The Circle - Part 1 Join the Circle (February 2014)

[Sophia]

It sounds as if you took her pretty seriously. I can't say I did... Same goes for the book, I suppose.

[Evelina | AvalinahsBooks]

if you have to wonder if the writer's being satirical or not, then it's probably not very well written. I mean, take someone like Vonnegut, now you can tell for sure when he's serious about his characters, and when not.. this guy though..? for at least half the book Mae really did seem like you were supposed to take her seriously though. while she was not fitting in at least. after that i don't even know what happened. i'm not sure what Eggers was thinking.

[Sophia]

Evelina wrote: "if you have to wonder if the writer's being satirical or not, then it's probably not very well written. "

Oh, I so agree.

[Deborah]

Maybe Eggars is warning us not to be Mae!

[Sophia]

Very likely!

[Lily]

Evelina wrote: "Lily - why i hate Mae? because she has every bad quality imaginable. perhaps this is because i have finished the book now. but she's just horrible.. while at the beginning (30% of the book maybe?) ..."

Thank you for your reply, Evelina. I do think even @44 you made fairly clear some rather despicable characteristics of Mae. My comment was less questioning whether Mae deserved your reaction but more fascination at being a reader who can get passionately and emotionally involved in reaction to characters. I think personally I generally stay more removed and observational when dealing with characters in a fictional story. Vive la différence!

[Evelina | AvalinahsBooks]

haha, yeah, i get very involved in most things i do, goes for reading as well. but i think particularly in this book it was the disappointment. i was really looking forward to reading it, i had high expectations and THIS is what i get. so of course my reaction is going to be stronger than with most other books.. it's always like that with high expectations. especially when what you get is.. ugh. something like this.

[Lily]

I have finally gotten to reading/listening to The Circle. I may wish I hadn't allowed myself to be influenced by reading this thread first.

Let me see if I can extract myself to say a) I found the writing satirical and so outrageous that, while Eggers wrote as if he was serious, he couldn't have possibly have been; b) my feelings about the technology speculations were cranky -- many places they didn't fit with projections I see likely and I suspect my son, much closer to the technologies than I am any more, would be like Peter (yes, Peter's voice sneaked in) and critical -- but, I wondered if what Eggers was doing was trying more to be like Orwell in 1984, who I don't think was particularly just extrapolating existing technology at the time he wrote, but more exploring possible social dangers; c) I wondered if Eggers wasn't attempting to write a 2013 version of Orwell's classic -- and not seeming to succeed. But so far, I have found many elements so incongruous that they have given feelings of over-the-top humor as well as of heavy-handed satire. Eggers' seriousness has struck me as being as much disingenuous and diversionary as real, i.e., as being tongue-in-cheek. (I'm on page 175.)

[LindaJ^]

Lily wrote: "I have finally gotten to reading/listening to The Circle. I may wish I hadn't allowed myself to be influenced by reading this thread first.

Let me see if I can extract myself to..."

Lily, I am glad you are diving in and look forward to hearing more of your thoughts.

[Lily]

@12 Peter wrote: "I had been planning on commenting on the problems with all the enforced social media and participation as well, but I wasn't sure how far into the book this particular topic went, but since Evelina..."

Thanks for the link to the review, Peter. I had put off reading it until I had least dipped well into the book (now have finished Book 1, skimmed much more.) Lines I particularly enjoyed from the review include:

"'The Circle' is working in an old tradition of warnings about schemes to deify mortals, stories that go back to the serpent who promised to help us know everything...."

"Our wide-eyed Candide through this technological wonderland..."

"In this del.icio.us satire of corporate culture..."

"...the characters are Super Mario-deep, and the novel doesn’t have as much plot as it has momentum."

In his frequent allusions to and comparisons with other works, Ron Charles, a deputy editor of Book World, helps put The Circle and its characters in perspective.