Friday, August 2, 2013

Divergent

Bibliography
Roth, Veronica. Divergent. New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2011. Print.
image from: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2012/09/divergent_veronica_roth_a_p.jpg


My Thoughts
Oh, I enjoyed this book! This is a dystopian novel set in Chicago. There are five factions. What I found as I read this book, that we all are, in part, these five factions. Roth has pinpointed human nature and created an interesting story about what happens when the five factions interact with each other. "Without a faction, we have no purpose and no reason to live" (Roth 15).

The Five Factions
  • Abnegation (values selflessness)
  • Candor (values honesty)
  • Dauntless (values courage)
  • Erudite (values knowledge)
  • Amity (values understanding)
Beatrice is Abnegation. She is supposed to be selfless. After she turns 16, she must choose which faction she will live with for the rest of her life. "I will decide to stay with my family or abandon them" (Roth 5). She chooses...

I don't want to say much about the book because it is SO good, and I want the reader to uncover the story. The title reference is on page 16 (and appears elsewhere in the book), and that fits in to the story. Again, I don't want to spoil it here.

One thing I enjoyed about this book is how I began looking at people (I was in Boston at the time of reading) and "assigning" them to the five factions. I even labeled myself as I recognized the faction traits.

I'm excited to learn that this book is coming out in movie form next March. I hope it will be good. I've started reading the second book in the series, Insurgent and the third title comes out this fall. I can't wait to recommend this book to my students. It is clean (a kissing scene does appear on page 182) and not too futuristic that it isn't possible to imagine. However, there are some violent things that happen.

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