When you spot The Circle by Dave Eggers on Cambridge University’s Human, Social, Political Sciences Program’s reading list for prospective students, it’s reasonable to expect a masterpiece. After all, it stands among classical and towering works of social analysis. While Eggers’ novel introduces an intriguing premise set in a high-tech dystopian world, it ultimately falls short of delievering deliver the sustained tension and nuanced critique of its predecessors.
The Circle takes readers to a near-future Silicon Valley dominated by a single tech behemoth, the Circle, which has absorbed the functions of all major online platforms into one seamless ecosystem. At its heart is the protagonist, Mae Holland, a young and eager recruit at the Circle who becomes quickly swept up in the company’s culture of transparency and constant sharing. The Circle’s innovations, like SeeChange cameras and TruYou—a universal online identity—gradually reshape society’s relationship to privacy, creating an almost utopian society where secrets are obsolete, and everyone is constantly connected. This setting captures the reader’s imagination, depicting a disturbingly plausible future where surveillance is accepted, even celebrated.
At first, Eggers effectively channels the reader’s unease by constructing a vivid portrayal of the Circle’s corporate culture. Its open, campus-like headquarters and charismatic leadership foster a sense of belonging and purpose among employees, with perks like wellness centers and sprawling workspaces. However, these luxuries come at a steep cost: employees are expected to commit fully to the company’s ethos of radical transparency, gradually sacrificing their personal boundaries. Eggers expertly captures the seduction of tech culture and the allure of constant digital connection, sparking essential questions about privacy and the price of a digitally mediated life.
Yet, for all its thought-provoking setup, The Circle struggles to maintain the intensity and depth necessary to deliver a powerful cautionary tale. After all, this is a popular novel, and any attempts to provoke thoughtful or emotional responses are predicated on plots that are interesting enough to prompt readers to continue reading. Moreover, the portrayal of the main protagonist falls short of satisfiaction. As Mae becomes an ardent evangelist of the Circle’s “Secrets are lies” philosophy, her transformation feels superficial, and the plot loses its grip on the ethical complexities it initially introduces. Characters lack the development needed to evoke true empathy or moral conflict, often acting as mouthpieces for the narrative’s moral lessons rather than as believable people. This weakens the novel’s impact, as the story fails to reach the chilling crescendo that novels like 1984 and Brave New World achieve through well-drawn characters and mounting tension. It should also be noted, though, that the storyline of Mae follows the opposite trajectory to those of the protagonists in 1984 and Brave New World. Instead of a more simplistic story of a protagonist receiving revelation to fight against the dystopia, Mae turned from a skeptic to a true believer. It should be recognized that such complexity entails higher demands for the writer in creating a convincing storyline.
