Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

13 reviews

kmuttschall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Spoiler

"Until she dies, she will wonder if she could have persuaded him to come with her. Until she dies, she will remember Eddie's small, dark figure on the ice, waving to her with both arms as she circles up. She will always be afraid that his valedictory gesture might have changed, at some moment when she was too far away to notice, into a plea for her to return."

"She supposes there will be nothing. She supposes each of us destroys the world. We close our eyes and snuff out all that has existed, all that will ever be. But if she could choose, she would ask for a lift. She would want to rise from her body and have it be like when she'd first gone up with Trout, as though she were being held aloft by pure possibility, as though she were about to see everything."

This book is a combination of all of my favourite books (Milkman, Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, East of Eden) while still managing to be its own distinct entity.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Rape

Moderate: War, Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Grief, Animal cruelty, Incest, and Pedophilia

Minor: Abortion

ms_gouldbourne's review

adventurous challenging reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Phew, it took me a while to get through this one! Maggie Shipstead's epic Great Circle is an absolutely masterpiece of narrative and research, with some stunning prose and an incredible level of detail throughout. It's long, but I definitely found myself excited to pick it up each evening to find out what was next for these complex and mostly tragic characters.

I did find it interesting to note that several reviewers gave up before the 20% mark, because the beginning was definitely the weakest part of the novel for me. I didn't particularly enjoy Shipstead's depiction of female sexuality, with multiple assaults and rapes happening within the first few chapters. However, I persisted, and ultimately I'm glad I did.

Great Circle tells the story from birth to death of female pilot Marian Graves, from her early disastrous marriage to gangster Barclay Mcqueen to her final flight attempting to circumnavigate the globe in the 1950s. This covers about 80% of the novel, but it's interspersed with chapters told from the modern-day perspective of troubled actress Hadley, who has been cast as Marian in a biopic about her life.

Like other reviewers, I didn't feel that Hadley's perspective added much to the novel, except for a few interesting juxtapositions between the truth of Marian's life and the warped way it had been interpreted for the modern-day film. I found Hadley's voice irritating for the most part! However, I have to admit that Marian wasn't much better. Although I absolutely loved the writing and the flow of the narrative, I found most of Shipstead's characters fairly annoying.

It may be that this style of novel just isn't for me; I don't tend to enjoy deeply tragic stories in which a group of tragic characters are depicted following tragic narratives and coming to tragic ends. It feels very literary and beautiful, but ultimately I prefer a happy ending. However, Maggie Shipstead is undoubtedly a wonderful writer, so I would read her again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, War, Domestic abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Alcoholism and Abortion

toothpastefairy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Screaming, crying, and throwing-up throughout. 

Marian is someone who you desperately want to hug and throttle at the same time. Devastating and heartwarming, the novel's end is poignantly built in a way you could not predict from the start. Each character is crafted with care and depth, their lives reach across the pages to brush each other and arrest the reader's heart. 

Overall, brutal and tender.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Abortion, Violence, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Rape, War, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Death, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Gun violence

jazhandz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, War, Alcoholism, Death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Abortion, Rape, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Confinement, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Dementia, and Hate crime

littlefish's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Addiction, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, War, and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse, Abortion, Child death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, and Homophobia

chameleonhound's review

adventurous

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Alcoholism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Abandonment, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide, and War

mirireads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Minor: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Medical content

nicoleamanfu's review

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

---

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

prettycloud's review

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.

---

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:

Spoiler

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.

shannonsnell's review

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

---

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