The Circle

Eggers comments on social circles in general was as interesting or more so than the general thread of current day digital "social networking." I wish a bit of the middle could have been condensed, edited out, chopped about 100 pages, or some-such, but I like Eggers fiction writing (The Wild Things, YSKOV, HWOSG); this dipped just slightly below my expectations and I looked forward to seeing Eggers tie off the story. ( )

About a month or so ago, I saw a trailer for an Emma Watson film called The Circle and it caught my eye. I immediately did a search to see if it was a book. Ta-da! And the library had a copy, so win-win. I actually chose the audio-book format, thinking that it would probably translate well and it does. In fact, while I was listening to certain parts I found myself thinking, I wonder what this looks like in print?

This book scared me. I believe the implementation of technology in this story can come to be reality. Completely. I see it as a modern cautionary tale. I was reluctant to log onto FaceBook for days because I kept thinking of The Circle. You know those books that you forget about soon after finishing them? That won't be the case with this one. ( )

I think this book got four stars from me because it freaked the crud out of me. It steps forward just a little in time and imagines the next step in social media - a conglomerate company that subsumes Facebook, Twitter, Google, et al, and envisions bringing the whole world together into one neat, centralized system.

I admit - since I started reading this book, I felt funny about "liking" things on FB.

This is a good read. Not quite as deep as it could have been, with characters more shallowly drawn than I would have liked (unless... maybe that's on purpose? I don't think so?), but the ideas in here are really good. Eggers does a really good job of making The Circle's goals seem so good, so right...

Yikes. I admit I lost sleep with this one. It invaded my dreams.

Maybe it's time to move north? Time will tell. ( )

Holy frack, that was scary.

In the not too distant future, the Circle has replaced Google, Facebook, and Amazon to become the dominant information technology of the Internet. As the Circle becomes the central driver of content, the engine for 90% of searches on the World Wide Web, and the holder of patents for a whole host of future internet-based technologies that link email, searches, payment systems, and more, the world shrinks, transparency grows, and Utopia appears in reach. Mae Holland is so fortunate as to have found a job at the burgeoning company, and she soon becomes a true believer in the company's vision for a new age of kindness and civility. As Mae leaps the corporate ladder from customer service rep to become a spokesperson for the "transparent" future the company is building, it becomes apparent that all may not be as it seems.

As I listened to the last chapter of Dave Eggers' cautionary tale, I couldn't help but feel like I was watching the replay of a video of a really bad car accident and you see it coming, but you know the people in the accident don't, but the accident has already happened, and there's nothing you can do. But you cringe anyway, because: it's coming, and it's going to be bad. Eggers is brilliant in his observations of what makes social media and the world wide web addictive, especially to the narcissist in each of us, and his powers of describing it is at times equal parts creepy and dull. It is a world so similar to ours and described in such excruciating detail that it is its very banality that makes it so horrifying.

Let me be clear (semi-spoiler alert): This is not a happy story, and the characters that populate its pages are morally gray, not unlike how many of us seem. Yet, Eggers manages to create sympathy for each, giving them pathos that allows sympathy, even while each makes choices that will inevitably carry them to the terrible car accident that apparently is approaching. I don't know if Eggers believes in the terrible inevitability of his conclusions, but it is a depressing thought. In many ways, it is this overshadowing sense that the conclusion is inevitable that makes a number of the leaps--plot points--a little difficult to believe. The world is stumbling towards this tremendous Utopia where transparency is unlimited, where secrets cannot exist.

In this sense, Eggers seems to write with an ear towards how George Orwell or Aldous Huxley might describe the world we are moving into if they had seen and known the capabilities of the internet. Here are the utopian mottos, the guiding hand of a "benign" Big Brother, the absolute rule of the masses in the guise of democracy, and the sense that it is all for a better, more safe and civil society.

It's scary and it's believable if you can allow a few leaps in the process.

And yet, if The Circle is not exactly how it happens, Eggers doesn't do a bad job speculating how it might happen.

