Play Book Tag discussion

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead - 2 stars - My Review

PBT Comments - I know lots of people love this one but it is not my "cup of tea."

Marian Graves is a fictional aviation pioneer in the twentieth century who flies over the North and South poles, then disappears. Hadley Baxter is an actress, many years later, starring in a film of Marian Graves’ life. I read this several months ago and did not care much for it, so did not review it. I decided to revisit it since it is longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize.

For me, this book tries to do way too much. The plot is melodramatic and takes every opportunity to include lots of gratuitous sexual content. Each character has a backstory documented in minute detail, but all this detail adds little to the story arc. The main event, the aviation story, does not take place until almost the end of the book.

If it had focused primarily on Marian Graves’ historical aviation story, I probably would have enjoyed it much more. There are a few nice turns of phrase, but it turns out to be contemporary novel dressed up in a historical costume. I cannot understand why this book is nominated for a prestigious literary prize.

I’m with you. This was not for me, either.

Hmmmm. I have been on the fence on this one. I am not a huge fan of this author’s in general, but thought maybe this was her breakthrough book. Sounds like maybe not.

It seems too long to just take a chance on it. Lol

I'm currently reading this with another group, and we're all enjoying it at the moment!