"Where to begin? At the beginning, of course. But where is the beginning? I don’t know where in the past to insert a marker that says: here. Here is where the flight began. Because the beginning is in memory, not on a map."

If you ask me to write a review for Great Circle, you will find me scratching my head and circling back to a point of beginning. But like the quote says, the beginning is in memory, not on a map and certainly not on my notes app. To say that I struggled finishing this book won't be an exaggeration. The dual timeline with a lot of new information that I am not aware of and a whole set of violence, this book took me on a roller coaster ride.

It all began with a ship. A ship that bears the name of a mistress, gives Matilda Feiffer heartache. The ship where Addison Graves will find Annabel who is haunted by the trauma of her past. The ship that saw the birth of Marian and Jamie and to avoid their death in that, Addison made a leap that cost him his life.

But we are shown that both the beginning and the end doesn't matter, it's the journey that matters. And what a journey it was! Marian, with her longing to fly, got herself into an abusive marriage. Then fleed to Alaska to hide from her husband. Jamie, who wanted to leave but can't leave stuck in a past that will never become a present or future, just floats away from his life like a jellyfish. And Caleb, oh my Caleb, a free spirit, does live his life as one till the end.

Now add this with the present timeline of Hadley Baxter, who was fired after a scandalous affair from the Archangel series (imagine Twilight×50 shades of Grey) and cast to act as Marian in an indie movie, we have one exploding book.

This book is a complex mess of emotions. There is a lot of violence and abuse and rape that made me want to throw it away and call it a day. But I am glad that I didn't.  Like everyone else, I like me some good melodrama but too much too soon is just a lot to take. There is a mention of child molestation on one page that is followed by the postnatal depression caused by molestation. There is a shipwreck that is followed by a plane wreck in consecutive chapters. As I said, it's a lot to take.

Also, what's with the casual violence? Let it be the bootlegging Barclay or gambling Wallace, the violence is never-ending. And how can I forget the descriptions of battles? It was bloody, gory, and messy. Reading it made me a bit unsteady. I had to take long breaks in between to refresh my mind. I have read a few reviews in Goodreads that said they didn't like how sexually open the women in this book are. But, I didn't mind these sexual expeditions because honestly, who am I to judge? When you are in a situation to feel anything that resembles a human contact, or shadows love, you use every viable option. And to the kids like Marian, Jamie and Hadley, even Caleb, sex ended up being a form of coping mechanism.

I enjoyed ATA pilot training chapters of Marian and her giddy romance with Ruth. But then again, it ended so soon that gave me whiplash. The humans here are completely connected. Every character has significance and helps in the advancement of the plot. One thing I appreciate about the book is that the violence, abuses and molestation are not there for the sole purpose of advancing character development. It didn't make the characters hard to emotion and turn into a robot. Instead, it made them more human and soft. It's exhausting to see this trope everywhere and I am glad that it didn't come to that. And this is all only about the first 500 pages.

It is the last 100 pages that hold the true essence of the Great Circle. In these pages, we see Marian's expedition around the world that is often mentioned in every other chapter in this book. What a journey! The sea, the ice, the aurora, the landings and takeoffs in impossible weather, it just flew. I didn't even know when it ended and I was in tears when it did. The book really did come into a great circle tying all the loose ends into a neat little bow. And boy was I glad to be sticking through all the violence!

I must say I didn't like this book at the start. Maybe it's because I am more susceptible to put myself in the place of the character.  It had me thinking that how a woman's life is always shaped by the pain she endures, both physical and emotional. And how men are expected to fight a different battle altogether. It made me angry, frustrated but also sad. But then, when I finished this book, I can't stop thinking about it. The impact is huge on me and it'll be with me for a long time.

Overall, it is a book that has five different books in it. And it needs all your patience to get to the part where it gets interesting. But as Marian says, the begging and end don't matter, only the journey. Though the journey is taxing, the joy after finishing it knows no bounds. With my ramblings coming to an end, it's safe to say that I loved this book to death and I beg you to go and read it.