The S sounds ffs

I'm sure this is a great book.

But the narrator provinces their S sounds waaay too powerfully. So much so that it hurts to listen to 🙁

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A Prescient Tale

A Prescient Tale

The first few chapters needed perseverance but this original novel then flowed with the growth of the principal characters and the acutely relevant Orwellian themes.
Absolutely worth a listen, while we still have the time ...😉 and the accounts of Mae’s frenzied media activity were hilarious and not to be missed.

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loved this story

I initially watched the film, loved it, thought the book would be good aswell, well I was wrong......
it was amazing. the ending is way better than the film

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1 person found this helpful

Thought provoking

I would like to listen to this again sometime and see if I can spot the moment where the logical argument is taken one step too far and madness begins. Maybe we all need to keep our whits about us in the real world too!

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Quality read, though lengthy

Would you consider the audio edition of The Circle to be better than the print version?

I've not read the print version.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I found it funny and amusing, albeit bit of a scary thought, modern day take on a Brave New World concept - though many things you see happening around you mentioned in the book. Enjoyable read.

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Okay, not great

I didn't like the narrator's voice. The story was quite heavy handed story as an allegory.

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Yet another book which only ever wnated to be a film

So many of the books I read now are written on the premise that they will hopefully be turned into films one day. The Circle is one such book. For me, the book is distinctly average. There are yawning gaps in descriptions, timelines... Jumping from one event to another with very little attempt to clean things up properly. Poor research or explanation such as the shark that could eat everything. We were informed that the shark and the animals it consumed were from the Mariana Trench. Anyone who has seen the Blue Planet documentaries and similar know that these animals live under extreme pressure brought about by the depths in which they live under the ocean yet this shark was able to jump up out the aquarium and grab its prey. On a more positive note: The book does, to some extent, grapple with the dystopian future it is centred around but, I have to say, Black Mirror does it much much better and manages to feel way less dated than this book exploring a similar genre. I will watch the film and am now incredibly curious to discover whether I will enjoy said film more as it seems to me that is what the author only ever wanted.

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1 person found this helpful

very so so read - wouldn't recommend

Life is too short to be reading books this average. I would have given up on it were it not something that our book group was reading. I got fed up with the big chunks of it that were just a list of her online activities. After the first boring list the author could have gotten away with saying "May spent 4 hours updating her social feeds' (I also wondered about the logistics of how she could update all that and do her job?)
And was it inky ne who guessed Kalden's secret right from the moment he appeared.
Seriously not impressed with the whole thing.

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Great idea which got me thinking

I read reviews of this novel comparing it to 'Brave New World' and '1984'. It is indeed a satire on a not-so-implausible-near-future and I certainly couldn't out it down. But it is not a great work of literary genius like the novels of Huxley and Orwell. I have read plenty of other dystopian novels which are much better than this. It lacked literary sophistication and nuance which is fine but the hype led me to expect that.

It really made me think though and that is a sign of a good novel. How far will social media take us? It even made me question my own use of social media, my motives and expectations.

I definitely recommend it. The performance is superb and I did extra gardening and housework to make sure I could listen to it as fast as I could.

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Great Dystopian Novel

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, the narration is clear. Despite the large amount of dialogue it is easy to follow as the author has different voices for each character. And rather impressively, the voices correspond quite well to the descriptions of the characters and their voices in the text.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Circle?

Probably the end.

What does Dion Graham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Not much.... an american accent, maybe.

Any additional comments?

Its a really great dystopian novel for today. It could probably have done with being a little bit shorter, but that's okay. I'm curious how it will age. Will people read it in 20 years and if so what will they think of it?

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