Divergent

This book was read as part of BA Reading Challenge's 2011 Dystopian Challenge and although not on my list initially it quickly became a part of it after the constant praise being given to it from fellow bloggers. Completed in a few days Divergent wasn't the spectacular Oh My Gosh! read I thought it was going to be but it was still a really enjoyable story about a strong, and truly brave heroine, that I completed easily in a matter of days.

Living in an unfamiliar Chicago that has been divided into five factions Beatrice Prior has to decide if she will remain in Abnegation, the selfless, or if she will choose the faction that fits her best and leave her family behind. It's a difficult decision if you view the choices like Beatrice does: (a) family, who she has known and been with all her life or (b) an uncertain future where she leaves them all behind to hopefully find her true self. If I was in Beatrice's position however I wouldn't find the choice to leave her old life behind so difficult. I love my family but I couldn't live my entire life in abnegation, not after I find out that a completely selfless life is a life where you have to suppress every self-indulgent impulse and every individualistic form of expression. Where even worrying about yourself is chastised because you shouldn't be thinking about yourself in the first place.

To the reader it's obvious that Beatrice does not belong in her current faction, but when she takes an aptitude test to help her decide which faction would fit her best the results offer Beatrice little help because her result isn't a faction at all, it's Divergent. What is Divergent? Beatrice and the reader do not find out until much later but it is something that could get Beatrice killed and should be kept secret from everyone.

The writing style in Divergent was straight forward and simple; the present tense had the story, for the most part, moving at a constant steady pace and although there was an underlying plot of “Government” conspiracy occurring, the main focus of the story was Beatrice/Tris and what kind of person she was and wanted to be. Divergent also focused on other characters as well, what made them tick, how they treated other people, what they believed in, their motives, and most importantly it focused on everyone's fears and how they overcome them.

While reading Divergent I was constantly reminded of the Harry Potter series because like Harry, Tris and the other teens of Divergent are divided into groups that suit them except unlike HP the characters of Divergent don't get “sorted” until they are sixteen and they get to choose where they want to go. And what really made me think of HP was how each faction like each house had specific qualities they consider most important. Amity, prefers peace over conflict, Erudite knowledge over ignorance, Dauntless abhorred cowardice, while people from Candor choose to be honest despite how it makes others feel, and Abnegtion sacrifice individualism to be selfless. All of the qualities these factions choose to follow seem quite worthy on the surface but when you realize how they interpret their beliefs and how they choose to follow them you realize the dangers or dark side of each.

Was this book worth the read? It definitely was and I can't wait to read Insurgent but I don't think it was worth the hype that surrounded it. It was a page-turner certainly and it was certainly a world that I could easily immerse myself into but Divergent didn't really come across as the stand-out, refreshing novel I was expecting it to be.