Divergent

I needed something light after my last read; despite Divergent being dystopian fare, it did the job nicely. It's an action-packed, simple, and fast read, with a predictable story that's nevertheless enjoyable. Grammatical errors very occasionally irritated and pulled me out of the story, but for the most part it's a tightly woven tale. I appreciated the straightforward narrative and economy of words.

Not yet having seen Inside Out, I'm not sure the parallel I'm drawing is even accurate, but Divergent feels like Hunger Games meets Inside Out. In my head, personality traits as factions and emotions as sentient beings sound pretty similar. :D

Anyway. Good story. Not mind-blowing, but fun, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

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.

actual vote: 4.5 stars

per far quadrare tutte le mie domande, mi sono spoilerata Allegiant. quando sono in modalità “devo-sapere” ho bisogno di risposte e nessuno può fermarmi, a meno che il libro non sia ancora stato pubblicato.
risolti i miei dubbi, è stato un libro bellissimo e assolutamente consigliato. forse è un distopico un po' violento per essere uno YA e per fortuna l'inizio della storia d'amore non ha occupato la trama principale riducendolo a una storia d'amore teen. per me la fase del primo innamoramento è passata, quindi la lettura mi risulterebbe un po'patetica.
se non considero gli spoiler che ho letto, però, al libro manca qualcosina. avrei voluto saperne di più del contesto, di come si arriva alla suddivisione in fazioni.. magari il tutto spiegato in un prologo.
a parte questo, non vedo di leggere Insurgent e le storie brevi su Quattro, perché questo primo libro mi ha risucchiato, mi ha letteralmente drogato :)

While this was undeniably fun to read, it had some serious flaws. Most notably, the complete lack of believability of the way that the dystopian society is structured. I kept asking myself why the “factionless” just meekly go off to live on the fringes of society, doing menial work for the rest of their lives. Why don't they rise up and form their own faction? And what happens to their children, are also factionless through no fault of their own? The book is plagued by inconsistencies like these.

After all the hype about this book, it was actually rather disappointing. Though that might have been because of the hype.

Parts of this book were extremely frustrating. There are parts where the characters go against their established role for no good reason only to flip back again. Plot devices were a little too obvious and characters didn't even have to try to get to the information they weren't supposed to find. Also: “Oh, she didn't know that? Odd considering she was told three chapters ago!”

That being said, the story is one that is easy to get hooked onto. Roth didn't give away too much about any character too quickly. The calm bits are written in a way that lets you move through them quickly enough to get to the high moments without losing interest. And the ending was also written in such a way that if you were to decide not to continue reading the series you can still feel like there has been some resolution, even if the major conflict hasn't been settled.

This is definitely one of the better dystopias that I read this year. I quite enjoyed the main character and liked the way that the past was hinted at and somewhat revealed as the story progressed. That said, the entire conceit of the different factions and the way the world is set up... ridiculous. Just don't think about that and everything is good.

Or do. It's all good.

This was recommended as being something fans of [b:The Hunger Games 2767052 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) Suzanne Collins http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337857402s/2767052.jpg 2792775] would enjoy, and I think it is even better than that trilogy. The world feels more believable, although Tris becoming a badass in the space of a few days is highly improbable. I'm always a fan of girls kicking ass and taking names, however improbable. A quick and enjoyable read, and I'll be reading the trilogy (when it's published!)

I received a copy of this book through Goodreads's First Reads contest.

It is hard to review this book without first pointing out the obvious debt it owes to The Hunger Games. With that out of the way, I enjoyed most of this book and by the end the pages were flying by. Tris is a likable protagonist even if her characterization is a little shallow. Four was also a very cool character, especially the way he got his name.

I really liked the glimpses of the situation of the wider world outside of Tris's experiences within her faction. Hopefully, future sequels will flesh out this world.

I think this book works best when it sticks with the action. The philosophy and morality of Tris that the author seems to be advocating is a bit incoherent. Unlike the best post-apocalyptic novels, it didn't have much to say about our present society. But it is still a good adventure story.

Fans of The Hunger Games will definitely enjoy this book, and it is a fun, light read.

Meh.
A well written page turner with plenty of action I suppose.
I had two main problems with the book.
First, I didn't find the world very convincing. A social organization into five factions as premised I find totally unbelievable. In my observation, most people want to be different in some way. Young adults especially want to rebel. Not a very stable social organization. And, what's happening in the rest of the world? The world was more interconnected even in paleolithic times.
Second, I guess I'm just too old for most YA. I just don't embarrass that easily any more and don't have the same anxieties I did 50 years ago. I don't find superficial portrayals of teen angst very engaging.

I loved this book, and this is why.-The romance was not weird or unequal. It felt real and genuine to me, and in light of all the creepy, unrealistic YA novel romances, it was a blessing to see one that wasn't creepy or forced but was realistic. I also was happy to see how it was briefly discussed that looks did not come into play when it came to what made Tris attractive. We, as a culture, are in desperate need of this type of message.-The main female protagonist was strong, and smart. She wasn't TSTL, or too busy flailing all over one guy to focus on herself. Her world did not revolve around a romantic relationship. I saw her grow, and while her initial infatuation was evident, it did not overwhelm her growth; it was more like a nice complement. -The dystopian part of [b:Divergent 8306857 Divergent (Divergent, #1) Veronica Roth https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327873996s/8306857.jpg 13155899] was not cheesy. Some novels have a great premise, but weak execution; the background for [b:Divergent 8306857 Divergent (Divergent, #1) Veronica Roth https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327873996s/8306857.jpg 13155899] sounded hokey in the synopsis, but was well-written. Written from someone who is young in the writing world, this gives me hope that it may change the face of what healthy relationships and self-esteem should look like. I truly enjoyed reading {book: Divergent] and I can't wait for the next installment!

The hype for this book seemed pretty big and with the movie coming out soon I thought I'd start the series. This book was really similar to the Uglies Series, so if you liked those books you'd probably like these as well. I think the story line was interesting and the author did a good job having a lot of characters without making you feel overwhelmed or forgetting who was who. There were some good deaths that were shocking, but the plot twists were fairly predictable. This could also be because I'm 20 and technically this is a young-adult book. Either way I think it was worth the read and I'll definitely finish the series. If you like distopian societies and books similar to Uglies, Hunger Games, or The Giver than this should be on your to-read list.

This was a slow one to start and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get into it. Then Tris's character began her path of development and I was hooked. At first it seemed childish and wrong, reading about a defenseless girl being beat on to strengthen herself, but then her personality began to shift and she became an entirely different person. Someone strong, brave and willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good. I favor quality character development over plot any day and I was impressed with Tris. The concept of separate factions was interesting, but I think the book took too long to really explain why being divergent was frowned on, this is one of the reasons I labeled it a 4 instead of 5 stars. Another reason was the slow progression in plot until I hit around page 150. I do like my character development, but the plot can't be entirely stagnant. Once Tris entered the Dauntless compound it picked up the pace. The ending conflict was, I think, overly traumatic and could have been handled in a more tactful way, but I am willing to move on to the next book because I really do want to know what happens next.