The Circle

Published in 2013, The Circle by Dave Eggers is a dystopian novel set in the near future. It is told from the perspective of protagonist Mae Holland, who has landed a job at The Circle, a monopolistic tech company led by the Three Wise Men: Eamon Bailey, Ty Gospodinov, and Tom Stenton. The Circle has cultivated a positive image through its ostensible missions of improving human rights and democracy and by making it easier for people to connect globally. However, Mae’s time at The Circle reveals that the company has totalitarian aspirations.

Dave Eggers is known for founding McSweeney’s, a literary journal; his 2000 memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius; and his prolific literary output. The Circle became a bestseller upon its publication, and a film adaptation starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks was released in 2017. In 2021, Eggers published a sequel, The Every.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with Mae’s first day of work at The Circle. She has never worked in tech before and has gotten the job through her close friend, Annie Allerton, who is a senior Circler. Mae quickly falls in love with The Circle’s modernity and considers the campus utopic. At the company, seemingly all information, personal and otherwise, is tracked. The Circle claims this improves efficiency and accountability. Mae works in Customer Experience, where she quickly excels.

The Circle launches a campaign to install tiny, internet-accessible cameras throughout the world. Back in her hometown, Mae’s ex-boyfriend, Mercer, expresses great concern over The Circle’s increasing threat to privacy and autonomy. He annoys Mae, who considers him to be stuck in the past. Mae’s father has multiple sclerosis, and her parents struggle to control his symptoms. Mae gets them on The Circle’s health insurance, which greatly improves the quality of their lives.

Mae develops romantic relationships with two coworkers: Kalden and Francis Garaventa. Kalden is a mysterious character who warns Mae about the dangers posed by The Circle’s ambitions. Francis is working on a project called TruYouth, which aims to eliminate child abductions. Francis pursues Mae, and she enjoys the power she holds over him.

One day, Mae is taken into police custody for taking a kayak from a rental agency. She is released without charges, but The Circle knows what happened. Circle leader Bailey takes an interest in Mae’s situation. He uses her transgression to convince her to go transparent—broadcasting her entire day, every day for a live audience. After going transparent, Mae’s life drastically changes. She begins to make choices based on how they will make her look to her audience, and her deep personal relationships become increasingly supplanted by superficial interactions on social media.

The Circle creates a new program, SoulSearch, that uses crowdsourcing to track down anyone in the world who is hiding. While giving a live demonstration in front of thousands of Circlers, Mae uses SoulSearch to find Mercer, who has moved to rural Oregon to be out of The Circle’s reach. His location is quickly determined, and the live video shows locals chasing him down as he drives into the wilderness. Mercer dies by suicide by driving off a cliff. Though Mae plays a central role in provoking Mercer’s suicide, she carries on with her work at The Circle, relatively undisturbed by the tragedy.

As Mae ascends at The Circle, she eclipses Annie’s status. Annie becomes jealous and tries to regain her higher rank by volunteering to be the guinea pig for PastPerfect. Through this project, Annie’s family history is publicly documented. When shameful information is discovered about Annie’s family, she has a mental health crisis that leaves her comatose.

Mae becomes the brains behind a new project called Demoxie. By law, all citizens will be required to have a Circle account, through which they must participate in democracy. Kalden, whose double identity has been revealed as Circle founder Gospodinov, tries to persuade Mae to derail The Circle’s pursuits. However, she declines his request and reports him to Circle leaders Bailey and Stenton.

At the end of the novel, Mae watches Annie breathe through a respirator, still comatose. On a screen, she sees bursts of color that indicate brain activity. She decides to talk to Bailey and Stenton about how to access the thoughts existing inside people’s minds.