Sleepy Saturday: Divergent

As with most bloggers, I'm trying to come up with a regular schedule for blogging. So, here's to starting out a routine.

In order to make a blog dedicated to college and high school age girls, I thought I'd also look into popular novels, how they rank with appropriateness, and just how good of reads they are. Today, I'm looking at the first installment in an up-and-coming series, Divergent. Warning, some spoilers after the basic rundown.

The Rundown:

Violence: Initiates fight each other in hand-to-hand combat; one is stabbed in the eye. Some citizens are killed by gunfire.

Swearing: Various insults like, "idiot," "jerk," and "shut up." One colloquial insult for an Abnegation member, "Stiff."

Sexual Content: Some light contact, some kissing. Tris has a panic attack when she considers sex with her love interest, but both of them agree to wait.

Summary:

Divergent takes place in the not-too-distant future in Chicago. The city is divided based on what each faction believes to be the root of all evil. The main character, Beatrice Prior, is from Abnegation, the faction that values selflessness above all else. The book starts on the most important day in a teenager's life: aptitude test day. Every sixteen-year-old takes an aptitude test in order to help her determine which faction they will spend the rest of their lives in, which are listed below.

Abnegation, the gray-cloaked faction who believes that selfishness is the greatest evil, and therefore values selflessness. They feed the factionless (homeless) and help run the government since they believe in putting others first.

Candor, who believe in utter honesty, even if it's cruel. They blame duplicity and deception for the problems in society, and they were black and white because they believe truth and lies are black and white.

Amity, the peace-loving faction, the members of which dress in red and yellow. They do the harvesting and food collection.

Erudite, the faction which values knowledge. They wear blue and often wear glasses and carry around books, but they're power-hungry.

Dauntless, the brave. They jump off trains, wear black, and shoot guns. They protect the city.

Beatrice takes her aptitude test, and finds that she fits with Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless. When she goes to her choosing ceremony, her brother chooses Erudite, and Beatrice chooses Dauntless. A faction switch, especially from Abnegation to another faction, means isolation from family. The book goes on to detail her change from Beatrice, a little Stiff from Abnegation, to Tris, a Dauntless member.

Analysis:

I have to say, I very much loved this book. It is well-written, the characters are real, and the scenes are terrific. Veronica Roth, for such a young author, does such an excellent job.

There were a few things I want to point out. First, in Dauntless initiation, they focus on fear and controlling it. The initiates must go through simulations where they face their fears and fight them. Tris is one of the few who actually knows she's in a simulation when in it. Her fears are few compared to others: she only has seven. Throughout the course of the novel, she faces all seven of them--one by getting a tattoo of it like another Dauntless member, others by literally facing up to them and overcoming them.

On top of that, all of the characters are real. Tris is a small sixteen-year-old girl from the faction no one else respects, and she must overcome this in order to survive in her new faction. She must learn that she cannot trust everyone, and that everyone fears something, something that not a lot of novels touch on. The heroine of the story is fearful. She loves her family. She has something she must hide. She is not perfect, and neither are any of the other characters. They have flaws, secrets, and problems. That is what makes this a good novel.