Divergent

ifeelbookish - *SPOILERS* (I didn't know whether to review the book or the movie, so I just reviewed both.) So let's start with the characters. Well, Uriah was going to be introduced in Insurgent, and Al killed himself five minutes after he was introduced. Ugh. Edward wasn't in the movie, and of course, there wasn't a butter knife stabbing. Those were my only problems with the characters. I really loved Ansel as Caleb, and Shailene was just perfection. Remember when Tris was about to shoot Peter in the arm near the end of the book? Well Peter was like, "You're not going to shoot me," and then Tris says "Why does everybody keep saying that?" That bit was hilarious. I couldn't really imagine Tris and Peter as enemies because I kept imagining them as Sutter and Amie. And I was shipping Caleb and Tris because they played Hazel and Gus in TFIOS. That's kind of weird that I'm shipping them, but, oh well. I didn't imagine Eric as this thirty-something year old guy with huge arms. He was great though. Zoe Kravitz was amazing as Christina. She captured Christina's feisty character, it felt that she was saying exactly what came to her mind. I had an extreme crush on Theo because he played Four so well, that I was just - ohmygod yes. In the beginning, there was inevitably a short monologue, but I was fine with it. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole movie, even though I would know what would happen next. The pacing was perfect, and the transitions from each fear in the fear landscape was perfect. I cried about three times during the movie. I think you know which scenes those were (Will, Tris' parents dying). When they were eating in the cafeteria for the first time, Tris asks Four if he's a transfer or not. Four says,"So you think you can just talk to me? Why do you think you can just talk to me?" And then Tris goes, "Well you're so approachable." Oh, and when Christina is like your name is Four, like the number 4? Four says the first thing that you have to learn here is to keep your mouth shut. I just loved how Christina spoke her mind. When Tris takes off her sweater when she's getting ready to jump off the building, Peter's like, "YEAH! TAKE IT OFF! Put it back on." Those lines were just hilarious. The fighting scenes were actually really hard to watch, especially when Molly was fighting. Christina hanging off the chasm didn't really make me worry for her, because she just hung off the chasm for, like, ten seconds or so. It didn't provoke much emotion. Four's introduction was just perfect, and it wasn't as cheesy as it was in the trailer. The green screen and the technology was absolutely amazing. When they entered Four's fear landscape together, I felt that those scenes were really powerful. When Marcus was about to whip Four, it was just awesome how Four punched him. The transitions, again, were perfect. The cinematography was breathtaking. The pacing was also very very good. When I imagined the scoreboard during the initiation, I imagined Four writing names on a chalkboard. I'm pretty sure that it was like that in the book, because instead of the chalkboard, there was an electronic scoreboard that looked all high-techy (if that's even a word). The factions were presented very accurately, and when Tris went to visit Caleb at the Erudite headquarters, the building looked distinctly modern. And compared to the Dauntless compound, which had concrete walls, the Erudite headquarters was all modern and everything had glass. The soundtrack was really good. I feel like Ellie Goulding is on every dystopian movie soundtrack, but I think her...

Starred review from February 21, 2011
In this edgy debut (definitely not for the fainthearted), first in a trilogy, promising author Roth tells the riveting and complex story of a teenage girl forced to choose, at age 16, between her routinized, selfless family and the adventurous, unrestrained future she longs for. Beatrice "Tris" Prior lives in crumbling dystopian Chicago, where citizens are divided into five factions—Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and
Erudite—depending on their beliefs, passions, and loyalties. When Tris forsakes her Abnegation family to become one of the wild, fearless Dauntless, she must confront her deepest fears, learn to trust her fellow initiates, and guard the ominous secret that she is actually a Divergent, with the strengths of multiple factions, and is therefore a target of dangerously controlling leaders. Roth's descriptions of Tris's initiation process are as spellbinding as they are violent, while the tremulous romance between Tris and her protective and demanding instructor, Four, unfurls with heart-stopping tenderness. For those who loved The Hunger Games and are willing to brave the sometimes sadistic tests of strength and courage Tris must endure, the reward is a memorable, unpredictable journey from which it is nearly impossible to turn away. Ages 14–up.

April 15, 2011

Cliques writ large take over in the first of a projected dystopian trilogy.

The remnant population of post-apocalyptic Chicago intended to cure civilization's failures by structuring society into five "factions," each dedicated to inculcating a specific virtue. When Tris, secretly a forbidden "Divergent," has to choose her official faction in her 16th year, she rejects her selfless Abnegation upbringing for the Dauntless, admiring their reckless bravery. But the vicious initiation process reveals that her new tribe has fallen from its original ideals, and that same rot seems to be spreading... Aside from the preposterous premise, this gritty, paranoid world is built with careful details and intriguing scope. The plot clips along at an addictive pace, with steady jolts of brutal violence and swoony romance. Despite the constant assurance that Tris is courageous, clever and kind, her own first-person narration displays a blank personality. No matter; all the "good" characters adore her and the "bad" are spiteful and jealous. Fans snared by the ratcheting suspense will be unable to resist speculating on their own factional allegiance; a few may go on to ponder the questions of loyalty and identity beneath the façade of thrilling adventure.

Guaranteed to fly off the shelves. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

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Starred review from June 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-In a future Chicago, the population is divided into five factions-Abnegation, Candor, Dauntless, Erudite, and Amity-each of which believes its opposite is the root of human evil. Sixteen-year-olds are tested for aptitude and must choose whether to remain in their birth faction or select another. They are aided in this selection by a simulation in which their decisions indicate which faction best suits them. Occasionally, though, the simulation indicates multiple choices. These individuals, known as Divergents, are perceived as threats by leaders who want members to behave and think in specific ways. Beatrice Prior is a Divergent, born into the selfless Abnegation faction but fascinated by the outrageous Dauntless. She chooses to become an initiate there and leaves her family behind, little knowing the challenges she will face. Despite her slight build and her meek upbringing, she must demonstrate her courage in physical combat and in simulations designed to present her with her deepest fears. Only 10 initiates will be accepted, and there are those willing to let cruelty take the place of courage. Beatrice comes to realize that another faction plots against Abnegation and that it may take a Divergent to save them. Roth paints her canvas with the same brush as Suzanne Collins. The plot, scenes, and characters are different but the colors are the same and just as rich. Fans of Collins, dystopias, and strong female characters will love this novel.-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 In the future, you are born into one of five factions, each of which has its strength and focus: Abnegation (service), Candor (truth), Erudite (intellect), Amity (friendship), or Dauntless (fearlessness). But on your sixteenth birthday, you can choose a new faction if you are so compelled, and thats what happens to Tris, who shocks everyone by exchanging the drab gray robes of Abnegation for the piercing and tattoo stylings of Dauntless. What follows is a contest, where only the top 10 initiates are accepted into the final group. This framework of elimination provides the book with a built-in tension, as Tris and her new friendsand new enemiesgo through a series of emotional and physical challenges akin to joining the marines. Roth is wisely merciless with her characters, though her larger world building is left fuzzy. (Is there a world beyond this dystopian version of Chicago?) The simplistic, color-coded world stretches credibility on occasion, but there is no doubt readers will respond to the gutsy action and romance of this umpteenth spin on Brave New World.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)