Your review was spot on. The book, which I read a couple years ago, wasn't an exceptional piece of literature but was far more satisfying than the movie. It was a long novel and allowed for much more detail in the story than the movie showed. In particular, the transition into the cult of The Circle and transparency was much more subtle and nuanced. Y'all - skip the movie and read the book.
I can imagine how a longer novel would give room to give a fuller account of how the cult developed. I can also imagine how a 30 minute "Twilight Zone" episode could ignore all that and focus on a single event. But this movie adaptation was stuck in the unsatisfying middle ground.
"The Circle" is the second Dave Eggers novel Tom Hanks has starred in, the first being "A Hologram for the King" (search for my August, 2013, review in "The Wheel"). I read that novel and found it to be OK at best. The movie adaptation has been on my queue since it came out in 2016. Maybe for this one, the movie is better than the book.
After seeing the movie for "A Hologram for the King," I posted this review: "One of those rare movies based on a book that matches it in quality — in this case, mediocre. US IT salesman has midlife crisis in Saudi Arabia. Starts exotic, ends preposterous. No reason to care. C+"
The 2018 selection for "Richardson Reads One Book" has been announced: it's "The Circle" by Dave Eggers. Sigh. Let's just say my enthusiasm is underwhelming. This will be the first selection in years that I will *not* be reading.
Your review was spot on. The book, which I read a couple years ago, wasn't an exceptional piece of literature but was far more satisfying than the movie. It was a long novel and allowed for much more detail in the story than the movie showed. In particular, the transition into the cult of The Circle and transparency was much more subtle and nuanced. Y'all - skip the movie and read the book.
ReplyDeleteSteve Benson
I can imagine how a longer novel would give room to give a fuller account of how the cult developed. I can also imagine how a 30 minute "Twilight Zone" episode could ignore all that and focus on a single event. But this movie adaptation was stuck in the unsatisfying middle ground.
ReplyDelete"The Circle" is the second Dave Eggers novel Tom Hanks has starred in, the first being "A Hologram for the King" (search for my August, 2013, review in "The Wheel"). I read that novel and found it to be OK at best. The movie adaptation has been on my queue since it came out in 2016. Maybe for this one, the movie is better than the book.
After seeing the movie for "A Hologram for the King," I posted this review: "One of those rare movies based on a book that matches it in quality — in this case, mediocre. US IT salesman has midlife crisis in Saudi Arabia. Starts exotic, ends preposterous. No reason to care. C+"
ReplyDeleteThe 2018 selection for "Richardson Reads One Book" has been announced: it's "The Circle" by Dave Eggers. Sigh. Let's just say my enthusiasm is underwhelming. This will be the first selection in years that I will *not* be reading.
ReplyDelete