Trigger warnings: Death of a mother, death of a child, childbirth, blood depiction, near-death experiences, fire, gun violence, death from a fall

7/10, I've been wanting to read this for so long and I almost thought I never would after the previous edition got lost or damaged but they replaced it and it was such a good read, so interesting and unique and still holds up more than 10 years after it was first published, where do I even begin. It starts slowly with the main character Beatrice Prior or Tris for short and she lives in one of the five factions of this world called Abnegation and there are four others which I'll get to later. Only a few pages in and Tris doesn't feel Abnegation is right for her since that's all about selflessness and humility and it's anti-indulgence so during the Choosing Ceremony she chooses Dauntless since it's just being brave but that's not the full picture. The other three factions are Erudite, the smart one, Amity, the kind one, and Candor, the truth-telling one and they all came to be when humanity decided that personality is the root of all conflict, I just don't believe that reason though. Even after they made this world-changing thing conflict still happens within this world, what was the point other than to show it was kind of a questionable decision?

Most of the book revolves around Tris experiencing the Dauntless initiation thing and at first everything looks fine until she starts the simulations and according to the other characters something is off about her, she's Divergent hence the title. The latter half is just so brutal and fast-paced yet somehow the author shoehorned in a little romance with another person named Tobias or Four but I didn't really relate to that, besides that Tris experiences so much torture I could feel bad for her but it was also to really test her strength. The villain only shows up towards the end when she spreads rumours about Abnegation which everyone believes and now the Erudite faction wants to use the Dauntless people to their advantage. Fortunately, Tris manages to break the mind control ending the book on a high note. ( )

I remember not really understanding this book well and not realizing, lol.

It’s a good book if not perfect; parts of it are very true to life, (the factions: workers dancers soldiers scientists church-mice; that’s pretty good), if others probs aren’t executed that well—like the test, you know. I hate to compare everything to the Best-Selling Book Series of All Time, but the Sorting Hat has more style, more esprit d’corps or whatever…..

As for the de rigeur comparison, I’m not sure it’s more similar to the Archer Games than it is to HP And Whatever Else, you know. They’re both girls, and they fight, but…. Divergent is more: you’re a girl, and so what do you do with group norms and group loyalty in an uncertain world? Katniss Quest is more like…. What do you make of hell, little girl? (nefarious laughter)

Maybe that’s why Divergent books are longer. They’re subtle, coming to the rebellion/individuation slowly if certainly, you know. In Katniss Quest it’s just like…. Boom! Survive! Or die. Either way, I’ve got other appointments today!

Not that Katniss Quest isn’t probably the better set, but in a lot of ways they’re just not that similar. It’s a lot like pairs of bands that get compared that don’t really have much to do with each other, you know. Sure, they Look the same, and they do Sorta similar things, but…. I mean, really? Do we have to go there?

Anyway, it’s a pretty good book about leaving the church mouse village and becoming a hellion with agency who doesn’t need to wait up shaming people because you’re too busy hitting the gym and doing anti-fear training, while still not wanting to, you know, crush people. “I will crush you with the unholy power of my mind. I will Prove You Wrong. I will Prove Everything Wrong!!!” (maniacal laughter).

It’s a solid little pop teen adventure that did well for itself…. That’s the other thing. Hunger Games plays a “big” game, which is fine, but, you know; it’s one style, not every style, you know. “I’ve been to Ancient Greece. I’ve been to Boston. I’ve been to Harvard. I’ve been to Rome!” (gestures wildly) “I’ve been to…. Chicago!”

…. It is hard to like Abnegation. “Give up your happiness for me, and I’ll make your dreams come true.” Although they do nice things always always, sometimes. “Hey dad what do you think of Suzy Studies-a-Lot?” (repressed rage/can’t breathe) My enemy!…. (having difficulty breathing) The village! The Village!” (dies)

Although certainly social work is a necessity, and although a lot of communists/Christians/Buddhists/social workers are suspicious of fun, it is necessary work until we make paradise, and a lot of ordinary sorts wouldn’t do it, you know.

…. It doesn’t always make sense. (For System, you need love!) I didn’t realize the first time how often it does Amity vs Dauntless, romance vs adventure; always discarding Amity immediately and then five minutes later hauling him up from the dusty earth to kick him in the teeth again. But I don’t see why happiness should only be for the KidsBop sings SpongeBob SquarePants faction, you know. Remember that 80s song? ~It’s the: eye of the tiger; it’s the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rivals…. —I mean, when people think of happiness they think of unhappy moms and monochromatic playlists stores use in public: but happiness can be so much more than that, you know….

…. It’s a decent little adventure, though. Workaday daring, even personable.