I only gave three stars because while I felt the power of Eggers argument, I never quite lost myself in the story, struggled to empathize or make the logical leaps that Mae needed to make to lead us down the garden path. I had to wonder at times: could anyone be so stupid, vapid, or naive as to make the choices she makes? Perhaps I am underestimating the vacuous power of the approval of total strangers as conveyed over social media? Perhaps Mae is a conglomeration of a number of individuals collected as one?

I don't know. It's almost a four, but Eggers is brilliant in his insights and description, as well as his plotting and even metaphorical use of the natural world, his characters remain prosaic...but maybe that's the point? ( )

A brilliant retelling of Brave New World for the digital age, complete with requisite savage and cheerleader characters and electronic wristlets as the new Malthusian belts. Warning: may cause readers to ditch their digital footprints, take to the woods and live off the grid. ( )

2.5
Well, Eggers has put himself up on a soapbox again to write about the evils surrounding us, in over exaggerated terms for any imbecilic reader to comprehend. I'm sure since Eggers lives in San Francisco, and is surrounded by techie companies and people, he has more worries than some of us about Google, Facebook, and even Goodreads, aka Amazon, invading our privacy, and, as his metaphorical shark does in the book, eating everything in their paths.

It's really hard to separate the feelings of loathing I have for Mae, Egger's embodiment of all young, techie, idealists, from his clear ability to write a terrific book. This book's main character just totally annoyed me, and I think that's why I am having such a strong negative reaction and writing this less than positive review.
He makes her a naive, malleable, emotionally stunted conduit, through which he relays his total distain for silicon valley. I so wish he had told the story through another character, Annie, who also seems to have drunk the kool-aid but has a bit more depth to her personality.

It was kind of like Stepford Wives meets Mad Max.

This book would make a terrific reading club selection because there is so much to discuss, and while the book made me angry I can't deny it was extremely readable. ( )

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. Mae can't believe her good luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in America - even as her 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. ( )

Interesting subject but I found the way it was handled a bit heavy handed. I don't think I will read anymore of this author's work on the basis of this one. [spoiler] The way the main character reacted to the events only seemed plausible if she was brain washed - but that might be just what happened. [/spoiler] ( )

Imagine a future where technology is heavily entrenched in almost every mundane detail of our daily lives. A future where people wake up and immediately reach for social media to connect with hundreds of friends and acquaintances all around the world. Where people wear and carry devices to monitor their heart rate, caloric intake, steps taken, time spent meditating, time spent sleeping, amount of water consumed, etc. A future where people share opinions, photos, thoughts and snippets of their life down to every trivial detail. A time when people live broadcast moments of their daily activities ranging from climbing mountains to shopping for groceries to staring idly at the clock.

It's probably not that difficult to imagine given the pervasive nature of technology and social media that's currently in our lives. Just imagine the current level of social media and our mobile and wearable technology and then ratchet it up a notch and you have the setting for The Circle.

The Circle is the name of the world's most powerful and influential technology company. Think of them as having the combined platforms and reach of Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc combined and then add in all of the most successful and innovative products and platforms created by Apple/Google/Microsoft/etc and you have The Circle. They have products in services in nearly every aspect you can think of where digital interacts with reality.

As the book progresses, the products and services offered by The Circle grow more and more invasive. As an outsider watching the progress it's easier to see the darker side of the changes being made. To the characters living in the world and embracing the technology they are somewhat like the frog in the story about how to boil a frog. The water around them is slowly getting hotter but they won't really recognize any problems until it is too late.

The progress being put forth by The Circle is marketed and promoted in such a way that it "goes viral" through the world of social media and gains widespread adoption and enthusiasm. Naysayers are deemed to be out of touch or even being socially repulsive or defiantly deviant. The social expectation is acceptance or ostracism.

Our technologically embedded world has not achieved the dystopian extremes set forth by Eggers. And yet, there is logic and frightening possibilities in the realistic way he shows the transformation from products of novelty/entertainment/convenience into tools with potential to destroy humanity.

