Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead - review

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Title: Great Circle

Author: Maggie Shipstead

Genre: Literary Fiction/Historical Fiction

Pages: 608

My rating: ★★★★☆

Other notable works by author: Seating Arrangements; Astonish Me

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2021.

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This epic novel, which spans 600 pages and a lifetime, recounts the lows and highs (no pun intended) of female aviator Marian Graves during the earlier half of the twentieth century. A second story, set almost a century later, is told from the point of view of Hadley Baxter, a troubled Hollywood star, in the midst of a pivotal point in her career, and searching for meaning and purpose in life. When a film script centered around Marian’s circumnavigation of the world and mysterious disappearance falls into her lap, she feels drawn to the role of Marian, her own parents having died in a plane crash when she was a baby.

Both women are connected by a striving for self-realisation, despite living in two vastly different times and leading very different lives.

Out of the two, Marian’s life is the main focus of the story, her parts are much longer and more detailed, and are generally more interesting to read. She also got a proper beginning, middle, and end to her story, whereas Hadley’s section starts strongly, but doesn’t seem to have a proper resolution.

Throughout the novel we got glimpses into other characters’ lives too, such as Marian’s twin brother, Jamie, a gentle and creative soul, the juxtaposition to Marian. We also peeked into her parents’ lives before she was born, to get a better understanding of why she is how she is.

The first part of the novel, Marian’s childhood, her discovery of her passion for flying, her ill-fated marriage, and subsequent escape from that marriage, was (in my opinion) better written and much more interesting to read. The second part, detailing the war, kind of dragged on for me. She became flatter as a character, less defined. The ending, however, was a brilliant comeback and even brought me to tears, though not for the reasons one might think.

This was way more than a story about a woman’s epic journey to circumnavigate the world, in fact, that part took up less than a third of the book. This was a story about one woman’s epic life, and the people and places who were, in one way or another, connected to her.

Can’t wait to read more by Shipstead!