Week 01: Divergent

I finished this book about 24 hours after buying it. I just couldn’t put it down. Roth’s writing style is simple and flows so easily that before I knew it I was half way done.

I have to say that I actually like Tris, which is unusual for female protagonists (especially in YA novels). I don’t know why, I’m just overly critical of them. I suppose Tris could have been called whinny at times, but given what she was going through and the fact that she was a 16 year old girl who until that point had been living a soft life, it’s not something that bothered me.  It made sense.

And then there’s Four. I liked Four. I liked how complex he could be. Unfortunately in the film, it didn’t seem that way. His character went from complex to predictable. After seeing the connection between Tris and Four in the book, I was quite disappointed in the film’s adaptation of their relationship – not only as lovers, but as friends, her mentor and peers. (She never even called him Tobias, which was a total a shame.)

The only thing I can say I disliked about this book  (though it did little to impact my enjoyment) was how predictable it turned out to be. Not the whole story, but most of the little twists I could see coming from a mile away.

Oh in regards to people claiming that it’s a rip off of the Hunger Games, not even close. While I can see some similarities between the two, that can mostly be attributed to that fact that they are both dystopian young adult novels. Divergent is 100% it’s own story, and it’s a damn good one.