Great Circle

Maggie Shipstead has outdone herself in this extraordinary tale of resilience and perseverance, constructed with two parallel storylines of two complex women. Marian Graves and her twin brother, Jamie, are raised by an alcoholic/gambling addict uncle, in the wilds of Montana, during the Prohibition days. The fateful story of their parents is told with superb detail in the early pages of the book. Marian and Jamie become well educated in the natural world, where they spend a lot of time, and their uncle ensures that their literacy and creative spirits thrive. Besides Marian, Jamie has a story with many adventures, and his fate is inextricably bound with Marian’s.At an early age, Marian becomes self-sufficient and ambitious, especially after witnessing a husband and wife pilot team that visit for a show. She is determined to fly planes--and do whatever it takes to save the money (her uncle squandered much of their inheritance). Marian is disciplined, courageous, and highly intelligent, as well as physically strong. Moreover, she is devoted to Jamie. Yes, she has assistance from a wealthy cattle rancher with a stake in criminal enterprises, but most of her accomplishments were despite him, not because of him. She becomes a legendary aviatrix.We meet Hadley Baxter in late 2014, also raised by her uncle. Her parents died in a plane crash in Antarctica, their bodies never recovered. Hadley is quite young, yet is already a movie star, a household name, thanks to luck and timing. She got into showbiz with the help of her stuntman uncle, and landed the part of a superhero in a film franchise, Archangel. However, at this time, Hadley is a work-in-progress--a navel-gazer, the acme of vanity, who confuses love and lust. Hadley leaps before she looks in almost every area of her life. She hardly “earned” her status--it’s more like she fell into place. The young actress is privileged, frustrating, and loveable. Yes, loveable. Fundamentally, Hadley has a tender heart--she just doesn’t know where she misplaced it.After making millions on Archangel, Hadley impulsively sabotages her superhero role (unlike her counterpart, Marian, who planned vigorously and resourcefully to achieve self-sovereignty against the tide of traditional gender roles). And due to social media, Hadley’s reputation is also in shambles. While at her lowest and most self-pitying, she is offered an opportunity to play Marian in a hagiographic film of Marian’s life. It’s a chance to mature, to step into a new role that could lead to self-agency and self-determination. After reading a book about Marian’s journeys, as well as some of Marian’s pilot logbook, she becomes infatuated with the brave female aviatrix who dared to circumnavigate the globe.The novel is about 75% Marian, 25% Hadley (this isn’t an exact figure, of course). Shipstead is astonishing on all fronts. Plotting, themes, character development, language, and pacing just vibrate off the pages. This epic and startling tale of two women, a century apart, illustrates the “great circle” of life in unexpected and exquisite ways. It also demonstrates that we can only have a limited view of other people's lives, which is framed by our own experiences. Hadley and Marian can be fierce and uncompromising, even as they paradoxically sacrifice-- for a desire to be seen, to be made manifest in magnificent and sublime ways. It’s a sweeping narrative that made me feel special just for reading it.I won’t go into the story details; it’s enough to say that Marian and Hadley’s stories intersect through the author’s masterful and elaborate storytelling talents. Shipstead’s meticulous research adds even more luster to this tale. Interspersed with the parallel narratives are portraits of pilots--mostly female--who have broken records and braved the impossible. For readers who would want to know beforehand--the tale also covers scenes of sexual abuse/assault, graphic at times but eloquently nuanced. THE GREAT CIRCLE will surely be one of my top 10 of the year.“What is the border between life and oblivion? Why should anyone presume to recognize it?”

