Book Club: Divergent

This month’s book for Bon’s Book Club was Divergent by Veronica Roth. Here is the description of the book from Amazon:

“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.”

 

 I LOVED this book! I was finished reading it by the first week.  In fact, I’ve read almost all three books in the series this month (Insurgent and Allegiant are books two and three)!

I was really excited to read it since I had heard so much about it being like the Hunger Games. Well, the rumors were true!  If you liked the Hunger Games series, this will be right up your alley.

I was able to really connect with the character of Beatrice, which I loved.  I could feel her fears, confusions and everything in between.  I also loved the bit of love story that was involved.  I felt myself rooting for the characters and I remember thinking “just kiss already” several times!

I enjoyed the style of writing of this book.  It was descriptive enough that I felt like I could be there, but no overly so that I felt it was a waste of time. There were lots of twists and turns and unexpected moments, which really helped moved the story along.  

I can’t say the ending of the book was completely satisfying though.  For me it just felt like it ended too abruptly. There wasn’t really a complete wrap up. In fact, the second book just starts where the last sentence of the first book left off. Almost like was one book, they just decided to split it into two. 

The third book switches it up a bit. Each chapter changes between Four’s and Tris’s points of view. It’s actually a little bit confusing to me.  I have to remember to look at the top of each chapter to see which characters view I am getting. 

As I read through the book, I often wondered what faction I would live in.  My dad would most likely be an Erudite (the intelligent) as he is a chemist.  My mother would either be in Abnegation (the selfless) or Erudite. If that were the case, I would probably be in Erudite as well.  I don’t think I would be brave enough to switch! If you switch when you are sixteen, according to the book, you leave your family behind forever.  You never see them again.  I would never want that. 

I know this is supposed to be all about the book, but C and I also saw the movie during our “staycation.”  If I had never read the book, I would have probably really liked it.  They were very different. Now, I understand that they change things in movies often, but they really did a number on this book.  The ending was completely different!  

Overall I am really glad I read these books and I would suggest them to anyone!  They are a great, easy read with a lot of twists and turns. Admittedly, the first book was the best and the third book took a little bit longer to get into (I am 50% finished with it now) but I still liked them all!

Next up for Bon’s Book Club is the Night Circus by Eric Morgenstern.  I have already read half of this book and I am only slightly into it.  I hope it gets a lot better!