These days so many people have tablets and smart phones in hand or nearby every waking moment of their day. A recent study said that 80% of people are never more than 3 feet away from an internet connected device, primarily their smart phone. Many people wear health/activity tracking devices that monitor their activity levels during the day and even when sleeping. So many people post/tweet/share nearly everything they do and those who aren't sharing are often commenting or interacting with these activities. Simply by writing this review and sharing it in the digital world I am taking a small part in the very mechanism Eggers outlines.

While the novel does not explicitly prescribe any solutions, the warning is clear. Humanity needs to be cautious in the proliferation of information. The more we share ourselves into the conglomerate digital whole the less we exist as a distinct physical individual. Beware the "hive mind" mentality. Sharing information is wonderful. The technology and advances that make it easier to interact, communicate and share with other people is amazing and fabulous. But we need to be cautious as the lines blur between online and offline worlds. We need to maintain and guard our sense of privacy and sense of self not out of shame or evil-doing but out of a need to maintain our individualism and that special unique spark that makes us human.

As I mentioned, the first few chapters were a bit of a slog for me but taken as part of the whole I saw them as being almost essential. There was some swearing that I personally was not fond of and there were sexual encounters which were not overly graphic but were more descriptive than I would have liked. I acknowledge these as personal moral/taste preferences and I also acknowledge that some of these elements had slight use to illustrate the author's points.

Overall I really enjoyed this novel. Due to the language and sexual elements, I would definitely only recommend it to adult readers. I would also pose a warning that while there's nothing particularly offensive this book is intended to make the reader feel uncomfortable and apprehensive about the state of the world. Not only the world of the novel but also the world we all belong to where the line is very blurry between Internet-world and Real-world.

A thoughtful and provocative read.

****
4 out of 5 stars

**** Potential Spoilers in the high level Plot information that follows ****

The book focuses around Mae Holland, a newly hired employee working at The Circle. She isn't a top notch developer or innovator or marketing guru but she's tech savvy and smart enough to get noticed and it helped that her old friend and roommate Annie is on the executive level of the company who lands Mae a job in the customer service area emphasizing that it's really just a jumping off point to anywhere else in the company. The prestige of working at The Circle is huge and Mae starts out very star struck and intimidated. This leads to her pressing fast and furious to prove herself by going above and beyond and applying herself deeply in everything that comes her way.

I have to admit that I was a little bogged down by the first few chapters of the book. We accompany Mae on her tour of The Circle's company campus, visiting the common area, the cafeterias, the parks, research areas, etc. We sit at Mae's desk as she is given orientation on the software programs that will track her incoming customer service calls and ratings, the inner-office chat software, the expectations around internal and external interactions with social media. We go with her to company meetings announcing new products and concepts. We join her for her first discussion with her direct boss regarding a small misunderstanding on one of her activities. Honestly I almost gave up on the book worried that it would just be a slog through the mundane aspects of working at a large company. Admittedly the company campus sounds great and reminds me of when I walked around the Microsoft campus or images I've seen from Apple and Google. I must also say that I admire the fluid nature of some of the software and processes that they use and I wish that some of our own company methods worked as smoothly.

The first few chapters are definitely a little dry plot-wise but they serve a very important role. Slowly but surely we see the nature of interactions get more and more questionable. At first the "questionable" nature isn't something that would be considered illegal or harshly invasive it's just a little uncomfortable with a subtle sort of pressure. For example, Mae is expected to maintain an acceptable level of customer interaction and satisfaction through surveys and social media interaction with the customers that contact her. That grows from a simple follow up survey to needing to interact with the customer and their company/persona on social media. Initially this comes in the form of reciprocal surveys and reviews but extends to interacting more personally and in-depth with letters of recommendation, reacting and commenting on photos or events and trying to be more active online friends. Similarly, Mae is expected to have internal interaction with the many teams, clubs and organizations within the company. She is graded on her level of activity with the internal forums, in-person meetings, and direct interaction. She even gets a slight reprimand for insufficient interaction with a group to which she had just shown a passing interest.

