My Goodreads review: The Circle

The Circle by Dave Eggers

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I wanted to like this book more than I did.

It's a decent near-future thriller, from the If This Goes On school of SF. While life at a Google-like campus spirals out of control as the company acquires more and more influence over its members' lives, one young Circler finds herself on the fastest possible fast track. All she has to do is cooperate . . . and, despite struggles with her conscience, she generally does. For the best possible motives. But how high a price is she willing to pay for the Circle's continuing -- if virtual -- love & approval?

The plot owes a little too much to both 1984 & Brave New World, though I suspect that might be hard to avoid when writing a modern dystopia. There are creepy duckspeak-like slogans (Sharing is Caring, Privacy is Theft) and a new, less sympathetic version of Huxley's Savage. The major difference here is that people are enticed to buy into this dystopia, for reasons & benefits that sound all too familiar. Though many of the points made are pretty obvious, I found myself hesitating before taking any social-media action, even clicking "like" on a Goodreads review.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't warm up to The Circle's protagonist. Mae Holland is young and vaguely idealistic -- which is fine -- but also impulsive and clueless. She doesn't think things through, and fails to learn from even painful mistakes. In short, Mae is a victim. 14 hours (of audiobook) was much longer than I wanted to spend in her company.

Readers interested in adult dystopian novels or social speculation might still find this a rewarding read, however.



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