Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

Once again, we are at the end of five movie reviews, so it’s time to do a review of a book that I really enjoyed.  The book I’ve chosen this time is Divergent, which was published back in 2011 and was a great success when it was released.  The author was just in college when it was published, and two more books followed (it is thus a trilogy), which were both successes as well; also, a movie was released back in 2014, but the movie wasn’t received well by critics.  I very much enjoyed this book when I read it, and I enjoyed the 2^nd book as well (I have the 3^rd book but I haven’t read it yet).  I personally am not interested in seeing the movie because it doesn’t sound like it stayed true to the book.  I think if someone were to adapt it again, it would make a good show for The CW channel, since they have had similar shows like this in the past.  I hope everyone loves this book as much as I do!  Whatever your thoughts I’d love to hear from you!

Divergent is about a 16-year-old, Beatrice (who later becomes Tris), who lives in a dystopian version of Chicago where people are divided into 5 different factions.  Abnegation the selfless, Amity the peaceful, Candor the honest, Dauntless the brave, and Erudite the intelligent.  Tris goes to participate at the choosing ceremony where 16-year-olds decide which factions they will end up at; however, during the pre-ceremony tests, Tris discovers that she is Divergent, which means she’s a mix of Abnegation (the faction she lives in), Dauntless, and Erudite.  Tris is warned to hide and it is implied that she might be killed if it’s revealed to anyone.  At the ceremony, when Tris ends up choosing Dauntless, she is forced to leave her family behind and tries to hide who she really is from the Dauntless faction.  This book has some really noteworthy parts; one such part is that, though the teens have to pick and stay in one faction, Tris’ instructor, whose name is Four, implies that it’s good to have a little bit of each faction in them.   In other words, people are not so simple!  This book is written very well, it has a very interesting and suspenseful plot, and the character development is great.  My personal favorite character is Four because of his loyalty to his students.  This book does have some violence and disturbing images, however; several people die, with one character taking his own life, and another character is assaulted by other teens.  Both of these parts of the book could be triggers to those who have been assaulted or have lost someone to suicide in the past.  So, I would recommend this book for mature teens due to the disturbing images.  Also, as an FYI, there is a couple in the book who get somewhat physically intimate with each other.  My personal favorite message that comes out of this book is that we need to not let our fear prevent us from doing things that we love.  During Tris’ initiation, she is forced to confront her worst fears; and once when she is terrified, her instructor Four seems to tell her that there is no such thing as being completely fearless, but you can’t let your fear stop you from doing the things you love.

“Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.” Four my favorite character who is Tris’ instructor