Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Book Review:  Divergent by Veronica Roth

After much prodding by my 16-year-old, I relented and read this YA dystopian fantasy thriller.  I'm glad I did, though this novel initially strikes me as a cross between the sorting hat scene in the Harry Potter series and The Hunger Games--equal parts segregation and survivalist brutality.

Amid the typical teen identity crisis of much YA reading fare, there is a simplicity in this story that is hard to discredit.  And, it is this simplicity that commanded my attention.

Three Things I Like:
1.  Faction Manifestos:  The inclusion of the five factions' manifestos at the end of the novel was quite a treat.  In content and in form, these manifestos attempt to showcase the best of each faction's ideologies, containing a lot of virtue even as we have read of that virtue falling apart within the novel's narrative.

2.  Narrative use of setting:  Roth's use of the city's trains, the buildings, and landscape is compelling and dynamic.

3.  Rise of the Underdog:  Tris's empowerment through sheer determination, well and of course her "divergence," is part of the American desire for the underdog to triumph.

Three Things I Dislike:
1.  Things that feel "forgotten":  Although there are adequate explanations about why Tris's family disintegrates and what divergence is, I can't help but want to know more.  I feel like these are integral parts of the overall story and I sure hope they resurface in the following two installments of this trilogy.

2.  Fast pace:  I was going to list this as something I like, and the truth is I do like the fast pace of the novel. However, I cannot help but feel that part of the quick pace is due to the several times I skipped through narrative parts that weren't as compelling as other parts.

3.  Tunnel-visioned narrative:   Although we get hints of what is going on in at least three of the five factions, two are fairly well left out of the narrative.  I suppose I could have placed this comment in #1 above, but I felt that this was due to the fact that we really only see what is going on through Tris's eyes and engagements. Hints of what Amity and Candor are doing would have made for a richer sidestory, perhaps through a similar means as the Erudite newspaper Molly and Peter rub Tris with.

Overall, I am caught up in the Divergent fervor, although to a lesser degree than my son and his friends.  I've already stolen away from him the next installment, Insurgent, and am looking forward to reading time later in the day.  I'm not sure I will want to see the movie due out early next year, but I'm certainly going to read the entire trilogy.

Source:
Roth, Veronica.  Divergent.  New York:  Katherine Tegen Books, 2011.  Print.