My Rating: 4.5 stars
Wow, what a story!
Before I go into how much I enjoyed this book, let me start things off by honestly admitting that, actually, I "almost" didn't end up reading this one, for various reasons.
First and foremost, I was intimidated by the page length — when I initially accepted an ARC of this book from the publisher in NetGalley, I had no idea that this would be a 600–page tome. With a TBR a mile high and so many books already lined up to read for the month of July, I definitely felt like I didn't have the time to spend on a long book (this is exacerbated by the fact that I'm a "one-book-at-a-time" kind of reader who also has problems DNFing books once I start them, no matter how bad the book gets). Second, I was torn by the book's premise. While I love reading about strong women protagonists, and epic historical stories are usually right up my alley, the part that made me wary was the overarching subject matter. Going into this, I knew that it would be about a female pilot circumnavigating the globe and undoubtedly, there would be a lot of technical language and details involving the mechanics of flying a plane and getting from one point to another (on the first 2 pages, before the story even starts, there is a detailed map charting the main character Marian Graves' journey - which, being someone who has no sense of direction and is incapable of reading maps, I was completely lost even after staring at the map for several minutes) — given my lack of interest in aviation and airplanes / flying, as well as my general aversion to books that go a bit too much into the "science-y" side of things because much of it usually goes over my head and therefore impacts my ability to enjoy the story, this of course added to my anxiety about reading this book. Third, I had never read this author before and as such, didn't have the benefit of a positive or negative reaction to previous works to sway me either way. In the end though, I decided to go for it — start the book and hope for the best. And now, after finishing this epic story, I can say for sure that it was absolutely worth the time and effort!
This book actually turned out to be completely different from what I expected (in a good way, of course). Surprisingly, none of the fears that I initially had about the book ended up materializing. Yes, there was a lot of technical detail about aviation and airplanes and flying, but it was done in a way that was accessible and didn't detract from the story itself. Most importantly though, the story wasn't just about that — in fact, it's actually one of those stories that truly has something for everyone in terms of the themes and topics that it explores (i.e.: history, adventure, romance, relationships, complex family dynamics, war and sacrifice, love, heartbreak, contemporary societal and gender conflicts, etc.). So far, this is the only book I've read that can truly be classified as having a multitude of settings that span the depths of time and space — from modern day Los Angeles in 2014 to a doomed cruise ship in the North Atlantic in 1914, to Prohibition-era Montana, to London and Europe where female pilots helped ferry warplanes for the ATA during WWII, to the wilds of Alaska, to Vancouver (Canada) to Seattle and New York, to the icy depths of Antarctica, to the unknown expanse of the skies above and beyond the clouds — from land to air to sea, this is a story that traverses the globe in a "great circle" worthy of its title.
This magnificent, epic tale is beautifully written in prose that is lyrical, poetic, lively, descriptive, and as mentioned previously, also incredibly accessible, given its content. Normally, a big book such as this one would take me more than a week to finish, but I found myself so absorbed and invested in the story and its characters that I felt compelled to keep turning the pages, which resulted in me being able to finish this massive tome over the course of a 3-day holiday weekend. Maggie Shipstead is indeed a gifted writer — I admire so much of what she tried to do with this story, from the impeccable research to the near flawless execution of the story, to the well-developed, realistic rendering of the characters (especially remarkable given the fact that many of the characters in the story were actually unlikable) — all of it came together in fantastic, epic fashion.
With all that said, the one complaint that I did have — and the main reason for why I gave this book 4.5 stars rather than 5 stars — is that I didn't really like the present day story arc involving Hadley Baxter. While I understand the critical role that Hadley played in terms of helping Marian's story unfold as well as the parallels we are supposed to infer with their personalities and the paths their lives ultimately take, etc., I honestly could not bring myself to like Hadley. She came across as annoying to me and I actually had no interest at all in her background or her "struggles" in Hollywood where she is seemingly "misunderstood" by everyone. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why, but I just couldn't stand her — thankfully, the chapters about her were extremely short, so I was able to skim majority of the pages about her until I got to the passages actually related to Marian's life.
With such an epic story, it's pretty much impossible to relay its scope and magnificence through a brief review. This is a story that is guaranteed to be an immersive experience — a rewarding journey that is absolutely worth the time it takes to get to the end. I am definitely glad I got the chance to read this one and of course there is no doubt that I will be exploring Shipstead's backlist now while looking forward to what she might have in store for us next!
Received ARC from Alfred A. Knopf publishers via NetGalley.
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