GREAT CIRCLE is a story that revolves around two fierce, female protagonists. We learn about the unorthodox life of Marian Graves, a pioneering pilot who flew airplanes during the mid 20th C and for the war effort during WWII and we delve deeper into Marian's life through the lens of iconic movie star, Hadley, famous for portraying the love interest on and off screen in a "Twilight" like series. Hadley is cast to portray Marian in a major Hollywood biopic. Author Maggie Shipstead is known for the romantic comedy "Seating Arrangements" and "Astonish Me" an inside look at the dark side of ballet. In her third novel, GREAT CIRCLE, Shipstead expansive epic novel takes an ambitious jete into the extraordinary life of a woman brandishing her own way into the burgeoning field of aviation and the titillations of an actress whose face graces fashion and gossip rags alike. Unfortunately, the novel takes a drastic nose drive into relentless melodrama for Marian and worse, tedium and incredulity for Hadley. Hadley is given letters that belonged to Marian leading Hadley to uncover the mystery of Marian's disappearance in her attempt to circumnavigate around the Arctic and Antarctic. Marian has a twin brother Jamie. Their vicarious lives were almost cut short when as infants, the ship they sailing cross the Atlantic exploded. Their father, the ship's captain, took the two with him into a lifeboat landing him in jail and his forlorn wife in Davey Jone's locker. The twins were reared by their uncle who gave their free rein to fend for themselves in the backwoods of Montana. Marian fell in love with flying as a young girl after she wrangled a ride from a female circus pilot. Flying became an unflappable aspiration that Marian achieved through whatever means available. This included bootleg flying and marrying against her wishes. Shipstead has more gravitas with the 20th C than the 21st where a young starlet's dalliances appear vapid in lieu of women warrior pilots. The doppelgänger storytelling is overburdened in its opposing fluidity. Marian's ambitious feelings for her husband Barclay tethered the plot. "She resented Barclay horribly, her gratitude to Barclay was bottomless. She wishes she could vanish and never return, she couldn't bear leaving him." I wanted more but the stories didn't soar. "Circles are wondrous because they are endless. Anything endless is wondrous. But endlessness is torture, too." I found the GREAT CIRCLE interminable.
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