…. “You stay in the hallucination until you calm down.”

…. It’s pretty well written.

Church mice (stiffs) and the not-nice (hellions); weakness and aggression; “with a little help from my friends” but also “think for yourself, because I won’t be there with you”, right. Independence. Balance.

Definitely some themes. Pretty simple, though. Easy. (nods)

…. (smiles) Such a familiar story.

And while I do think that the Erudite get very hate-y with the church mice, you know, like, just needless hate—and those are things that go together well, my Michelle—I do think that there is usually a sort of quasi-symbiosis between the church people and the faction-less/dispossessed—like, the church people ‘need’ to have these like poor people experiencing lack, to reassure them that happiness is an illusion and life isn’t really worth living to the full—and they can be extremely angry, to the point of aggression, when you try to take that away from them, you know. Here are the people experiencing lack, and I help them experience lack. They’re mine. Hands off!

(smiles) And yes, I know that that probs comes off as far more upset than Will is in the book, so. So yeah. There you go!

…. It’s calming to read, but it’s strange, almost folksy. It’s like Harry Potter, only less glittery and more folksy, you know.

…. Sometimes I get so angry at Dalek intellectuals (who like Doctor Who) that I get a little sick—‘They can’t feel, or be creative or merciful; all they can do is hate!’—but this is, quite suddenly, a bit much, you know. “I reckon it was the godless students who Hitlered away the righteous men of God, I reckon.” Like, rap gets more radio time than rink-a-dink 40s hymns, therefore, Hitler is real and he’s a Democrat. Oh, I’m a victim because of Biden! The true people are being victimized by the under-men! Oh, the tragedy! Oh, the horror!

I mean, it’s not school crap, but still. I guess it is kinda funny though. I’m a little curious as to what happens after the end of this book, but really it’s not as entertaining as Twilight. Twilight is a little much in its own way too of course—Oh, Bella! Let’s be normal, and live forever! We’ll hate ourselves, and be suicidal, but we’ll never die!—but Bells certainly lives it up. Sometimes in adventures you wring your enemy’s neck—literally or figuratively—but then discard the corpse and find a new enemy without so much as a victory lap, because status is almost as threatening as happiness, you know.

It’s like, you climb to the top of the company, and on your first day as CEO you…. Quit. That’s almost as bad as Bella in a way, and not quite as…. I don’t know. The bloodsucker saga certainly has energy, you know; a lot of people are afraid to really show up with energy.

…. And I realize that feminists can be intentionally irritating; that’s kinda their thing, right: “Oh joy, I offended people! Victory!” “People don’t owe you smart—oh no wait. They do. That’s what I value. I value the right things. My point was that you value the wrong things, and that I’m better than you are, because I’m the grace that a meaningless world gives to you, right. (bites food) Did they put salt in this? Was that on the package, or did they lie, again?”

But you have to admit that popular writers can sometimes be very deceitful about themes vs covers/beginnings/TITLES, right. I once read this Christian fiction series where she created this like elaborate deception where she spend reams and reams of paper trying to convince you that she was all about the strong woman of the Montana mountain west in 1902, and then “fumbled it when it came down to the wire” (Haim)—except she didn’t; it was intentional. She all but wrote, Bwahahaha, Women are helpless! I tricked you!

But this wasn’t as bad as that, you know. This was just…. A Christian who likes folk music, right…. Maybe not Bob Dylan, right…. Or British people…. Or their children…. Or Eric Clapton…. But what they DO love, is the sweet love of Christ in the bosom of your grandmother’s folk, you know! Patriarchy! It’s the love of the patriarchs! It’s God, children! It’s god! (campfire folk with elementary school children)

That’s an exaggeration, like I said, but….

…. (Veronica Roth) (writing) Surely the Patriarch has brow-beaten you and harangued: A sports car is a vain hope for salvation; despite his great strength, he cannot save. (pause) (waves hand) No, I’m good. (crosses out) I’ll just remind the children to be suspicious of happiness. Well, it’s time to get lunch. I sure wish I didn’t have that song, “Safety Dance” stuck in my head! (whistles suspiciously loudly and very poorly)

(flashback) (Museum curator) So here, children, beside Homo Habilis and Brontosaurus Rex, we have Frederic Chopin, the First White Man. Because of him, we don’t dance.
(“Safety Dance” comes on)
(Museum curator) My word….
(Veronica Roth) (screws up face) You’re dropping the ball again, Jesus….

(reading about “Safety Dance”) (Grandfather Child-Hermes) Remember, children, every dance is a protest. And every protest is a dance: unless, you suck.

