	Due 05-21-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shipstead, Maggie	4-week checkout	Due 04-05-2024

"After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There --after encountering a pair of pilots passing through town in a beat up Cessna--Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fifteen, she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy rancher who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe and piloting her plane over the Arctic Circle. A century later, Hadley Baxter is cast to play Marian in a film that centers on Marian's disappearance over the South Pacific. Vibrant, canny, disgusted with the claustrophobia of Hollywood, Hadley is eager to re-define herself after a romantic film franchise has imprisoned her in the grip of cult celebrity. Her immersion into the character of Marian unfolds, thrillingly, alongside Marian's own story, as the two womens' fates--and their hunger for self-determination in vastly different geographies and times-- collide. Epic and emotional, meticulously researched and gloriously told, Great Circle is a monumental work of art, and a tremendous leap forward for the prodigiously gifted Maggie Shipstead"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Great Circle submitted by bertalen on July 20, 2023, 3:43pm Great story of hardship and adventure of a young woman who loves flying.

Moving story submitted by tuttlium on July 23, 2023, 7:03am Great book, and so much richer than the plot description captures. The descriptions of flying are so vivid, it made me want to fly, but also terrified me. Flying was far more dangerous back in the day. Also explores gender identities and transitions.

Long but rewarding submitted by eisbruchs on August 1, 2023, 8:54pm It takes patience and perseverance to conquer this book but it's worth it. I learned a lot about women pilots. Appreciated the interesting characters and relationships

Like a circle, this book never ends submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on August 17, 2023, 9:02pm The larger point of this novel is that circles never end, and it makes that point by being almost 600 pages long. It. Never. Ends.

I liked the characters and the storylines well enough. Jamie, Marian, and Caleb were interesting primary characters, and those they interacted most closely with throughout the book (Wallace, Macqueen, Sarah, Ruth, Eddie) were fleshed out and well rounded (how could they not be – 600 pages, remember?). Marian’s passion for flying was wonderful, and having just finished Philip Handleman’s _Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman’s Firsthand Account of World War II_, I think I appreciated it all the more. I enjoyed various depictions of art (painting and acting) as well. Hadley’s modern day story was part of the “full circle” theme, but I didn’t care about it. I mean, I get the circle theme (we’re beaten over the head with it), but EVERYTHING? Really?

Mostly, I read this because it is a book club read. The introduction was 60 pages, for goodness’ sake, before you even GET to the story. Part way in, another library book came in, and I read THAT 600 page book in 48 hours. I came back to _Great Circle_ reluctantly, because the writing just goes on and on and on and on. When I had 60 pages to go, I sufficiently didn’t care what would happen that I put the book down to watch a TV show (and I almost never watch TV). I think maybe it was supposed to feel like an epic saga, but it was just wordy, fully of kitschy coincidence, and needed better editing to cut down the pages and tighten the story.

The core events of the story were interesting, but I really don’t understand how this won so many prizes. I think Erin Morgenstern’s _The Night Circus_ did the circle concept much better.