Dreadful characterization prevents this novel from being great. Mae Holland's shallowness might be appropriate for the novel's circumstances but her being book-ended between two male love interests that are equally as dull makes for really flat characters.

But this book is really about ideas and warns of uncritical acceptance of bad ideas wedded to technological change.

Eggers' vision of the totalitarian aspects behind social media--and the digital enthusiasms behind it--is spot on. Especially poignant is the pressure, within the connected circle, to digitally document daily minutiae of one's own and to ofter facile commentary on that of others. Underlining the continuous posting and commentary is a tension between transparency and surveillance. The hubris within the circle prevents this from ever becoming an issue.

The Circle may be the first really good novel that probes the contemporary digital gilded age.