Divergent

I have been wanting to read this book FOREVER, but as the months passed and more and more exciting new books were being published, this one just got pushed further and further on the back burner. Well, this week I found I had a little extra time, so I pulled this one out, and all I can say is ... I AM SOOOO GLAD THAT I WAITED UNTIL BOOK TWO WAS OUT TO BEGIN THIS ONE!!! I loved this book so much! I don't think I could have handled waiting months to see what happens next. If you haven't had the chance to read this book, you totally should. It has all the elements that a good dystopian fiction should have. The details: Divergent is told in 1st person narration by Beatrice, a sixteen year-old girl living in a post-apocalyptic city standing on the remains of modern-day Chicago. Beatrice lives with her brother and parents in one of five factions that make up the world where she exists. Each faction emphasizes one trait over all others, hopefully placing people with desirable traits into the part of society that best matches their instincts and leads to a better society. There is no mention of what led to the demise of our current world and led to this new way of governing. Beatrice's faction is one that values self-sacrifice and altruism. But at the beginning of this book after a test to show which faction best suits her, Beatrice finds that her results are inconclusive, making her Divergent, something that is dangerous enough to the society at large that her tester goes to some lengths to hide her anomaly of a result. Beatrice chooses to leave the faction of her parents to join Dauntless, the faction that emphasizes courage and fearlessness as they prepare to be the security forces of this world. My explanation probably makes it seem more complicated than it really is. The world building is simple and understandable, and I could immediately feel the possible good of this world while also recognizing the danger of their system very quickly. As a Dauntless initiate Beatrice becomes Tris and goes through a series of brutal tests to see if she has what it takes to be a full member of Dauntless. It is during those tests that she meets Four, a seemingly cold and driven trainer who is tasked with getting them prepared for the tasks ahead. It turns out that Four is more like Tris than she could ever imagine, and there is more going on in this world than she would have thought possible a few short weeks before her training. All is not as it seems in this world, and there are forces that consider Tris and those like her to be a threat that must be either harnessed or eliminated. My thoughts: I loved the character of Tris. She was tough. Really tough. But she was also incredibly vulnerable. She has left all that she has known to enter a faction where ruthless behavior is valued, and others are quick to push her down in order to further their own goals. I really enjoyed her struggle to figure out exactly who she was and how she fit in this world. Okay, enjoyed probably isn't the right word. I should say that I found her fascinating. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have to only really focus on one personality trait, suppressing all the others. Can that even be done? Tris really struggled with this, and as she worked through all of the crazy emotions of this experience I could really, really relate to her. That is always a sign of a well-written main character. I loved that she could complete a tough task without completely breaking down, but then turn around and freak out about everyday common new relationship issues. The world may be crazy all around us, but there will always be teenage relationship angst. Four is the male counterpart to Tris. Because he is not narrating this story we don't get to learn as much about him and his inner thoughts. I like it like that. He's more mysterious and interesting that way. He has his own inner demons to deal with, and I have a feeling that there will be lots more to discover about him in future installments in this series. The romance between Tris and Four was well-written. This is not a book where the romance takes center stage. These two don't just automatically jump into each other's arms and declare their undying love for one another. There is a slow build to their feelings that I really appreciated. It made things all the more sweet at the end. This is a really quick read. I would say that the writing in this book is a bit simplistic, but considering the fact that the narrator is a sixteen year-old girl, I think that the writing style actually creates the right "feel" for the book. I really could see a girl her age telling her story in such a way. This is told in present tense, and I HATE it when books are written in present tense, but for this one I was engrossed enough in the story that I never had much time to gripe about it. What a mess of a world is left at the end of this book. I can't wait to see what happens next. This is a book that I would highly recommend to anyone from middle-school to adults who love a good and interesting dystopian story that makes you think, makes you swoon, and makes you cringe, all while giving you further witness of the goodness that can be found in humanity, even in the most controlled of circumstances. Five stars!

