The Circle: A Horror Novel?

Hi all -

I read the book last month but it's been so hectic that I'm now a bit late to the discussion (which is my wraparound apology for potentially covering territory someone else has addressed)... but did anyone else find this book to be, basically, a horror novel? Or at the very least Gothic mystery, like Northanger Abbey?
I don't get the sense that that was the novel Eggers set out to write, nor does it seem like that's the novel he thinks he did in fact finish - but the entire time I was reading, I felt like it was just this side of full-on classic horror. There's a madman in the attic, shadowy figures, mysterious codes, and unexplained occurrences - not to mention the more present-day horrors of everyone knowing everything about everyone and a massive corporation controlling all.

A few co-workers have also read the novel and none of them seemed to experience the novel in that way - but I'm curious if anyone else here could see it not as Important Modern Literature but rather as the next blockbuster horror novel. (Not that those two things are necessarily mutually exclusive.)

Insomuch as all dystopias have aspects of horror, in that they represent a dysfunctional society that can be frightening to our sensibilities or at least feel uncanny, the Circle is a horror novel. The chase scene near the end had an intention to frighten, certainly. I don't think that it's essentially a horror novel though.

Come to think of it, for some reason I kept thinking of the The Turn of the Screw in relation to Kalden's ghostly appearances.

>1 drewsof: Kind of a creeping horror, as you realize (but Mae never realizes) how scary and all encompassing the outcome will be.

The thought that it was horror crossed my mind as well. I don't think it fits neatly into that category by any means, but certainly there are elements of it. For me, the total loss of privacy and expectation of constant interaction made me almost claustrophobic at times.

*****SPOILER ALERT!!*****

Ling.Lass, you captured what really disappointed me in the end -- that Mae doesn't realize where she is going, despite having been told by 2 people of very different personalities who both played big parts in her life and despite the effect on Annie.

I sort of feel as if this is "book 1" of a series because how can the good guys NOT win?

Now THAT is an interesting thought - I had no sense of the possibility of a series but now that you mention it, I could see how it *could* become that sort of thing. But also, I mean, if we're to look at real life... I'd say the Eggers/Shteyngart techno-future is more likely than the "good guys" winning, as it were.

Yeah, that may just be wishful thinking on my part.

I really do hope for a sequel to the Circle. I'm even willing to work through a trilogy for a more positive ending than what we have now. I don't care if Mae stays stupid forever; I didn't like her anyway, He could have a new employee get hired in Book Two, and that person could make some changes!

I'd love to see Ty become better developed, grow some more, learn from his mistakes in The Circle. Be stronger in the second book. I think there's potential to Ty.

Yeah, I don't think Eggers is a sequel guy. Sequels are precious rare in literary fiction.

I'm in the camp that doesn't think there will be a sequel, but if there were, I would probably not read it. While I really enjoyed the book, it's enough. I don't want to know more about the storyline or the characters.

Well, I think that's the problem. Mind you, I think that's also true of, say, 1984.

That said, I'm generally anti-sequel. But that's another topic.

What would happen in the sequel? More tightening of the Circle? More screens for Mae?

I think a sequel would be a mistake. I think the point was that Mae was incapable of making the right choice, or being smarter, or whatever. That's what makes a good dystopia for me.

Again, wishful thinking here, because I agree it's a long-shot. It would be along the lines of what Merryan said. Ty becomes a stronger person, finds a way to undermine the Circle. Whether it involves Mae or not doesn't matter to me. Of course I am not a writer, so my desire for a gooey happy ending probably doesn't work in "literary fiction". Which is what, by the way? Compared to "other fiction". I guess I understand what romance novels are, sci-fi, historical fiction, but how does a work rise to the level of "literary fiction"

Ignorantly yours,

k4k

I await the answer to this question also, krazy4katz. I've never been motivated enough to look it up, but my vague, made up, definition of 'literary fiction' is 'fiction that teaches me something about human nature, is heavily realistic, and is going to make me cry four times for every time it makes me laugh.'

I generally steer clear of it and stay in places like Terry Pratchett's Discworld: fiction that teaches me something about human nature, is sarcastically realistic, and makes me laugh forty times for every time it makes me cry.

and is going to make me cry four times for every time it makes me laugh.

Er, no. Literary fiction does not remotely mean depressing. It can be, the same way any piece of work can be.

The Wikipedia page states 'To be considered literary, a work usually must be "critically acclaimed" and "serious". In practice, works of literary fiction often are "complex, literate, multilayered novels that wrestle with universal dilemmas."'

Meh. It's a genre publishers publish for. They are aiming for "complex, literate," and so forth, but that's like saying that a science fiction novel must be exciting. Sure, you want it to be, but it's still science fiction if it's not.

I read a lot of "literary fiction," probably more than any other nonfiction genre, and I still am not quite sure what it is. It seems more a catch-all to me than a genre. Other books can also be complex and multilayered, and I don't know what "literate" means in this context.

To me, "literary fiction" generally means a book that I'll like more than my book-reading friends. :D

How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely is a very funny send up of "literary fiction" and how to write it.

>19 tottman:
Thanks! LT has very high confidence that I probably won't like this book, but it sounds funny so I may give it a try anyway. Too bad it's not available electronically from my library or from audible.

