Circle of Desire

The Circle is heavy handed in its message about the dangers of allowing a private technology company remarkably like Google too much access to customers' private information and too much influence over social and political life. Its main character, Mae, a recent college graduate who is thrilled to land a job at The Circle in the beginning of the novel, transforms from new employee who takes solitary kayak trips to relieve stress and feels outraged when her privacy is invaded, to an always-on-camera company spokesperson who mercilessly hounds a former boyfriend who has rejected social media.

Mae's transformation doesn't come with any psychological underpinning, though. We see her acquiescing to her bosses' assertions that if we're being watched, we won't do bad things, and that sharing our activities is an act of generosity to others, but we don't understand why she allows herself to be convinced and why she becomes such a true believer.

In spite of the un-subtle message, and the thinness of Mae's character, this novel made me feel queasy about posting on social media and using Google for search, email, creating documents and storing photos. I'm liable to feel queasy about it from time to time anyway, but this book reminded me that technology companies like Google are profiting from my freely providing them with data about myself.