The story of a fictional woman aviator, Marion Graves, born in 1914 builds slowly from her childhood in Montana, her years flying planes in Alaska, to her flight to circumnavigate the world. The second story of an actress cast to play Marion in the present-day mirrors Marion’s life with her rebellious streak and desire to cast off her problems. Both stories alternate to illustrate what has changed for women and what hasn’t.Marion and her twin Jamie were rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner by their father, the ship’s captain. He had commandeered a lifeboat and climbed in with his babies ahead of other people who were waiting. Captain Graves was arrested when they were brought to land. The babies’ mother had disappeared from their stateroom and was never seen again.Marion and Jamie were sent live with their Uncle Wallace, a reclusive artist who lived in Montana. As children, Marion and Jamie formed a bond with the only other child nearby, Caleb, the son of an alcoholic mother. The three grew up together. Marion was to view Caleb as more than a friend throughout her life. Like Marion, Caleb was fiercely independent and prone to wander. She hid the relationship from her brother.Marion was fourteen when she met a couple who were stunt aviators. She knew that she had to become a pilot from that day forward. However unlikely it was that a girl without any resources could learn to fly, she chose to ignore the odds and promptly set about to achieve her goal. She cut her hair, wore overalls, and did her best to look like a boy, sometimes very successfully. Marion ran errands for money and drove her uncle’s rickety car to make runs for a local bootlegger. Never veering from her goal to save enough money for flying lessons, she managed to convince a crusty pilot to help her.Marion was to use her skills as a pilot first in Alaska, making supply runs and eventually flying supplies to troops overseas in WWII. She was married early to a hometown boy, left him after abuse, and started a relationship with another female pilot. Every few years, she would reconnect with Caleb, who had joined the military. Marion eagerly followed the careers of other aviators, especially other women. After learning about another women pilot’s success in making a long flight, she decided to circumnavigate the globe, starting and ending in New Zealand. Her trip had tragic and wholly surprising consequences.The actress chosen to play Marion in a film about her life years later echoes Marion’s problems with relationships and finding freedom. Her story is interwoven in chapters about Marion. While interesting in a Hollywood scandal type of way, I wasn’t as compelled by it as much as Marion’s story. It could have been left out entirely without affecting the main story. The novel is long, coming in at almost 600 pages, but I found that the more I read, the more I was compelled to find out what happened to Marion. This is an excellent book to pick up if you’re looking for something that will transport you to another time and place. Its themes of what women accomplished against the odds will inspire many readers.

As a reader, there’s something deeply satisfying when a propulsive plot is underpinned by thematic depth. What happens next? You’re compelled to turn the page, not to solve some mystery (though there’s a meaty one here), but because you’ve become so personally invested in the writing, characters and themes you are now, somehow, part of the story itself.Maggie Shipstead’s Booker-shortlisted Great Circle charts the life of Marian Graves, a woman born to be a wanderer, whose dream – an unlikely one for a woman born early in the 20th century - is to fly.Over 600 pages, the reader is inexorably drawn into this tale of empowerment, determination, and adventure. From escaping a sinking cruise liner to flying spitfires during WWII, from freighting black market booze to attempting to circumnavigate the globe (a ‘great circle’ from pole to pole), there’s plenty to propel the story – and our attention – forward.Underpinning all this, however, are profound interrogations about our ability to see our lives, and the lives of others, with proper perspective. Marian flies because altitude gives her a sense of the wider world and her place within it. It gives her the wider view she needs to connect the dots of her own life so that they may tell a cohesive story. She chases the full picture, the great circle, even though the curved horizon can only give her a partial glimpse. The meaning of (a) life, the author seems to say, can only be grasped with the benefit of distance and time, a vantage point from which one can take in the whole.Without this map-like view of their own lives, the women in Great Circle are buffeted by the elements, with only enough visibility to ponder the next course correction, when what they truly desire is to set their own destination.More than a tale of female emancipation, Great Circle is about our yearning, as humans, to pull the word down to a scale that makes sense. Understanding one another requires proximity and intimacy. Understanding the grand mysteries of life – and love, and death – requires distance and perspective. How we navigate this contradiction is the question this genuinely wondrous novel sets out to answer.

i was loving this book when about half way through the pages were no longer in the correct order. my new copy arrived today; page order seems okay. however, there are several pages where words are blurred and distorted. it appears to be still readable, but if you order this book, i would suggest checking it carefully when you receive it.on a sidenote, amazon customer service were very helpful

The characters are so well developed