I was a fan of dystopian fiction nearly two decades before the awesomeness that is Katniss Everdeen came along to knock Bella Swan’s pathetic ass off the YA bestseller charts. As is generally the case when a genre I quietly enjoy becomes the latest fad – and yes, this has happened to me more than once – I regard the bumper crop of new arrivals with a combination of excitement and skepticism. Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” had been on my Amazon wish list for several months, and although I thought it sounded intriguing, I also thought it sounded a bit gimmicky. Since it seemed to be selling well enough, I figured I’d grab a copy in a year or two when this year’s fad reads turn up on the shelves at Goodwill. There was no sense of urgency about it – until I learned the movie was coming out. I have a lifelong policy of never seeing a movie based on a book unless I’ve read the book first, and since my husband and I have a standing Tuesday-night movie date, it’s not at all unusual that a book skyrockets up my to-read list thanks to a Coming Attractions poster. Some books are so amazing that I put them down thinking it almost doesn’t matter anymore if the movie is any good, or even if I get to see it at all; I’m just grateful that it was made because otherwise, in a world of so many books and so little time, who knows how long it would have been before I got around to reading that particular one. “Divergent” wasn’t quite that good, but it was good enough to drive my casual excitement regarding the movie to a mild fever pitch. Before I even finished the novel, I downloaded a free e-book full of brightly colored stills from the film and studied them so I could better picture the characters and settings as I read. I’ve taken probably a dozen online “What’s Your ‘Divergent’ Faction?” quizzes, I’ve checked out some of the music from the soundtrack, I’m even trying to talk myself out of wearing Erudite blue and putting my hair up into a schoolmarmish bun when I go see the film. Really, fangirl much? “Divergent” is the kind of novel it’s easy and fun to get really, really excited about. The premise of a society divided into factions according to personality traits is a bit implausible, perhaps, but then again, I’ve spent my whole life daydreaming about a world where I could surround myself with “my kind,” and I imagine I’m not the only one. In Roth’s futuristic Chicago, everyone decides at the age of sixteen which personality trait s/he wants to define the rest of his or her life: selflessness (Abnegation), kindness (Amity), honesty (Candor), courage (Dauntless), or intellect (Erudite). Her protagonist, Beatrice “Tris” Prior, isn’t quite sure that she belongs in Abnegation, the faction in which she was raised, but the virtual-reality “aptitude test” that she hopes will tell her where she belongs only complicates matters. It turns out that Tris has roughly equal aptitude for life in Abnegation, Dauntless, or Erudite. Tris had never known such an inconclusive result was possible – but immediately she learns that there’s something dangerous about being “Divergent,” something that could get her killed for reasons she won’t begin to understand for several hundred pages yet. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to relate to Tris as a character, knowing in advance that she was going to choose to join the Dauntless faction – the one faction for which I personally have no aptitude whatsoever, at least none that wouldn’t better qualify me for Abnegation or Candor. Of course, some of my favorite heroines have in abundance the kind of physical strength, emotional resilience, and mental toughness that the Dauntless prize – but they tend to be hardscrabble survivors like Katniss or mystical “Chosen Ones” like Buffy Summers. It is choice, not necessity or the Powers That Be, that has Tris jumping off moving trains and the roofs of buildings, practicing hand-to-hand combat, getting multiple tattoos - so I wasn’t sure I would feel much of a connection to this young thrill-seeker. I needn’t have worried. Beatrice Prior is a fully-realized, multidimensional character; Roth doesn’t just tell us what it means to be Divergent, she shows us. Having aptitude for multiple factions makes it harder to adapt to any one in particular. Although the action sequences in this novel are varied and thrilling, the real excitement here is in Tris’s psychological journey, as she discovers not only strength and selflessness and courage she never imagined she had, but also cruelty and vulnerability. There’s romance, here, too, and it manages to be exciting and sweet without ever dominating the plot. And although Tris’s love interest is much too young for my tastes – and heck, he would have been much too young for my tastes even when I was Tris’s age – I can’t help having just the slightest little bit of a crush on him. The premise couldn’t quite suspend my disbelief – really, is it reasonable that faction leaders would expect initiates raised in other factions to discard sixteen years’ worth of carefully cultivated attitudes and habits overnight? Is it reasonable that such open hostility would exist among factions created specifically to be interdependent? This isn’t necessarily a flaw, however. In my opinion, “Divergent” is less a realistic glimpse of a feasible future, (a la “The Hunger Games” or “1984”), written to draw attention to potentially problematic trends in present-day society, than a sort of dystopian parable written to draw attention to potentially problematic trends in human nature (a la “The Giver”). Maybe it’s a little silly to think that we could ever get so caught up in promoting one virtue that we would actually discourage the simultaneous cultivation of other virtues, even while recognizing their necessity – but we DO have a tendency to see the world in terms of “us” versus “them,” to try to fit the people around us into a preconceived mold of how a person “should” be, to proclaim “tolerance” as a cardinal virtue without