…. The odd thing I didn’t understand the first time, is that despite the issue of gender and even without President Coin, President Snow is ~more~ credible as Katniss’s shadow, than Jeanine is credible as Tris’s shadow. Jeanine is just Othered, you know. She’s the subhuman feminist bitch, born to be discarded.

God, and Veronica thinks she’s “divergent”.

(crying in the rain) My child, my little baby—can’t you see I did this all for you? We did it All For You. (Backup singers and dancers: “All for you!” ~pose) The heresy-hunting, the persecution of the Jewish religions, the rejection of feminism, the triumph of the village, the rise of clannishness: it was all for divergence! Oh for the love of God, it was so you’d have a choice!

—(laughs) I’m almost curious as to what the next plot point is, but it would be a serious mistake to sink any money into this fiasco series, you know. “Fiasco: The Post-Apocalyptic Military Adventure of the Village”, lol.

…. And the sad thing is, even in a lot of liberal Protestant/liturgical left Christian villages, this book would be like, (shudder) Young people…. But oh well; I guess it’s romantic, you know.

No Christian parent ever finds their kid too obsequious, even if they offer to play free therapist while researching Frank Sinatra, you know. It just isn’t done. It isn’t the custom, you know.

…. And even pop and romantic music always has to protest against the Good Christian Family in the Good Christian Village, you know; in the late 70s, people would steal their little sister’s/daughter’s disco records and bring them to the baseball stadium for Stamp Out Disco Day, and then in the early 80s, club bouncers would throw people out of the club for doing new wave dancing because they weren’t familiar with it because it wasn’t disco dancing, you know. Everything is protest of and non-observance of the rule of force, the rule of coercion and bullying. And people know that’s a good story, because the village tyrant will be happy to tell you that that’s really his story, you know. “Why, if you were to disobey your parents, now that you’re thirty…. If you were to disagree with how your parents see the world…. Why, they would be tyranny! There would be coercion! There would be blood in the streets! Who can imagine a more terrible sacrilege? Oh, where are the Good Children, faithfully upholding the Good Village, for the Good People’s Good Faction’s Good Country” (Chinese Communist propaganda art montage into the next scene, lol)

…. And you know, during my schizophrenic delusion days, I actually was really interested in Stalinism/Maoism, because it’s like, If it can be tyrannical like my parents, but left-wing ruthless like the kids, why, then—maybe everyone will like me, then! (laughs) But that little trick only works if people are consistent. People are NOT consistent. Stubborn, yes. Consistent, no.

…. Well, since that was sometimes fun, I guess I’ll pretend it was fun, you know: exaggerate. Even though it wasn’t the ~most~ fun, I guess if I were in the book business I could market it as fun and not feel like I was lying.

But Twilight’s better, lol. And Harry Potter.

The comparison between Hunger Games and Divergent seems natural since the authors are addressing similar issues with comparable literary devices. Until I get to the end of this series I can't really say which author does a better job overall or even if the comparison is truly valid. I think it will be a while before I complete this series; so if nothing else, I can say that purely on the basis of how much the first book of either series left me panting for more -- Hunger Games wins. ( )

AR POINTS: 16 READING LEVEL 4.8
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Perfect timing! I was avoiding this trilogy, thinking it was just another futuristic dystopian novel that wouldn’t make any sense to me at all. But, when my daughter passed them on to me to give away, I decided to go ahead and just read the first book to see what the big hype was all about before I handed them over to my just-the-right-age granddaughter, who is turning 16 this year. And boy, am I ever impressed! If I was 16 years old, I would have given this novel all 5-stars. I can see how this is so popular with the young adults, particularly young girls. And there is just the right amount of a sweet young romance going on that all girls dream of at that age.

Well, now I’ve decided to continue on and finish the series! It’s that good. And I can’t wait to watch the movies, which just happens to be coming on again today. So, they are being recorded to watch later.
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The world as we know it has failed. Factions were created to try and rid humans of their sinful nature and to alter personalities, enhancing the good in every individual, which they believed would prevent future wars. These 5 factions are: Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Amity and Dauntless. These utopia factions were closed off from the rest of the world (if there is a world out there...the author never discusses it in the book) with fencing and a railroad track on it's perimeter in the sky, but lowered to the ground as it reached the faction centers.

The Abnegation faction are the governing faction. They value selflessness. They believe the world was ruined from selfish people. They wear gray clothes and have plain hairstyles and do not wear jewelry. They are only allowed to look at themselves in the mirror on the second day of every third month for a haircut. They feed and take care of the poor, which are the factionless.

The Candor faction values honesty and sees truth in black and white. So, all the people in this faction wear black suits with white ties. They can be brutally honest.

The Amity faction are anything but aggressive, for which they believed destroyed the world. They dress in red or yellow, are kind, loving and free. They vote on everything as a group. Peace is everything. They are also the agriculturists for the factions.

