"Divergent" {by Veronica Roth} Book Review

(source)

Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

# of Pages: 487

Year Published: 2011

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Genre: Young Adult Dystopian

Summary: 

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.

First, let's talk about what we overall rated the book (out of 5 stars):

.............................................................................drumroll please.................................................................

(technically it was 3.48 stars.)

Kelly told me that she was surprised to hear people's ratings since many of them had changed once book club started. I wonder if discussion during dinner changed some people's minds? Very interesting.

Here I am, FINALLY, ready to blog about our discussion of the book Divergent. Sadly, I had to leave before most of the discussion began because my father-in-law was watching the twins and he was feeling a bit overwhelmed. However, between Libby's fabulous notes and the discussion I was able to be a part of I think I will be able to write a little about this fun night.

Might I first say that I LOVE couples book club and I'm so glad that we did it? It was so fun to hear the husbands' views of the book and changed the dynamic so much! I loved being able to read the book with Bryce and to discuss it with him along the way. I think that the discussion would have gone a completely different direction if it had just been us girls there--don't you?

One of my favorite things that was discussed was the relationship between the Declaration of Independence/US Constitution and the Faction Manifestos. Chanel brought up this interesting point of how we had such strong ideals for our country and how we have changed and gone astray from many of those ideals now (especially considering that this was a country founded on religious principles) and how the factions did something very similar. I thought that this was excellent food for thought.

Another point that I found interesting was the fact that the Dauntless leaders ruled by fear but if their faction was truly fearless this tactic wouldn't have worked--right?

Learning how young Veronica Roth was when she wrote this book helped some of the book club members understand her writing style. What was it Eric said? It sounded like a twelve year old writing with a thesaurus? I thought that was pretty funny. Not all the book clubbers agreed with that though, it was definitely a lively discussion because of the many different views. When you have some people rating the book as low as a 1 and others giving it a 5 you are bound to have some lively chatter.

Some things that people enjoyed in the book were:

-entertaining with good pacing

-Tris and her mother's relationship after they started to communicate

-not afraid to kill off characters

-fear landscape idea

Something that I found interested was at the very beginning of the discussion when our quiz results were posted on the PowerPoint. I wonder where we all would have tested if we had done the actual test (however, I am thrilled I didn't have to have a needle in my arm). If the factions hadn't become corrupted where would we all be? Just a thought.

Thank you for a great discussion Kelly and Kellie and for such a fun night!