Book Description:
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, 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 to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating 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 a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.
Review
Looking at the other reviews here and in other places, people either seem to hate this book or love it. Funny thing is I am neither. Leaving you with a balance and unbiased review.
I found this book to be a real page turner, or in my case I kept going back to the audio book. Wondering what was going to happen next. I will admit that I was disappointed on a few occasions with how something turned out, hoping there was more to it then what the author wrote. I even caught myself saying, “Well duh”. There were also points were the author made something so obvious to you, that you can’t help but think “How can the main character not see what is going on” thus making the story a little less real in my eyes. And yet I was still drawn back to the story.
What drew my back then? I think it was a mixture of curiosity and wonder about each of the factions. I tried to put myself in the main characters shoes. What would I have done? What faction would I have chosen or which one would I fit into? Which virtues do I agree with more: honesty, selflessness, peacefulness, or bravery? Reading more and more to see what each of the factions was like, how they acted and how they were changing. Watching each faction from what the author described as the rules they followed in the beginning and what they were like now. All this fascinated me.
I am not usually fond of books that are written in the first person, feeling that I am missing bits and pieces of the whole story that way. But I can see the benefit of first person writings, you are able to put yourself in someone shoes. And it works for this story. You are thrust into Beatrice (Tris)’s shoes and you see and feel things that she feels and it adds a great deal of personalization to the book that it needed. You find yourself relating to her and wondering how her relationships with the other characters are going to unfold.
Like I said I was equally disappointed in the day-to-day decisions and attitudes throughout the book were I was left feeling that something was missing. And in some instances there was something so obvious that you wonder why the author made it that way but didn’t have the main character acknowledge it.
The book description says it best “dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.”
I found this book to be a real page turner, or in my case I kept going back to the audio book. Wondering what was going to happen next. I will admit that I was disappointed on a few occasions with how something turned out, hoping there was more to it then what the author wrote. I even caught myself saying, “Well duh”. There were also points were the author made something so obvious to you, that you can’t help but think “How can the main character not see what is going on” thus making the story a little less real in my eyes. And yet I was still drawn back to the story.
What drew my back then? I think it was a mixture of curiosity and wonder about each of the factions. I tried to put myself in the main characters shoes. What would I have done? What faction would I have chosen or which one would I fit into? Which virtues do I agree with more: honesty, selflessness, peacefulness, or bravery? Reading more and more to see what each of the factions was like, how they acted and how they were changing. Watching each faction from what the author described as the rules they followed in the beginning and what they were like now. All this fascinated me.
I am not usually fond of books that are written in the first person, feeling that I am missing bits and pieces of the whole story that way. But I can see the benefit of first person writings, you are able to put yourself in someone shoes. And it works for this story. You are thrust into Beatrice (Tris)’s shoes and you see and feel things that she feels and it adds a great deal of personalization to the book that it needed. You find yourself relating to her and wondering how her relationships with the other characters are going to unfold.
Like I said I was equally disappointed in the day-to-day decisions and attitudes throughout the book were I was left feeling that something was missing. And in some instances there was something so obvious that you wonder why the author made it that way but didn’t have the main character acknowledge it.
The book description says it best “dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.”
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