Book Review: "Great Circle" by Maggie Shipstead

I am really not a huge fan of every post-modern novel I read and normally I don't really understand why they seek to be more complicated than they actually are. However, in some cases, I can understand certain techniques being used. For example: in this text Great Circle, I can understand the use of this near-alternating narrative between the 'then' and the 'now' in order to make the story physically work. This does not mean that the book is perfect by any means and I do not think it was a good idea for being a contender to the Booker Prize. But, I do think it is a good book.

The story is about, at first, a woman named Marian Graves who at first is rescued from sinking and is made to stay with her uncle. Whilst at school, she finds herself getting involved with some dangerous people including a bootlegger. She wants to fly planes and has wanted that all her life and is about to kindle her love for flying with her want to be independent. Her want to fly over the North and South Poles is intense and often, at times, it is slightly over the top. But, I tell you I enjoyed the character development of Marian Graves. We follow each step as she gets closer and closer to her haunting, terrifying but brilliant goal.

A long time later a woman called Hadley is playing Marian in a upcoming film that centres on the pilot going missing in Antartica. Hadley is an actress, but not a 'celebrity'. She doesn't like Hollywood and she doesn't enjoy the attention so it is apt that she would throw herself into her work. Again, this part is so embellished in the novel that I cannot really believe that it is true. Someone who details something they dislike so much like this only ends up making the reader believe that they actually enjoy it in the end. It's a form of reverse psychology. This young actress wants to remake her career, not just be known for doing rom-coms. So she seeks out to do this new, inventive film which makes no sense as to why she was chosen to do it at all because of the scale of the film and the bankability on various other actresses who would have been around as well who have experience with this scale and genre of film. But it isn't for me to judge upon that.

The writing style is often strange because if you were writing as a young Hollywood actress in the modern day, and in her own journal, you wouldn't really be as formal as this diary seems to suggest. Though it is great writing and an amazing flair for beauty in the writing style, it is far more suited to a third person narrative than it is to a young actress's diary. I would say though, it suits the character of Marian Graves perfectly being a woman from the old prohibition days, her formality seems correct for time, place and character development.

In conclusion, I originally read this book and though 5/5, but as I delved deeper I could see a few things that I couldn't quite dig my teeth into. I would definitely say to read this book for yourself and come to your own judgements. It is, on the whole, a wonderful novel with a great premise. But there was clearly some aspect of polishing in order that, if done, probably would have snagged it the Booker Prize - but I have to say that book by Damian Galgut was a bit too good.