Divergent
By Veronica Roth
Reviewed by Reece
My rating: between 4 and 4.5
"In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is
divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular
virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave),
Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of
every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will
devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying
with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a
choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows,
Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to
live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical
tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating
consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her
friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating,
sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a
secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can
mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to
unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might
help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her."
I definitely liked this book more than I thought I was going
to but didn’t think it was worth the hype.
It was a little weird how quickly Tris went from her Abnegation
life to being a totally brutal Dauntless.
“People tend to overestimate my character," I say quietly.
"They think that because I'm small, or a girl, or a Stiff, I can't
possibly be cruel. But they're wrong.”
As, far as the ‘romance’ I don’t know how I felt about the chemistry
between Four and tris. I thought it was a little odd, the whole time he has
lived at dauntless he never found someone he was attracted to until Tris? He
never actually said why he singled her out of the who knows how many women
there.
Was he looking for a girl from Abnegation like him? I don’t
know.
One other thing that wasn’t going for the book, I had a
terrible time imagining some of the things the author was describing, the only
reason I could kind of imagine what she was talking about was because I had
seen the movie a few months back. (just FYI, I agree that the book was WAY
better then the movie. Obviously.)
Something I did like was the fast paced story line, I felt
like I was constantly on the edge of my seat, I was able to finish this book in
around 3 days, probably would have been sooner, but there are potty breaks and
food breaks, I’m not a robot.
There were so many lines in Divergent that I would love to
have written in a calligraphy pen and postered (is that a word?) on my wall.
“Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you
up”
I really enjoyed the fear simulations and getting to see not
only her fears, but also Fours.
One of the things I did like about FourTris’s relationship
is that it felt sorta real. Well, more real that some books. (I’m looking at
you Twilight, setting up unreal expectations for girls. Tsk, tsk) they had
there ups and downs, moments when they doubted each other and then learned
trust and could read each others facial cues.
My favorite parts of the book was when Four was able to
publicly pick on Peter in front of all the initiates.
“Four flips the gun in this hand, presses the barrel to Peter's
forehead, and clicks a bullet into place. Peter freezes with his lips parted,
the yawn dead in his mouth. "Wake. Up," Four snaps. "You are
holding a loaded gun, you idiot. Act like it.”
There is a lot of violence, the dauntless have to train, not
to mention the things that happen during training; a kidnapping, a suicide,
mass murder of innocent faction folk, killing of fellow soldiers while said
soldiers were under a type of hypnosis.
There is some romance in this also, mostly between Four and
Tris, but also with couples off scene. At least two other couples I can remember,
who also showed some PDA.
“You think giving you a hug would give away too much?" he says.
"You know," I say. "I really don't care."
I stand on my tiptoes and press my lips to his.
It is the best moment of my life.”
Tris is afraid of intimacy with Four, so that is talked
about between them, and also brought up with her friends Christina and Will. Other
than that, there are several kisses between Four and Tris.
I did enjoy reading
this, and am so glad I did because before I was just going off the movie, and
the two are so incredibly different!
“I feel like someone breathed new air into
my lungs. I am not Abnegation. I am not Dauntless.
I am Divergent.”
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