A wonderful book with memorable characters and a compelling plot. The portion regarding Marian Graves, that is. The more modern storyline is mostly forgettable. Luckily, it does not take up too much space.

If you love a strong female lead and are ok with multiple viewpoiunts, this book is for you. "Great Circle" by Maggie Shipstead is a sweeping and ambitious novel that spans continents and generations, blending historical fiction with adventure and romance. At its heart is Marian Graves, a fiercely independent aviator determined to circumnavigate the globe against all odds. Interwoven with Marian's story is that of Hadley Baxter, a troubled actress in modern-day Hollywood, who becomes obsessed with Marian's legacy.

Shipstead's takes her readers right from the rugged landscapes of Montana to the glittering lights of 21st-century Los Angeles. The novel explores themes of freedom, ambition, and the sacrifices we make in pursuit of our dreams. The characters are vividly drawn, each grappling with their own desires and demons as they navigate the complexities of love, loss, and identity. With its epic scope "Great Circle" will be a book that readers ponder long after they finish it. Shipstead's magical ability to tell a story combined with meticulous research and attention to detail will make this a must-read for fans of historical fiction and literary adventure.

I wanted to love this one, I really did. If you've read the synopsis and it sounds good, you should give it a try. This one just didn't work for me.

This starts quick - with multiple points of view as it quickly gives us the background of characters. I liked the jumping around, at first. I kept track of the months and years that passed. I liked the beginning story of the twins and felt very drawn to their POV.

Hadley's POV was not enjoyable. I found her near unreadable because she was so selfish. She also rambled about all the unfairness in her life. From there, I just never got pulled into the story. It's so long, detailing all kinds of little stories and points in lives that I just wasn't interested in. It felt like whole chunks would go by without much happening or with nothing to spur my interest. I wish I'd liked this one more.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

The Great Circle tells the story of Marian Graves, who is a female aviator. As a young teen, Marian drops out of school and falls into the favor of a wealthy bootlegger who gets her access to an airplane and lessons. Flash forward, a woman named Hadley is cast to play the part of Marian in a movie. The book weaves their two story lines together.

I felt this book was far too bogged down in extraneous details that did not contribute positively to the plot line. It was a very long book, which I feel could have been significantly shortened. The timeline caused confusion for me at times and I often found it difficult to figure out what was going on. The parallels between the two characters often seems contrived and forced.

In any case, I am thankful to have had a chance to read this book. A big thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC.

Marian Graves would find her fame and fortune in the very limited world of women in aviation. In 1950, women pilots were still a minority. Her life had led her through so many challenges that when she finally earned her wings, she just wanted to live the life she had planned for so long. But fate was not through with her.
Many years later, Hadley Baxter thinks playing Marian in a movie will set her stardom on the path she wants to go. She's already a film star but typecast into roles she would not have chosen.

this is a long book. Be sure you pay attention to the length. It's well worth the read, but not many readers will stay until the end.

An epic tale that connects 2 women in different times trying to define their lives of their own. Marian is trying to escape by flying and Hadley is an actress trying to escape type casting by playing Marian in a movie. Will they create the lives they want?

I enjoyed this book more than most other novels of the past couple years. The two stories are told masterfully with exquisite pacing. I was rivetted throughout this book and could not wait to find time to pick it up again and follow Marian's and Hadley's intertwined stories. Exceptional and well deserving of all the praise heaped on this phenomenal novel.

Strong female lead in a historical fiction novel? Yes please. This was great! Loved the main character and how the story was told.

A late review on this, but this was definitively one of the best books to be released in 2021. It was an all-around engaging story, well written characters, and absolutely book club material. I think this one will stand the test of time, especially as it's still got incredibly long hold lists two years on.

I absolutely loved this book. It is epic, the best kind of historical saga. I savored every minute I was reading it and would highly recommend.

Great Circle spans a century of time told through a dual timeline. Being over 600 pages this took me a LONG time to read. An epic tale of fictional Marian Graves who literally wants to fly around the world and Hadley in present day who is playing Marian in a movie. We have a shipwreck, wars, bootleggers, early aviation and everything else that happens during a long period of time like this!

Great Circle is about a woman pilot in the 20th century and the challenges she faces. This book is a must-read by historical women's fiction lovers.

This book was definitely quite the undertaking, however I am glad that I made the choice to read it. The book follows Marian Graves that has blazed her own trail by becoming one of the first women pilots and the historical time period that she came from and grows up in. It covers the many relationships of her life and the challenges that she faced in such a bite size, piece meal way, while also covering the time period for women and in the 20th century. I felt like I really loved following Marian's story, yet could have really done without the dual timeline aspect and the focus on her twin brother that pulled away from this story. I think the author really pulled off what she set out to do, however there was a lot of extraneousness that just hung out there and was really unneeded. I want to read more from the author and found this book to be a gem. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley. This was a great journey.

I admittedly enjoyed this one a lot more than I anticipated—it was an all-engrossing family epic that really caught my interest quickly and kept me hooked throughout most of the narrative. While it had an obvious aviation focus, it was the love stories and family epic elements that most grabbed my attention, and the way history was seamlessly worked into the narrative.

The pacing felt a little off towards the end, I cared little for Hadley’s narrative (sorry! though totally appreciated the need for it in context of re-writing/correcting/unearthing Marian’s narrative)

I also found the actual “great circle” part of the narrative the least interesting and almost anti-climactic… I think what shone in this story was the rich characterisation and clever layering of details across timelines. It reminded me a little of the vibe I got reading Malibu Rising by TJR with the way this used history. If you’re an aviation nerd you absolutely have to read this!

DNF. I had high hopes going into this one that I would like it based on all the hype around it, but unfortunately after picking it up multiple times it just was not doing it for me.

This was an epic read both in number of pages and in scope but I do believe it could have been pared down quite a bit. There are 2 storylines in this one and I think if this was just a book about Marian Graves , it would have been a better read for me because I adored Marian, Jamie and Caleb so much. Even the very beginning of Marian's life which is the beginning of the book, had so much detail - way more than we needed to get a sense of who she and Jamie were and where they had come from. I REALLY did not like Seating Arrangements so this was a much more welcome read from Shipstead with a great character in Marian Graves!

An interesting premise of a story, unfortunately I never cared about the characters and did not care for the writing style. For as long as this book was I didnt see character development. The present day character seemed to be there only for the story to come “full circle”; it stayed very surface level. I never connected with the book or characters. The book was easy to put down because I just didn’t care about them or the story line. To me the book lacked focus which is a shame because Marian could have been such a great character. I really wanted to DNF this one. I pushed through for book club and regret it. Can’t recommend this one.

This one took me awhile to get through. It is long at 608 pages, but I did take my time. The book is as epic as it sounds, following a fictional female pilot, Marian Graves, throughout the entirety of her life. The reader knows early on that Marian Graves meets her demise at some point during her quest to fly over the North and South Poles, in an attempt to complete a full circle around the earth. If readers do not mind a slow pace and enjoy historical fiction, they should find this book rewarding.

Slow-paced and dragging, Great Circle just didn't do it for me. The premise was interesting, but I felt that Shipstead struggled to make the characters engaging and dimensional. The plot fell rather flat, and the story telling style felt more like a school biography than a fictional novel. It was readable, but not one that I would recommend.

I really could not get into this novel, I tried, but I was not interested in the storyline and the character development was slow.