The Circle

When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company's modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can't believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world--even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public.

What begins as the captivating story of one woman's ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

33 editions

library binding, 512 pages

Published May 2, 2017 by Turtleback.

ISBN:: 978-0-606-39457-4
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

Reviews

Lilith reviewed The Circle by Dave Eggers

It feels like a caricature of dystopia

2.0 stars

Content warning discussion of the Circle's technology re: sexual assault (spoilers?)

P.S. This is my first time reading a dystopian novel. As such, I have no comparisons to draw, but it ought to be possible to do it much better.

Am I supposed to believe no one saw this small, inexpensive SeeChange camera and did not immediately think of the great value this would bring to voyeurs? How is anyone supposed to feel safe in bathrooms or locker rooms? It was advertised as a tool that would make life easier, communities safer, but apparently every character is so near-sighted as to not even deem this issue worthy of a single sentence. I find it extremely hard to believe that nobody in the whole research + development + marketing process would have thought of this. The naivety of almost all characters in this novel regarding privacy is utterly infuriating and unrealistic. Why do the characters still stand behind The Circle after so many violations of their privacy which they are described to be disgusted by? Why do they take "I'm sorry, but we cannot help you with this." as an answer?

Apart from the problem I've already talked about, the scenes in which Mae has sex as well as the ones in which she thinks about her lovers seem to me like the very definition of "written by a man", it's just that uncomfortable.

If this weren't required reading for my class I would probably have given up after half of it. It tries to be more than it is.