Divergent (Review on the first book of the Divergent Series)

Blurb

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, 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.

Review:

One of the reasons as to why I read the book was: 1: it was highly recommended to me. 2: I saw the movie before reading it.  Of course, I had an idea as to just how much the book would be different or extremely close to the movie but I thought I would try it out.

 Reading the book after seeing the movie felt like re-watching the movie. First of all, the plot stays the same. Not that much changes. 

This story evolves around the idea of different groups of people working together as one to maintain a safe yet active environment. The Abnegation, the Dauntless, the Amity, the Erudite and the Candor. The story's main focus is on one character, Beatrice, from the Abnegation faction. I find it quite interesting how she feels like she doesn't fit in well with her faction before choosing, despite the fact that she might have been raised to be like the Abnegation people, she decides to go for a completely different faction. The idea of her being Divergent has a lot of impact on how the character changes throughout the story, from becoming a simple, ordinary person, she turns into this complicated being with this idea that she is Divergent (different), and because of that her life is in danger. What makes the story so good is that it doesn't only focus on the idea of fitting in, but also on how it's not just about that. I learned about how (Beatrice) Tris and the other characters had to come down to the idea of accepting the fact that failing was not an option if they wanted to go through with it or live for that matter, which is a little bit odd if I'd compare it to our world, we are told so often that without failure we can't learn but there it is in the story, a different lesson is being taught. Competition added a lot of suspense to the story, who's leaving? who's staying? It just makes you wonder: how far can this character really make it? and what are the other characters willing to do in order to not fail?  This story has a lot of lessons to teach, firstly it's about trust, who can Tris really trust? She's carrying this secret on her shoulder wherever she goes and spilling out anything related to it might really get her killed, it's crazy because one simple mistake might ruin everything for her, so you just stay there like OMG that was CLOSE! Also there is a lot of violence in the story, it's different from the Hunger Games book series, I don't even get why it's compared to it, yes, both are based on life and death decisions and competition but in Divergent, violence is compulsory, it's like: fight or you're out. 

 The movie and the book have so much going on, time flies by so fast because it kind of just feels like there's over a million events going on, it's like information overload and i'm not complaining, I was not bored for a second of it, it has a little humor, romance, action, science fiction and adventure. All those genres have been applied to this story in a  very balanced way and I like that. It's quite easy to get to know the characters in the story, their personalities are so different and striking because they're all different yet they all chose the same faction, and it's like these different people all become so the same, they all develop and change completely because of their training and everything they go through, I like how teamwork is encouraged despite the competition going on, because competition and teamwork are two different things and they just combine at some point. Also I must add that this idea of instructor + student romance thing going on or something is just awesome, even though they're not like super focused on their relationship, maybe at the end it is, but at the beginning when she just talks to him and he's like: Hello.. why are you talking to me? and she's just like: Oh God Why. it's great, really awesome, and this simulation idea really helps with getting to know the characters and their fears, i really like that because you get to know the instructor's (Four's) fears and you just think: Oh wait, you can't actually reach perfection. But he is perfection because putting tough-act aside, he's quite sweet and just like her, still a kid or something. Also this idea of bravery playing a huge role in the story, it's not just about being there and doing what they ask but also about taking chances and risking yourself to become more than you already are and that's what Tris does, she takes risks especially when it comes to helping out friends, friendship is also an important thing when it comes to the characters, how some things have to be done, it's about survival and with friends or without, it's tough. Also also how all characters are so unpredictable makes it interesting in the sense of not knowing what to expect. Tris is quite the character and so is Four, it's a story that doesn't just focus on one main thing but on a lot of other things, meaning everything is connected, their choices, reasons, the character's background, especially Four's. Of course, there's always a bitchy character and the evil ones, the thing is, it's being evil with a purpose, not just like: Oh let me take over the world, muahaha..  So yeah, it's quite balanced, everything is, and I just started the second book, once I'm done with it, I'll write a review on that as well! 

Read the book!

- Nermin