The Circle

By: Dave Eggers

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives—a “compulsively readable parable for the 21st century” (Vanity Fair).

When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency.

As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO.

Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public.

What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

©2013 Dave Eggers (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A vivid, roaring dissent to the companies that have coaxed us to disgorge every thought and action onto the Web . . . Carries the potential to change how the world views its addicted, compliant thrall to all things digital. If you work in Silicon Valley, or just care about what goes on there, you need to pay attention.” (Dennis K. Berman, The Wall Street Journal)

“The particular charm and power of Eggers’s book . . . could be described as ‘topical’ or ‘timely,’ though those pedestrian words do not nearly capture its imaginative vision . . . Simply a great story, with a fascinating protagonist, sharply drawn supporting characters and an exciting, unpredictable plot . . . As scary as the story’s implications will be to some readers, the reading experience is pure pleasure.” (Hugo Lindgren, The New York Times Magazine)

An alright one time read

I struggled to finish it,but purely because of the plot, nothing against audible. It's a good warning, similar to 1984, but it dragged on too much for me.

Frankly didn’t like the story

I thought the audio performance was fine but suffered from only a fair storyline. I was disappointed in that I thought this plot could have been so much more of a commentary on current big tech players like Facebook and Google. Instead it became an apocalyptic fable of sorts. I wanted to like it but could not in the end.

very "what if" in a realistic manner

great storyline, interesting characters and character development, some non- realistic human interacion (hence the 4- stars)

I think the movie did a pretty good job, and I think the book is better

I really enjoyed the voice of the performance and his many voices of the characters

Heavy Handed

This story was something I bought a while ago because a friend was in the middle of it and loved it. I finally got around to reading it and I sort of wish I didn’t. The symbolism, themes, and storytelling are quite heavy handed and predictable. The characters don’t feel like they have an arc, they’re just sort of possessed by an ideology and if anything inside them changes it’s not-so-subtle. A fairly classic dystopian setup with a modern approach and references to current social media platforms. The only things that seemed to be unexpected were the multiple unnecessarily-graphic and poorly written sexual encounters. Overall, I wish I could return the book for my credit, get another book and then scrub this story from my mind.

Fine book but bad voice actor choice

I’m enjoying the book, I’m one third of the way in, it’s a fun dystopia set in a FANG environment, but I’m struggling with the fact that a book where the protagonist is female is being narrated by a man. It’s sort of taking me out of the story on certain moments. I have nothing against the voice actor, I think he does a fine job, it’s just that in a book where we’re constantly following and listening to a young woman, having a man read the story was a bad choice by the studio IMO.

Because of the story I’ve actually been pondering if I should write the review and provide Amazon with ever more useful data.

Deeply Unsettling Start to Finish

I love to hate Mae and found myself shouting oppositions at the ludicrous ideas that everyone at the Circle found novel, ingenious, and beneficial. This book reads like an Orwellian 1984 origin story and I felt very upset through a good majority of the book, well done.

Unsettling good

I enjoyed it a lot. The dialogue felt a little unsatisfying at times, but it was somewhat intentional, even if annoying. Just wanted a bit more subtly at times

Maybe I’m late

Maybe I’m late to the game. But I thought that this book was stupid, but I did like the voice actor.

excellent

it went over ideas that some don’t think about, and i really enjoyed it. great performance too.

Important ideas!

I think the ideas carried in this book are supremely important. As a work of literature it falls short. But it is totally worth a listen. I’d like to see the themes in the book either more realistically developed or condensed into a sci-fiction short story .