All of this starts out fairly innocuous and given Mae's desire for approval and mobility within her new job it's easy to see why she enthusiastically agrees and actively pursues each request which helps us understand the company-wide acceptance of the policies and procedures.

As time goes on we see The Circle's influence expand outside of the company. Their technology and platforms are widely used around the world. Within the United States, The Circle works to expand the influence of their online identity management with proposals to link it into corporate and government proceedings.

The company eventually reveals a new product called SeaChange. Using wearable audio/video technology, people are encouraged to go "transparent" meaning that they are broadcasting their life at all times and in all places. No more "back door" conversations or secret deals. No more lies and subterfuge. Everything will be out in the open and available for public scrutiny and accountability.

The high level presentation of this concept sounds very idyllic in that it will effectively force greater honesty and cooperation between corporations, governments and even individual people. All of this comes at the full removal of any form of privacy. The top executives at The Circle present (with the help of Mae) somewhat convincing arguments as to why there is no need for privacy. They come up with 3 mantras:
* Secrets are Lies
* Sharing is Caring
* Privacy is Theft

Essentially they put forth the idea that the only reason for someone to want to keep something secret is because of shame. Thus by forcing transparency they would be helping to moderate and potentially get rid of shameful behavior. A person would be less likely to behave badly if they knew they were being watched and could be held accountable.

The public excitement for SeaChange is overwhelming. Any voices worried about "Big Brother" scenarios are quickly put down as being evasive and having something to hide. Social outcries are made against people trying to stay "off the grid." Some of Mae's family and old friends are very apprehensive about the pervasiveness of this technology and the removal of privacy. They argue and fight with Mae about benefits of privacy and staying off the grid. There are even a couple of employees within The Circle who have some apprehension about the direction taken by the company (I won't say more than that as you need to read it to see what happens).

It's somewhat terrifying to see subtle way The Circle expands their influence and the voracious enthusiasm the public shows towards the innovations and concepts put forth. It hits just a little too close to reality and feels a little too plausible. I hope and believe that there are enough checks-and-balances in place to keep such a thing from happening and I also hope that each of us is smart enough to see potential warning signs. However, the small and simple ways The Circle puts forth their arguments and makes everything seem like an obvious natural choice makes me worry that we truly could see the disintegration of privacy and the progression towards a frightening "hive mind" state of existence.

A lot of food for thought in this. Plenty to munch on for days/weeks/months to come. ( )

I hope you are reading this review wearing a ski mask. A haunting story about social networking and the ethos of the people who design SN platforms. The book succinctly balances the incredible power of the networking and its potential for good and ill. After all, who has time to read a book when they need to update their status? The dogooder instincts of the designers just don't know when to quit. Keep this book wrapped in tinfoil beneath the bed and put duct tape over the camera eyes on your phone and laptop.

3 stars ( )

Dave Eggers' The Circle is a dark satirical look at a society where (most) people happily give themselves over to an all-consuming online presence ("The Circle"), with dramatic consequences. It's not exactly subtle, but for all the heavy-handedness, many (if not all) elements of the plot seem all-too-creepily plausible. ( )

I'd have to try pretty hard to come up with something good about this book. The characters are flat, hateable, nearly all humans are depicted as absolute sheep. The author talks about engineers and developers without having a single idea how those people actually work. Everything in this book is just so ridiculous that sometimes you think he's being satirical, but if you have to wonder it just means he's not doing a good job of it - even if he is.
This book made me angry - for many reasons, one being the whole hype it absolutely doesn't live up to, second - the funny idea that a thing like that could happen with no opposition at all.. it's just... I don't know. Don't waste your time with this. If you want a utopia, an anti-utopia - read Brave New World, the Island, 1984 or We. If you want something about freedom of choice - read Clockwork Orange. All those have been sufficiently covered there, and I'm beginning to doubt anyone is going to find anything new on these topics. But if they are - it's certainly not this guy. ( )