actually practicing it. (By definition, you can only “tolerate” that which you cannot wholly approve.) What Roth has to say about human nature is important and unpleasant and true. I suggest you try to get a copy of the novel that includes the faction manifestos, or at least look them up – comparing and contrasting the founding principles of each faction with what it has become is an interesting exercise that underscores the story’s theme. Other reviewers have noted something of an anti-intellectual bent to this novel, as the Erudite faction is presented in a largely negative way. Tris’s father claims that the pursuit of knowledge leads to a hunger for power, and nothing in the novel ever refutes this. I would be very disappointed if that represented Veronica Roth’s own view, but for a number of reasons, I don’t believe it does. She is a very well-read young woman who has expressed interest in and curiosity about any number of subjects. (At the time of the interview printed in the edition I bought, she had a special fascination with “the northern lights and the social organization of ants.”) Within the fictional world itself, there is something of a long-standing enmity between Abnegation and Erudite, so it makes sense that Tris, born and raised in Abnegation, would reflect some of the prejudices of her home faction. The aptitude test reveals Tris to have an aptitude for Erudite, as well as for her home faction of Abnegation and her eventual chosen factor of Dauntless; courage and selflessness are principle themes in this novel, but although Tris is clearly intelligent, her aptitude for Erudite plays no role in the story at all. Since Roth has stated that she envisioned Tris’s story as a three-book series from the beginning, I have to assume that she made Erudite a facet of Tris’s Divergence for a reason, and that Tris will explore and integrate that aspect of herself in the other books. I expect that there will turn out to be good and bad people in Erudite, just as there are good and bad people in Abnegation and Dauntless. “Divergent” is fast and fun and well worth the read, and Beatrice Prior is a character you’ll love getting to know. I’m looking forward to seeing her on the big screen Tuesday after next . . . and, probably sometime this summer (so many books! so little time!), picking up “Insurgent” and learning even more about her vividly drawn and fascinating world.

Que dire d'autre après avoir fini ce livre que "ouaw" ? C'est vrai, je viens juste de le finir est je suis encore sous le choc. Il est plein de rebondissements surprenants, de passages à couper le souffle et d'instants magiques époustouflants. Divergent est un nouveau roman dystopique que j'ai adoré. En même temps, quel livre de ce genre ne me plaira pas ? Ici, nous sommes loin du contexte de Delirium ou Promise, et plus proche du style de Hunger Games. En effet, dans le monde de Beatrice, nous devons choisir entre cinq factions : Candor ( l'honnêteté ) Abnegation ( la générosité ), Dauntless ( le courage ), Amity ( la patience ) et Erudite ( l'intelligence ). Depuis sa plus tendre enfance, elle vit dans la faction Abnegation avec Caleb, son frère. Leurs parents et lui se sont toujours montrés à l'écoute, gentils sans rien attendre en retour. Mais pour Beatrice, les choses sont différentes. Depuis toujours, elle a beaucoup de mal à s'adapter à sa faction, et bien que sa vie lui plaise, elle sait que quelque chose cloche. Heureusement pour elle, elle est âgée de seize ans. A cet âge là, les adolescents choisissent à quelle faction ils vont dédier leur vie jusqu'à leur mort. Beatrice va alors devoir passer un test pour savoir vers quelle vertu elle va se tourner. Malheureusement, les résultats de ce dernier vont se révéler être très étranges... Là je me tais, et je vous laisse découvrir le suspense totalement prenant que cache cette fabuleuse histoire. Et quelle histoire ! Tout d'abord, il faut que vous sachiez que Beatrice va se faire surnommer Tris durant le roman. Pourquoi ? Je vous laisse le plaisir de le comprendre. Mais vous devez également savoir que cette héroïne est juste parfaite. Oubliez les protagonistes qui ne font aucune faute et qui semblent "bons" à chaque instant. Ici, on a le droit à une personne qui fait des erreurs, qui doute, qui souffre et qui ressent des émotions brutales. On ne peine pas à s'attacher à ce personnage troublant et touchant. Tris est courageuse et vulnérable à la fois. On sent en elle une véritable volonté de se battre pour vivre. D'ailleurs, ce point est un élément clé de l'histoire. On découvre avec émerveillement jusqu'où l'héroïne est prête à aller pour découvrir qui elle est. Ce livre est également basé sur la découverte de soi d'ailleurs... En effet Tris va apprendre à dépasser ses limites et à se battre contre elle-même pour avancer. Cela n'a fait que renforcer mon admiration pour elle. De plus, derrière cette personnalité forte et poignante, on entre dans un univers passionnant. Veronica Roth possède en effet ce rare pouvoir, celui de nous déchirer par de simples mots. Elle n'hésite pas à décrire de sanglants spectacles pour nous bouleverser et à nous décrire des scènes d'amour à nous en donner la chair de poule. Car oui, la romance n'est tout de même pas oubliée. Beatrice va rencontrer un homme durant son initiation. Un qui va énormément la troubler. Comme nous grâce à leur histoire. Qu'est-ce que je peux ajouter ? Ce livre est vraiment sensationnel. On voyage au cœur d'une intrigue fascinante et palpitante. C'est vrai, j'ai ressenti plusieurs fois de fortes montées d'adrénaline, de stress et de tension. L'atmosphère de Divergent est à la fois oppressante et captivante... Vous savez, ce livre nous attire alors qu'on sait qu'en le lisant, on va se faire mal. On sait pertinemment qu'il va y avoir des morts, que la douleur ne va pas s'arrêter pour les héros et que les cicatrices vont mettre du temps à se fermer. Mais on y retourne, inlassablement. C'est angoissant et extraordinaire. C'est Divergent, tout simplement.

