Book Review: Divergent

   Yesterday on a cold boring winter night, I curled up in my bed with Divergent, the book that I had been withholding from myself, to read when life got busy so I would have something to look forward to. I stared at the clock it showed 8pm it was too early to sleep but too cold and dark to do anything that required moving around.  So I sat up and decided I’d read a few chapters to get acquainted with the book. And I’m sure you can all guess that was not the case when I finally put the book down at 4am.

   Mostly, the famous book series,‘the trends’ as I like to call them. categorize their characters into groups. In Harry Potter there were houses, in Percy Jackson it was according to your godly parent, in Hunger Games it was according to Districts and in Divergent there were factions.  Amongst these groups only Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth cared to name the misfits (rebels and divergent). But that’s not where the similarities end between these two powerhouse writers with amazingly successful trilogies. Both The Hunger Games and Divergent are full of colorful violent scenes. Both sci-fi books have done an exceptional job of showing the ‘ugly’ side of everything from politics to entertainment industry from selflessness to intelligence.  Divergent and The Hunger Games both consist of rebellions against society norms and wars.

   On that note, I point out the two biggest trilogies of the 21^st centaury have themes of war for a reason. I feel that everyone is at war. Some fight for success, others fight for pride. There are those who fight for simple necessities in life like water, food, shelter and clothing. Some are in wars against terror, others are in war against thieves. One may be at war without, another maybe at war within. Just because ones war does not include weapons doesn’t mean its not as real, it doesn’t lessen its significance. The rebellions in this book for me symbolize change for the betterment of society. Think about how many social prejudices we’ve broken, up to this point in order to obtain total equality. Divergent also shows that there is always room for improvement and that our next focus should be the right to be unique without judgment.

   When I think of great fictional couples Edward and Bella, Percy and Annabeth, and Katniss and Peeta come to mind. But in Divergent I got to witness an amazing, powerful couple, Tobias/Four and Tris. They brought out strength in each other, helped each other overcome fears and protected each other. They had each other’s back that was very essential because they were headed for battle. I liked how even though they didn’t think alike they could keep up with each other. They were great as individuals but together they were invincible. Most importantly they were truly, deeply and irrevocably in love with each other and it showed through their actions.

   Divergent deals with character. The world of Divergent only allows people to have one of the following character traits intelligence, selflessness, courage, kindness and honesty. This book made me stop and think. I’m not always intelligent, I’m not entirely honest, I’m not wholly kind, I by no means am entirely selfless, and I definitely am not totally brave. Although I have a bit of all traits I’m not solely just one. I am different! I am Divergent! And so are all human beings but the desire to belong is stronger than the desire to be unique. That is why in Tris’s world being Divergent is dangerous and scary. So most people choose a certain trait and let it dictate their thoughts and actions, they are too afraid to be anything else.  

   Divergent is now on my top ten favourite books list.  I would recommend it to anyone who is ready to read a book that will leave a huge imprint in your lives forever. My rating for this well thought out book would be 5/5.