>19 tottman:: Interesting take from Amazon on the book you recommended. When I looked, the page said that people who purchased How I Became a Famous Novelist also purchase The Circle. Kinda Circly?? And I am not logged into Amazon on this computer, so it isn't me.

A horror novel? Well, I did feel about this book somewhat like J. Peterman felt about the Urban Sombrero, so perhaps it is.

http://youtu.be/i7mr9F7kHMM

"... what really disappointed me in the end -- that Mae doesn't realize where she is going, despite having been told by 2 people of very different personalities who both played big parts in her life and despite the effect on Annie."

I guess I wasn't disappointed, and don't see a sequel in the offing because Mae's arc pretty much follows that of Winston Smith in 1984, though with some interesting differences.

Smith is told the truth by O'Brien, and then he's tortured with that head cage full of rats until he's brainwashed into loving Big Brother.

Mae is told the truth, and more or less agrees to her own brainwashing by going transparent (which leaves her no room for independent thought) until she fully accepts the Circle. Her outing Ty is her "do it to Julia" moment.

In some ways, Mae's acquiescence to the Circle is more chilling that Smith's to Big Brother because Mae gives up her self-direction on her own. She's pressured, yes, but she can leave the Circle at any time. But she doesn't. And I think we're meant to ask to what extent we ourselves have given up self-direction to external forces.

So, no, I don't see where this book would go beyond the original story.

What I do think makes interesting speculation is what happens to someone like Mae when her virtual popularity wanes and she begins losing followers.

I read 1984 so long ago, I don't remember it very well, which is a big barrier to these discussions. I should probably read it again. I think I am going to read We first, though.

I think you bring up a very interesting point regarding Mae's feelings of self-esteem when her popularity decreases. She could end up in the hospital like Annie. Maybe THEN she will hook up with Ty and start a revolution! OK, I know. Not gonna happen.

Seriously though, this is relevant to some of the discussions that have occurred on LT. For example, the ability to "thumb" reviews -- up is OK, down is not. Especially controversial was the thumbs up or down of recommendations, which I was against, but anyway, it happened. The scores move your recommendations up or down the list. Do people take those thumbs personally? (Do I count the number of my reviews that have thumbs?) When you are in a situation where you are encouraged to value yourself based on the approval of others, it becomes a problem. The digital world has enhanced this effect by allowing thousands (or millions in Mae's case) of people to weigh in on your self-worth.

I don't think the thumbs on reviews give any sort of "value based on approval of others." If someone thinks it was a well-done review, they can thumb it. No thumb doesn't mean it's crap, it doesn't mean anything. People who post their reviews in the challenge groups tend to have others who wind up going & thumbing when there's a nice thorough one done, because they've been exposed to it already. Those simply on the work page have less exposure so are less likely to get thumbed. So what? It's no measure of anything. And the recommendations should have it, again it's nothing about worth of a person, but about how relevant a suggestion actually is in the opinions of others. No one is saying "omg you suck!" by saying they think a rec isn't really appropriate to a work. They're just trying to provide what they feel is helpful advice to others - yes I think this book has something relatable with the one on this page/no I don't see the connection here.

I do agree that in the wider internet it has gotten fairly ridiculous.

I am sure you are correct. I just don't like the "down" thumbs. Kind of like -- if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Perhaps I'm old-fashioned.

Plus, does it help someone if a recommendation has both up and down thumbs? It just means people disagree, which is a given here in our community. But this is a digression, I know.

But again, it's not saying something rude. It's providing (potentially) helpful information. If, e.g., some person suggested Romance Novel A on the Thriller Novel B page, I would very much like people to thumb that down as not a pertinent suggestion. Why is this a "rude" thing? Why shouldn't we be able to tell people that we do not believe a suggestion to be relevant so if they are looking for similar they should not waste their time on it? The implication is not that the person sucks, not that the book sucks, merely that others don't see it as applicable to the book in question.

Yes, I see your point, although without comments, it is difficult to figure out why a recommendation has a down thumb unless you already know something about the book.

>24 krazy4katz:, I kind of like the idea of Mae and Ty fomenting revolution after they've aged out of the Circle.

>29 nohrt4me2: OK! Time to write some fan fiction!

Slash fiction!

What is slash fiction?

fan fiction with sex. lots of sex. preferably between characters that in the novel would never ever have sex. This includes male-male and female-female.

Oh! My goodness. I see.

Reading up on it just now it seems primarily about same sex pairings even. :)

Oh my. Please don't let it involve Bailey.

>33 JerryMmm: Slash fiction is used denote fan fiction pairings that invert the characters' canonical sexuality (so, if they're written as straight, they're rewritten as gay in slash fiction, and vice versa—though the former is much more prevalent). And it's not always completely full of sex, sex, and more sex, but frequently, that is definitely the case.

Popular pairings in Harry Potter fan fic seemed to be Harry/Draco and Snape/Hermione. Just sayin' ....

36, 38> Well, that would truly make this a horror novel.

Slash fiction is a genre term, not a real term. Just as no one can say absolutely what constitutes a thriller, a mystery or a "new adult" novel, no one can definitely say what slash "really' is. But, with that proviso, I'd say that slash fiction does not necessarily involve sexual inversion, and Bailey/Mae is also slash.

40: "Bailey/Mae is also slash"

Stop, stop! I will have nightmares! The horror, the horror...