Hate being the last one to be caught up on the latest trend? Then its time to read Divergent and see why fans are praising the movie adaptation. Written by Veronica Roth, this dystopian novel has a very similar tone to the Hunger Games trilogy. There’s the seemingly wallflower heroine who rises to the front of the action, the male hero whom she finds a connection with, and a world seemingly unfamiliar to anything seen today.
Beatrice, or Tris is the heroine of the novel and is a typical 16 year old girl who must make a life changing decision. She must choose between staying loyal to her family and remaining an abnegation, one of the selfless, or joining one of the other 4 factions that keeps the civilization running. After taking a test to see what was dominant, she was no closer to making a decision because she found out she was dominant in more than one trait, or Divergent. While being Divergent doesn’t seem like a murder-worthy crime in our world, in Beatrice’s it meant being a danger to an otherwise “perfect” society. Having to hide what she really was to everyone meant she had to make her decision based solely on intuition. Did Beatrice see herself as selfless, brave, smart, honest, or peaceful? That was the question she had to answer for herself and that was a question I asked of myself as well: what would I choose?
Her decisions from that turning point made the pages fly and I found myself relating in more than way to her. She reminded me of many teenagers, including myself, who reach a critical stage in their life about what their future holds. Many teenagers don’t know whether to follow their parents wishes or step out on their own two feet. Tris’s character evolved immensely from the beginning of the novel to the end. The wallflower bloomed from being a shy, hesitant girl to becoming a character whose strength and courage I respected and even at some points envied.
While this might seem like a very action filled book, there are some steamy romance scenes as well. Tris and her love interest Four know how dial up the sexual tension between action scenes. Tris was a very innocent girl and Four began to open her up just as anyones first boyfriend does. However, one thing thats very different from my first boyfriend at least is that he had an appeal that didn’t exist in many seventeen year olds I knew back in high school. His charm and allure leapt off the pages and made me want to go out and find my very own Four.
Simply put, I couldn’t put this novel down. This book had me eagerly flipping the pages, smiling when she was happy and tearing up over her pain. I read the Hunger Games a year ago and haven’t picked up another dystopian novel until this one. Divergent gave me a rush I haven’t felt from a novel in a long time. This novel contained something for everyone. There was the typical teen angst that began the novel, the drama of the decision that Tris must make, a lot of action and suspense from her being Divergent, as well some romance and flirting for the fan-girl in all of us. Veronica Roth seemed like a seasoned author and it was an eye-opener to me when I found out this was her first novel. She was flawless and managed to throw curveballs in the story just when I thought I had the novel figured out. To me, THAT is the epitome of a book worth reading.