OK, an altruistic Google, Facebook, Amazon-like business is cornering the market on... everything! And it is dedicated to improving security, safety, and transparency. And where could all this lead to??? Interesting concept but the characters are wooden and the plot is a bit rambling and predictable. ( )

Teleurstellend, dit boek. Had van Eggers beter verwacht. Voorspelbaar plot, ongeloofwaardige bordkartonnen personages, een boek dat nergens echt het niveau van een tienerroman overstijgt. ( )

Could not finish - seemed like a good idea for a story at the start but once again failed the credibility test badly. I ran out of patience and could not finish this - maybe it got better after the middle ? I doubt it. ( )

Wow. I am trying to catch my breath after finishing this book because I literally lost the ability to breathe while reading the last 150 pages. Not only is this book an indictment of our overly electronically connected society, it is a morality tale of the first order. I was uncertain how Eggers was going to pull this book all together as the pacing in the first part of the book is pretty fast and mostly innocuous but man oh man does he sneak in that sucker punch at the end. I had such a visceral reaction to how this book played out I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cry or throw up. As someone who only has a Facebook page by force (I have to have it to participate in forums for a scholarship I receive), this book solidified my opinion that my information, my privacy, my right to choose who knows what about me and when is not only valid, but critical to the continuation of the essence of our humanity. I want to make my smart phone dumber and disconnect from all of the both conscious and unconscious ways I have let the wider world into my private space (yes,even Goodreads!). This book is gut wrenchingly terrifying not in its impossibility, but in its reality that this is a completely believable scenario. Simply outstanding and a must read. ( )

Although I wanted to like it, The Circle disappointed me. This novel turns out to be a pastiche, a parody without the bite. The plot of the book is obvious from the onset, or at least within the first twenty pages or so. That may not be a bad thing, but the execution is little to write home about. Hypocritical, unsympathetic, two-dimensional everyman Mae represents someone who, after some initial prompting, completely buys into FaceGoogle — pardon, the Circle's promise of connection. (The Circle acquired Google, Facebook, and a number of made-up companies, so they're quite explicitly FaceGoogle++.) Perhaps the attack on the artificial type of connectedness 's also the part of this book with the most teeth left: about how the illusion of living through others, through images and videos is just that (no matter how great it might be for those who are home-ridden). But you'd do better to read The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster from 1909 instead.

In spite of all that, the book has some amusing scenes. Near the end, the character with the role of the obnoxious, preachy voice of reason is being pursued by drones. As all the little flying nuisances are shouting about how they just want to be friends, the book ventured into proper satire. Had the book been more like that, showing the hilariously wrong consequences of the utopian proposals, I probably would've liked it a lot better. However, in the end there was too much fluff and too little of the good stuff. ( )

I've seen a lot of warnings about the rise of tech companies and technology controlling our lives recently. The Circle presents both the positive and negative aspects of technology, but it mostly explores the negatives. By far, the best part of the book was the scenario of the tech company and the people who get caught up in it.
The main reason I didn't give The Circle five stars is Mae Holland, the main character. I didn't like her that much - she was unambitious, naive and too trusting of others. Sometimes, I just wanted tell her to wake up and look at what you're doing; it's ridiculous. The other characters were more interesting and dynamic; some were just plain crazy.
The plot was interesting, but not in an action-packed thriller way. The Circle is more intriguing - I got drawn in slowly and was bored for the first few chapters, but by the end I couldn't put it down.
If you're interested, definitely read it, but be prepared for a slow build to the climax. ( )

First impression: this could have been so much MORE! At times it seemed unnecessarily "preachy", but I'm sure it would be difficult to write a book like and avoid that. The whole time I was reading it, I thought of all the things brought up then abandoned. As someone se mentioned, Chekhov would NOT be impressed with all the "guns left not fired".... ( )

What kind of Mexican food are you? Were you happy with the service last time you went to Kohl’s? Please leave your Amazon seller feedback. The Circle by Dave Eggers [2013] is a response to everyone who takes mindless quizzes on Facebook, answers endless satisfaction polls about service and leaves feedback.

