Len drowsybadger’s Reviews > The Circle > Status Update

Mae. Stop. With. The constant. Over-stepping of boundaries. Stop making privacy-obstructing decisions for other people! (This is actually a good writing moment. Mae buys into the "secrets are bad, privacy is theft, etc" stuff, so she will enforce it with others because she thinks it's for the better. So this is just me generally ranting at Mae as a person, not her writing.)

With every statement of lacking empathy towards Annie and her desire to not have her state of health on display in front of hundreds of thousands of people, I like Mae less and Annie, Miss "I thought reminding you of the work-place you hated was a good prank" more.

I find it hard to believe an artist persecuted by the Chinese government (surveillance state) would willingly work with The Circle (surveillance state advocate, enabler, creator, promoter,....)

I HATE that I enjoy Mae more when she's not suffering.
(The whole "going transparent" thing reminds me of streamers and subathons. BUT those are a) often for charity, b) involve a lot more control on the end of the streamer, and c) also allow more comfort + privacy by having friends over or having mods do a shift while the streamer takes a break. Being constantly watched is exhausting. Why not display that?)

"People behave better if they always feel watched and always feel the need to be on their best behaviour!"

People have social anxiety, Bailey. Being permanently watched doesn't lead to secrets being in the open, it just leads to more repression and new ways of doing secret things, Bailey.

This isn't the author's stance, but it is the way the author makes the opposing side argue. It's not convincing for very long.

To paraphrase: "How we stopped homophobia was by lots of people coming out. Thus, secrets bad."
Like it's that easy.
It takes more than knowing a gay to stop being homophobic. Being gay's still illegal in SEVERAL countries! It's ridiculous to suggest that it'd become socially accepted by just more people coming out as if it can't be life-threatening, and use gayness as an example for a secret you should not keep.

STOP. WITH. THE FUCKING. GUILT-TRIPPING ABOUT HAVING SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE THAN THE FUCKING COMPANY

(This book makes me so angry. They're not even making the dystopia appealing to its participants. Mae is just, frankly, stupid and for some reasons doesn't question or think critically about everything. This book inadvertently advocates for critical thinking, so yay ig?)

GIRL JUST PUT YOUR FKN PHONE ON SILENT GOOD GOD

I really don't like Mae. Or Annie. Or the Circle.

So far on the book: In the matter of its style, it's mostly readable, although Written By A Man (what is a "masculine grace", Dave? What makes grace masculine or feminine, Dave?). In matters of other things, frustrating is the best word for my feelings in relation to the characters.

(The existence and length of this comment is a sign of my dislike of the book)