The Dauntless are known for their bravery. They blame cowardess for the world's failure. Some refer to them as "hellions" with their piercings, tattoos and black clothes. Their purpose in the faction is to guard the fence perimeter around the city...but from what? Beatrice doesn't know...she is from the Abnegation faction. But, she loves to watch as the Dauntless students arrive to school each morning by jumping from a moving train.

The Erudite faction is always in pursuit of knowledge. They are constantly reading books, newspapers and magazines. They blame ignorance on the destruction of the world. But, they have grown to be arrogant, selfish and can be manipulative with all their knowledge, and they believe they should be the governing faction.

There is also the factionless. Those who do not complete their initiation training are thrown out of the community to live poor lives and to do the work nobody wants to do: garbage, sewer, drivers. They only receive meager food and clothing for their wages.

These five factions had lived peacefully for many years. Factions were more important than even family. Therefore, for factions to remain successful, it was important for each student to choose the faction that best fit their personality according to the testing results in simulation where they were presented with different scenarios and had to decide how they would ward off a threat. Their choice of faction would finish educating and brainwashing them into model citizens.

But, then there's Divergent...a faction most have never heard of before. They are a threat to the system because they can manipulate the simulations they have to go through to face their fears. They know the simulations are only dreams. Only two people in history, to-date, had been labeled Divergent. That would be Tobias, also known as Four, age 18, a Dauntless leader, and Beatrice, age 16, a new initiate into the Dauntless faction. They were informed to never, ever speak of this because it would mean immediate death from their leaders. The Divergents are considered a threat to the organized society because they were able to manipulate the simulations used in their training of mind-control, and they were able to even shut it down. Their minds could not be controlled. Divergents know they are not real, and that their experiences are only imaginations of their inner greatest fears. This creates a problem when one faction, the Erudites, who want total control of wealth produced by any of the other factions. The Erudites were working with and using the Dauntless. They created a tracing serum that could control the minds of the Dauntless to kill leaders and rebels of the other parties to gain control of their factions, as false rumors were spread from faction to faction, creating animosity, hate and violence between the factions. Their perceived utopia begins to fall apart as the natural sin of human nature once again threatens all mankind.

Beatrice Prior (a.k.a. Tris) and Tobias (a.k.a. Four) develop a special friendship that turns romantic. They find it is up to them two to destroy the disc transmitting the mind-controlled simulation of the Dauntless students who were out killing Abnegations. When they do, the world is turned upside down. Both Beatrice's parents are dead. She had to kill Will, a good friend of hers who was under mind-control. All the Dauntless turned on each other in their confusion of what was happening. Tris and Four, along with her brother, Caleb, and two most unlikely people, Peter, her worst rivalry during training who tried to kill her, and Marcus, leader of the Abnegation faction and also Four's violent and abusive father, all jumped on the train and headed to Amity looking for refuge. They did not stop to see the carnage or the aftermath of interupting the mind-controlled Dauntless.
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MOVIE: “Divergent” (2014), set in Chicago, starring Shailene Woodley as Beatrice (a.ka. Tris) and Theo James as Tobias (a.k.a. Four). I’m not sure who these people are, but I was picturing Julia Styles as Tris and Shia LaBeouf as Four. Anyway, these trilogy movies are constantly running on DirectTV, but I was never interested because it just looked like too much techno-futuristic kah-kah. But, I’ll watch now and give an update later. ( )

I guess the best thing I can say about Divergent is that it's not quite as dumb as I thought it would be. In conclusion, not everyone is only Brave, Smart, Kind, Selfless OR Honest, it's just that everyone agrees that only one of those choices is the highest priority, except for Mary Sue Tris (and Her mother, her boyfriend and a bunch of other random people) who wants to be selfless and brave. Also, these are very narrowly defined, so if you want to be Selfless, you have to be so selfless that you don't even look at yourself in a mirror or wear anything other than gray and if you want to be brave you have to engage in physical combat, live in a compound built of precarious ledges, jump on to moving trains and get tattoos. There is no other way to be brave. Also, apparently society fractured this way to prevent violence and murder never exists anymore because...reasons.

So, yes, super dumb premise. I did like the idea of people self-segregating into value-based societies that are more important than vertical relationships, though. It was kind of fun to explore and I wish it had been filled out a little more to discuss in parallel the way that the internet and class distinction is segregating people by political belief in actual real life.

Also, the book was readable and fast-paced, even though kind of nothing happened. But I won't be moving on to the next book (unless I also find that for $2 at the used bookstore): I found none of the characters to be more than caricatures and I don't have a lot of faith that the world building isn't going to sucl. ( )