Mae Holland lands her dream job at the Circle, a conglomerate of what we know as Facebook, Amazon and Google. These and many other businesses have been merged into one behemoth which boasts a campus complete with living quarters and all kinds of after-hours networking opportunities. Mae becomes a shooting star, finding herself the public face and voice of the Circle with more and more responsibility to show the Circle in a positive light.

Mae zealously believes in the Circle and works to convince the world of the good which can come from joining the Circle. As Mae’s devotion to the Circle increases, we see her make some very puzzling choices. Following the Circle’s philosophy: “Secrets are lies. Sharing is caring. Privacy is theft.” Mae gives up more and more privacy, and not always her privacy.

The book has flaws, the characters are not very deep, and while the protagonist starts out likeable her choices dismay the reader. It wasn’t an original idea when Dave Eggers wrote The Circle in 2013; Aldous Huxley touched on it in 1932 with his Brave New World. George Orwell wrote a follow up; 1984 in 1949. The movie, The Truman Show also visited this topic in 1998. The big difference is that the older books take place decades into the future while The Circle could be just a handful of years from now. It made me take notice.

I recommend The Circle for anyone who has doubts about entering personal information online and anyone who wants to read a book that makes them think.

The Circle got pretty mixed reviews when it came out, with tech people saying he got the tech world and its motivations entirely wrong, while other reviewers thought it was chilling and insightful, a contender for being called a 1984 for our era. I think they’re both right. This is a tech campus with very few non-white people, two of the main characters (both of whom are or become powerful) are young women, and no one codes. But while I’m usually a stickler for accuracy or at least authenticity, the unreality didn’t bother me, for two reasons:

First, the book is a satire. Verisimilitude isn’t the point. There’s enough in the setting and characterizations to make them familiar, which is more to the point in my opinion.

Second, and more importantly, the book isn’t about the people who create technology nearly as much as it is about the way we, the users, interact with it and what it does to us and to our relationships. If everyone in the Circle weren’t using the tech they create and disseminate, the book wouldn’t work. The whole point is that the protagonist, Mae, takes us on the journey from naif to evangelist. And that is very, very believable. Not so much in the specifics of her journey, but in the way she becomes incrementally more enmeshed in and devoted to the social media and transparency initiatives which make the company so powerful.

(I think that the fact that almost the entire story is set within the confines of the Circle’s campus makes it seem as if the novel is about the company, which may be why tech-company-oriented reviewers had more trouble with it.)

In the first part of the story, Mae is transformed from someone who barely remembers to update her social media information to a Circler who constantly and compulsively checks her engagement statistics. She moves from a customer-service position to representing the company to tens of millions of viewers. And in the process, she jettisons family, friends, and love interests (she keeps one love interest but that seems more for convenience and companionship than anything else).

The characters aren’t that interesting for the most part, although I found Mae compelling; it’s quite a feat to make an empty-vessel protagonist capable of carrying a whole novel. Margaret Atwood called this a novel of ideas in her NYRB review and I think that’s exactly right. The book explores how easy it is to give up our privacy bit by bit, and to the extent we think about it we believe the trade is worthwhile because connectedness has its rewards. But not everyone makes the same tradeoffs, and not every tradeoff is easily measured.

The books spirals almost out of control in the last quarter, and there are some scenes that are both shocking and entirely predictable (again, not easy to do). The writing is good but not great, the characters are OK but not particularly insight-filled or illuminating, and some of the plot twists are pretty unbelievable. When I break the book down into parts, I can criticize each part (just as many reviewers have). But taken as a whole I found the book enormously effective. As a novel of ideas it succeeded brilliantly for me. ( )

