Posted Feb 23 2012, 7:00 am in book club, Book Hungry, fiction, teens, What I'm Reading, YA
This month, Bookhungry chose Veronica Roth’s DIVERGENT four – er, I mean for our discussion. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the first in a series I’m enormously excited to finish. Before my review, let me first summarize the plot.
Beatrice Prior is sixteen years old. She and her brother, Caleb, are just eleven months apart, which means they’re both sixteen in the same year. In their world, sixteen-year-old kids aren’t getting their learner’s permits, or buying prom dresses – they’re picking factions, one of five segments into which society has been divided. Candor, the honest; Abnegation, the selfless; Dauntless, the brave; Amity, the peaceful; and Erudite, the intelligent. Beatrice and her brother take a test that is supposed to tell them which faction they should consider devoting the rest of their lives to.
But something goes wrong. Beatrice’s test results are inconclusive. She must choose her faction because to be faction-less is much like being homeless in our world. Worse, if anyone finds out about Beatrice’s test results, she could be killed.
On the day of choosing, Beatrice or Tris, as she calls herself, chooses the faction where she thinks she is best suited. Choosing a faction means leaving her home, her family, her life, and starting over. I won’t tell you what faction she chooses – you’ll have to read for yourself. But upon moving to her new quarters, Tris meets Four.
Ah, Four. Yes, Four is the reason for my bizarre rating system. I adored this character. Four is one of Tris’s instructors and the eventual romance between them is simultaneously sweet and deadly. There’s a scene where Tris dangles from a Ferris wheel and Four actually starts the wheel to get her back to solid ground – God in heaven, I almost got motion sick on Tris’s behalf. Oh, and then there’s the –oops, TMI.
But Four is a complicated young man. Why is he called Four? I can’t tell you that. Spoilers. You have to read the story yourself. So let’s get back to Tris. Though she’s expected to determine the rest of her life at sixteen, Tris is far from an adult. She struggles with her decision, second-guessing herself and her abilities, and frequently making decisions that are emotional. As Tris endures the rigors of faction initiation, she and Four grow closer, which only increases the danger.
The story is full of action and surprises. After our book club’s discussion, I am all ready to read it again because it was THAT. GOOD.
But don’t take my word for it. See what my Book Hungry sisters have to say.
Kelly
Karla
Have you read DIVERGENT? What did you think?
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your rating system continues to tickle my funny bone and this month is no exception. oh how i love four.
this book is seriously rad and i forgot to mention last night that i really enjoyed tris’s non-aversion to heights. it was pretty thrilling to have a character so fearless in that way because aren’t we all (to some degree) afraid of heights? it was a small trait of hers, but as a whole, tris is a fascinating character and i can’t wait to read more of her story!
As you know, I loved it. Loved, loved, loved it. This was one of the better books I have read in a long time. I took so much from this book that I am looking forward to reading it again.
I am really looking forward to the next in the series.
I’ve wanted to read this book for ages, you just make me want to read it even more.
Hi Patty, I DID read this a short while ago. I enjoyed it for the most part. I am undecided if the ending enticed me to look forward to the sequel, but I LOVED Four. He was hott! ;)