C'est un cadeau qui a eu l'air de plaire à sa destinataire 😉

Potenzialmente conosciuto come la copia brutta di hunger games, posso dire che non centra quasi nulla. Conoscendoli entrambi, sono testi completamente diversi ma con qualcosa di simile. Personalmente è diventata la mia serie di libri preferita, quindi inutile dire quanto l'abbia apprezzata di piu di hunger games. Purtroppo i film non gli fanno giustizia, e sono sì godibili, ma già da Insurgent la storia viene stravolta. Qui si puo benissimo dire: Il libro è meglio!

Very original. Extremely well written. Keeps you turning the pages. Block Buster Movie material for sure. Love it. Love the characters. Fell in love with Tobias aka Four. Felt like I was young again. Maybe I was in a simulation whilst reading this!?? Caught me and that's not easy to do. Such a great insight into the character of "man" and the mind's complexities how we can battle internal wars as much as real life challenges. Fight or Flight impulses.... What would we do? Makes you think about times of war and our responses to them. Are we all blind robots controlled by corrupt leaders to destroy each other? Or are some of us Divergents in disguise. Hmmm. Something to think about. Read the books. Highly recommend to all ages from 18 to 80!!!

Ich hatte erst gedacht, dass The Hunger Games" mich für die nächsten Bücher komplett zerstört hat, aber ich habe mich getäuscht. Zugegebenermaßen mag ich es selbst nicht, wenn komplett verschiedene Stories miteinander verglichen werden, allerdings spreche ich auch hier eher das Lesegefühl an- und das kommt hierbei sehr nah an jenes, was man bei The Hunger Games erfährt. Aber nun Schuss mit den Vergleichen, hier meine Bewertung: + Divergent hat so viele neue Ideen einer Dystopie, dass ich mich wirklich beim Lesen manchmal fragen musste, wie jemand denn so kreative Gedanken aufs Papier bringen kann. Hut ab! Die Gesellschaft wurde von der Autorin so geschickt umstrukturiert, so dass kaum noch parallelen zur heutigen Welt bestehen. Dies regt stark zum nachdenken an. Kann eine solche Gesellschaftsform wirklich funktionieren? Wie funktioniert eine solche Welt? Wie ist sie entstanden und warum? Man will mehr Informationen haben, also liest man weiter. Dies bringt mich jedoch gleich zum nächsten Punkt: + Es wird kaum erläutert, wie es zu dieser Entwicklung gekommen ist. Wieso, weshalb, warum? Da hätte ich mir ein paar mehr Informationen gewünscht, die vielleicht aber noch in den Fortsetzungen folgen könnten. Man darf gespannt sein! Die vielen Fragen, die man zu dem System hat, kurbeln das Hirn und die Fantasie an. Viele Leser mögen es vielleicht nicht, wenn man nicht bis ins tiefste Detail aufgeklärt wird, so ging es auch mir erst. Aber im Laufe der Zeit empfinde ich diesen Punkt sehr positiv! Fragen wie was befindet sich denn nun hinter dem blöden Zaun" werden 1000 pro noch geklärt. Man muss ja schießlich zu Anfang nicht gleich alles wissen.. + Der Gedankengang und die Entwicklung der Protagonistin Tris" sind nachvollziehbar und realistisch. Ich fand sie sehr sympatisch, wobei sie außerdem auch nicht immer voraussehbar handelt. Die Ich- Perspektive verstärkt zudem die Verbindung zu ihr, man wird sozusagen nicht unterbrochen" und muss sich auf einen anderen Charakter einlassen. Toller Charakter! Apropos Charaktere - das nächste Plus: + Es gibt nicht allzu viele Charaktere, so dass man immer den Überblick bewahrt. Der Konkurrenzkampf zwischen Tris und ihren Mitstreitern ist hart und brutal, was ich sehr gut finde. Versteht mich nicht falsch, ich mag keine Gewalt, allerdings neigen einige Autoren dazu, ihre Protagonisten nicht so viel leiden zu