The Circle by David Eggers is a brilliant update and combination of 1984 and A Brave New World. The story centers around Mae Holland and her journey in Circle, an internet/technology conglomeration that is quite creepy. At first, the company sounds like something useful, just another social media/networking/business website/company that is trying to reinvent the wheel (read: Facebook). But as the book progresses they are revealed to be ever more disturbing, proclaiming at the end of Book I: Privacy Is Theft. The book is presenting an utopian society where no one has anything to keep secret or anything they need to hide. If you have something you want to keep secret, or even private, then it is something that you are ashamed of.
For example, when Mae is filmed without her permission giving a man a hand job, she wants the man to delete the recording. But he refuses saying it is his property and that in the Circle nothing is every deleted. In fact, this video is available to anyone who has access to the cloud it is stored in, which is everyone. Although no one does view the tape, someone could if they wanted to. When Mae is asked why she would have anything to hide she brings up such indelicacies like sex, and is shot down. After all, everyone does it, why should it be a secret? This book shows the blurring lines between secret and privacy which are present even in our own culture. Think about how Facebook and Google are invading every single part of our internet experience. Similar to Homie in The Circle, Amazon has a service where you can install a small button and automatically order new supplies of basic household good when you notice you are running low. The future portrayed by Eggers is not that far off and Eggers shows us how dangerous this future really is.
Mae talks about a tear and through the tear are screaming voices. This tear is especially apparent to her when she is looking at something that portrays a very human connection, like when she is watching a live feed of a poor African family going about their day as she is falling asleep. Or when she experiences nature. Of course, she is chastised for her kayaking experiences because she is “off the grid.” She doesn’t post anything about the experiences, no pictures, no videos, no zings. And being off the grid is the worst thing she could possibly be. She has to be constantly involved in the social media/networking aspect of her job, it is more important than her actual work that she is being paid to do, or at least it seems that way. Circle is much more interested in tracking people than in anything else. She has to use the company store, the company doctor, go to all the company events. I can’t imagine being an introvert in this society. She even becomes a Settler, someone who is now living on the company campus. Everything about her life is completely managed and dictated by the Circle.
In contract to her is Mercer. He gets upset and offended when she posts things about him online without his permission. He reprimands her for never talking to him directly, but instead she always has to bring in a hundred other people in order to have a conversation ever. This is made even more relevant when she ‘goes clear’ or for most of her day wears a tiny camera around her neck to document her every movement, word, and action - including the ones of all the people around her, whether they want to be documented or not. She herself is a fan of this idea, believing that it will hold her accountable an make her a more honorable and noble person. But underneath that veneer she is screaming. She cannot do anything that will come across as being anything less than chipper, cheery, and happy or tens of thousands of people around the world will be immediately aware. And the little headpiece in her ear will let her know that what she is doing is not in line, although, of course, they would never reprimand her so directly. Everything at the Circle is about making sure you feel good about yourself.
In some senses, it is like a cult (something Mercer compares the circle to). In cults, new members are subjected to a practice known as lovebombing. The new member is surrounded by love, affirmation, attention, and devotion, but as soon as the member does something that cult doesn’t approve of, s/he is cut off from all that emotional deluge. After being so surrounded by affirmation, made to feel so incredibly good about yourself, no longer have that support system is devastating. So they of course immediately realign their behaviors in order to be accepted back into the cult. Similar things are happening with Mae. The reader might see her as being stupid, can’t she see what is going on around her? But the fact is, she can’t. She is literately incapable of seeing any of the practices of Circle as being anything but amazing and positive. She has drunk the Kool-Aid.
( )

Long in pages (491), but it's a quick read. Story moves along and theme is current to technology issues in the news today. It is so culturally relevant that it is being referenced in non-fiction books such as Devoured by Sophie Egan. I found myself in agreement yet horrified at many of the projects proposed and implemented at The Circle. The ending could have gone a couple of ways and it's interesting that you won't find out until the very last couple of pages what the main character decided to do. This book will make you think about the world and how much you do/do not utilize social media. Great for book club discussions! ( )

This reads like a cautionary tale with the message being far more important than the characters. Imagining a future where everything is "transparent" is a frightening prospect, but I didn't feel engaged enough with the characters and the whole novel is a heavy-handed vehicle for the author's fears of a world dominated by a totalitarian digital entity. The whole "shark" thing was silly. God! I feel like Mae - in denial! But an interesting read nonetheless. ( )