I loved this book. It's a dystopian/action/adventure novel with a touch of romance. It's set in a world where the people are divided into five factions, each with one personality. There's the Abnegation, who are selfless; Candor, who are always honest; Amity, who always hold peace and unity; Erudite, who are intelligent and constantly thirsty for knowledge; then there is Dauntless, who are courageous. There is a girl, Beatrice Prior, who has grown up in the Abnegation society. At the turning of 16, she gets to choose which faction she would spend the rest of her life in. Although she loves her Abnegation parents, she finds herself too selfish to lead a life of complete selflessness, so she chooses to become a member of the Dauntless - the brave. From there, the story kicks off. She grows into a brave girl, meets new people, meets Four, and fights her way into becoming a respected Dauntless member. (that was a very very very simplified version of the book)
I love the plot. The tone reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games. The book is like...if Tomorrow When the War Began and Hunger Games had a less extraordinary baby.
The writing was okay. Its straight forward. There's not much to say about it.
The characters were good too. LOL my praises seem so muffled because the second book just ruined everything for me. In this book, the characters are great, some are likable and some of them you just loathe cuase they're a massve a-hole. Oh Four <3 .="." p="p">
The downside is that I felt the author was trying to push the story too much. When I felt the story had ended, and that it was a fantastic read and yay I cant wait to read the second book, there were an additional and unnecessary 100 pages that added a new drama. Like, she should have ended it at the perfectly good ending and let the reader feel some peace and contentment before presenting YET ANOTHER issue into the story. It;s like you know in the Forest Gump movie, how after he marries Mary or whatever and they live happily and its all good until BAM she dies? Its like that. I'm not saying someone died in Divergent, I'm just saying a new drama randomly popped up when it should have been saved for hte second book. It's a good book, people are going to read the sequel, there is no need to have an open ending. It was as if she's written the prologue of the sequel into the first book. It felt so weak as an ending. I didn't have time to breathe and adjust to anything. Tris/Beatrice didn't either.
*huff*. Wtf. I feel extremely tired after finishing this book. As if I've just watched an entire drama in a sitting.
The characters are destroyed in this novel by the overwhelming plotline. They are completely drowned by the scenery, the storyline, the complications, the action, everything. I am so disappointed. I feel like I've jsut watched someone spend months painting this beautiful portrait only to slash the canvas. I loved Tris, I loved Four, Will, Christina, even Peter and his predictable douchbaggery. But it all gets messsed up. Big time.
I can't even begin to explain what happens in this novel, becuase too much happens. And everything that happens is pretty big and epic but becuase they all happen in a linear sequence one after the other, it all just seems like a massive mesh of random shit. I can't tell you a beginning, I can't tell you a middle, there is no end. (another open ending woo!!)
What I did not like:
1. Roth seems to be trying toooooooo hard in this novel to present an underlying message relevant to all humans today. And its one of those gay, lame, soppy messages every fucking saint is trying to get across in today's world. It's basically 'we humans are destructive and we kill each other and we should all work together to heal this Earth and live in peace'. It's one of those really obvious messages that no one really tries to fix. It does not resonate in me, or make me see the light, or move me at all. I don't think Roth's target audience is really into the whole 'Be brave! Be honest! Be selfless, be inquisitive and be peaceful!'.
Unfortunately, she tries to get us to realise this through Tris, thus ruining Tris as a character. Tris becomes a very sad little girl. Given her circumstances, its understandable, but the way she learns to heal the Earth or whatever seems so forced and contrived. It's like Roth forced the thoughts into her head, it just seems so out of character. Tris' voice should come through however Tris wants it too.
When John Marsden wrote Tomorrow When the War Began, he was first inspired by nothing but Ellie's voice, speaking to him inside his head. And from there he let her tell her story and feel her feelings and htink her thoughts.
TRIS SEEMS SO SMOTHERED IN THIS. Roth completely drowned her.
2. Tris is all broken up to me in this book. She is bipolar, self-pitying and the depths of her despair isn't readable. I did not understand wtf she was on about during her monologues. And people keep saying how brave hse is? I could not see her prior fiesty, fiery spirit anywhere.
Four also seems a bit weird too. Especially in the second half, involving the Factionless.
The relationship between Tris and Four was tested in this book, which is fine. But it was stretched out and complicated so much that I personally became detached from them. I stopped caring that the two of them weren't getting along like two peas in a pod. But that might just be becuase of me.
Also, common sense was nowhere found in this book.
The side characters were very much so in this book. In Divergent, they weren't and you could actually know them as people. Peter is especially confusing in this book. and Edward. (LOL EDWARD :D)
3. The plot sequence was utter crap. If you want to enjoy this book, I suggest you only read 2 chapters every sitting. Because every two chapters, a drama is 'solved' and a new one begins. It is unrelenting and it just all becomes a dull drone.
Don't get me wrong, its an epic journey where Tris finds herself having to spend time at each Faction (where she learns life lessons, puke) and fighting against evil. But everything was just too epic..if that makes sense? Like, it felt like Roth was trying to get all her major plot points down into one book. what she had in this book..I feel it would've been better if she split the book into two, and focused on lengthening the time spent on each plot point.
Like, there was this major point in the novel, which I personally felt was the climax of the novel, where Tris' life is at its end and she stops being depressed and realises her reason for defending the people she loves. I was bawling my eyes out going 'omg Tris!', until it ended in like..two pages. Then a new issue arose. I was so confused. Like, it was that part inthe book where you just get so sucked in. Its that kind of scene in a movie where the main character finally comes face to face witht he person thats been trying to murder them or whatever and theres a massive action sequence. It's like that! But cut short, and smothered by other issues. And Tris becomes a plain Jane again, and Roth starts 'subtly' teaching us that humans destroy each other, again. I;m so frustrated. the book could have ended there, instead of adding another 200 pages of yet ANOTHER massive drama which ends in that 200 pages too. the issue that arose straight after that climax was good enough material to be a book on its own. Instead, its all rushed and smooooshed into this book. And the book is far too short to have so much shit happening. It's 500 pages. Of big handwriting.
4. The writing. I don't know if its just me, but I found it really hard to understand the descriptions. I had to reread a lot of this book twice, especially the ending, cause I got so confused by the point Roth was trying ot raise. At one point, she was describing a bridge and I had so much trouble udnerstanding wtf Tris was on about so I had to give up and go with the flow. They were hiding in a bridge and I had no idea how the shit that was working. And the ending! My gosh. Because okay, there was this massive piece of information that Tris was trying to obtain to save humankind and when we FINALLY find out what it is. It was like..the most unsecret secret in the world. LOL. I had to read that massive secret like 10 times becuase I kept thinking I missed something. But no, the massively secret secret that has been kept from all civilians for all existence was really nothing that massive of a secret. It was a message so blatantly obvious that a child could pick up on it. Which is also my next point.
5. I felt a lot of the major points in this book was exaggerated. I really did not see a big deal in a lot of what was a big deal in Insurgent. 1. I have no idea wtf Divergent really means. 2. The Erudite don't really seem that intelligent...they just seem to state the obvious a lot because no one in the novel seems to be able to grasp whats right in front of them == 3. All the emotions felt by the characters in this novel seem to be overstated and random feelings and thoughts were just scattered throughout 4. What's the deal with Evelyn?
6. Everything was just so melodramatic. I just wanted the book to be over. (How melodramatic of me)
urgh i'm so sad I feel this way. I'm waiting for the third book to come out in hopes that it will not disappoint. this series waslike, YA book of the year in 2011.
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