lassen, was ich dann immer ein bisschen unrealistisch finde. Klar, auch die kleine Tris" bekommt ihre Chance auszuteilen, allerdings bekommt sie auch oft mal aufs Maul. Sorry für die Ausdrucksweise, aber wer es gelesen hat, der weiß, was ich meine. Ich hatte manchmal echt Angst um sie und fühlte auch bei den anderen Charakteren mit. Kommen wir nun zu der Liebesgeschichte, die auch einen großen Teil des Buches einnimmt: + Positiv zu bewerten ist, dass nicht von Anfang an so viel rumgeschnulzt wird. Okay, Four taucht gleich nach ihrer Ankunft im Dauntless- Hauptquartier auf und wird auch genauer beschrieben, was meistens ein Indiz dafür ist, dass man mit diesem Charakter mehr zu tun haben wird. Dennoch hat sich mir nicht gleich erschlossen, dass er es sein würde, mit dem sich etwas entwickelt. Ich dachte zunächst echt, es wäre Eric! Buuuaaahh.. + Außerdem finde ich es gut, dass man auch ohne viele Erklärungen merkt, warum Four, der ja eigentlich ihr seriöser Supervisor ist, ein Auge auf sie geworfen hat. Die Verbindung zwischen den beiden kommt von Mal zu Mal immer mehr zum Vorschein. Das war also positiv zu vermerken, aaaaaaber: - sobald man kapiert hat, dass Four und Tris etwas voneinander wollen, taucht dieser verdammte Kerl aber auch wirklich ÜBERALL auf. Manchmal dachte ich mir dann wirklich Ernsthaft, Four? Was ein nerviger Stalker" , irgendwann ist dann einfach mal gut. Das schürt dann auch nicht wirklich die Liebesspannung", wenn dein Lover dauernd auf der Matte steht. Herzklopfen gab es bei mir an vielen Stellen, keine Frage, dennoch ist dann in manchen Situationen der Funken nicht so übergesprungen. Viele Leser finden es bestimmt toll, wenn Four dauernd dabei ist und sie sich Blicke zuschmeißen (etc.), aber ich finde das dann für die Story ein wenig unrealistisch. Als ob bei so viel Schmachten keiner merkt, dass der Supervisor und sie was am Laufen haben. Wer's glaubt. - Auch am Ende hätte ich mir dann eine weniger schnulzige Lösung gewünscht. Sie: Four! Wie hast du mich erkannt?" Er: Ich habe deine Stimme gehört." ACH, SAG BLOß! Das war jetzt drastisch ausgedrückt, aber trotzdem. Ich hoffe ihr wisst, was ich meine. Ich möchte nicht zu viel Spoilern. - Generell fand ich das Ende dann ein bisschen zu.. na ja.. rastlos. Man konnte der Handlung immer noch gut folgen, allerdings hätte man manche Stellen ein bisschen mehr ausbauen können. Schließlich verliert sie ja einige Menschen, die ihr am Herzen liegen. Es ist aber trotzdem spannend und hat mich bis zum Schluss nicht losgelassen! - Um noch einen letzten kritischen Punkt hinzuzufügen: Ich fand es nicht immer verständlich, warum sich einzelne Fraktionen so in den Haaren liegen, bzw., warum gerade Erudite meint, gegen Abnegation einen Krieg zu beginnen. Vielleicht habe ich mich noch nicht so viel mit den einzelnen Eigenschaften der Fraktionen auseinandergesetzt, aber ich fand es einfach manchmal ein wenig verwirrend. FAZIT: Trotz aller negativen Anmerkungen meinerseits, fand ich das Buch sehr gelungen und freue mich auf die Fortsetzungen. Die Story hat noch viel Handlungsspielraum und offene Fragen zu klären, worauf man gespannt sein darf. Es war außerdem die erste Dystopie seit The Hunger Games", die mich nachdenklich zurückgelassen hat und bei der ich genau weiß, dass ich sie nicht ein letztes Mal in der Hand hatte. Die Ideen sind echt unschlagbar und ausgefallen, es kam nie Langeweile auf. Man kennt das ja manchmal, wenn man beim Lesen anfängt, mit den Augen zu rollen". Das war hier definitiv nicht der Fall. Ich war voll in meinem Element und habe jede Seite genossen. Respekt! Ich gebe 4,75 Sterne.. um mal ein bisschen kleinlich zu sein ;)