Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent tells the story of Beatrice (later known as Tris), a girl who lives in a world where as soon as teenagers reach the daunting age of sixteen, much choose to which faction they wish to belong for the rest of their lives: Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Dauntless and Amity. [1] When Beatrice chooses the path of the courageous and admittedly unpredictable Dauntless over the selfless Abnegation life she'd always known, no one is more surprised than Beatrice's family. But what Beatrice didn't know was that just as it was within her right to choose Dauntless, it is within Abnegation's right, too, if she gets to stay. And so, her initiation begins, not only exposing her to the ruthless and violent demands of her new faction, but also threatening to reveal a secret that may cost Beatrice her life.

Perhaps my favourite part of this novel was its heroine. Beatrice was in no way the stereotypical self-conscious and socially impaired main character we all know and are tired of reading about. Tris starts off as a seemingly meek girl from the Selfless Faction of Abnegation but soon her true colors are shown; she is resourceful and sometimes scheming, kind but not to the point where it can be used against her, and appears to know herself enough to know her strengths and weaknesses. As a reader, it was a refreshing experience to see her world through her calculating eyes. [2] 

The same could be said for the rest of her characters, too. Doubtlessly, we don't spend a lot of time with them meeting them as Tris is admittedly not very interested on her new Faction friends, but the times they were part of the narrative, they appeared to be well-rounded and interested, thus leaving me, someone who has the pesky habit to grow attached to side-characters, wanting more of them. Fortunately, there was enough action that not only managed to keep me interested but also helped the book move along at an acceptable speed.

But not everything is the color of roses [3] and as it happens, I had a few issues with the novel.

Warning: Spoilers time! And time for Snarky Writer to honor her name!

First of all, I'd like to say that I really like Roth's dystopian society. [4] It was unique, and interesting, and certainly different from the societies of other books (of the same genre) that I've read in the past. That said, the plot was almost too simplistic and at times, made no sense whatsoever. There was no world building, no explanations about anything; at times I felt like I was just shoved into this world were everything was fuzzy and nothing made sense. Other times, I had to remind myself that this was the first book of a series rather than a sequel; facts were given to me without a single explanation, as if expecting me as a reader to understand the reasoning behind them, and were never ever brought up again.

I know what you're thinking: But you just said yourself that this is the first book! And I did. It's true it is the first book, but it is also true that when you give yourself the task to create a new world for the characters in your novel to live in, it is necessary to at least explain some things. To think that everything can be explained later on and expect the reader to be fine with it is, to put it bluntly, ridiculous.

Unsurprisingly, I had a similar problem with the factions [5] and the idea of anyone deciding that a sixteen year old possesses the ability to make what is arguably the most important decision of their life. Because, did I mention that once you choose a faction, you're stuck there for life? Because that's how it is. Sixteen year olds are known for doing exactly what is wrong for them, and often do things out of spite; in short, they're stupid and tend to make rash decisions to mend the mistake a previous rash decision caused. 

But back to the factions! We're never told how they came to be, or why would anyone ever thing they're a good idea - which, again, brings up to those pesky little things known as No World Building and Lack of Explanations. We are simply told that Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) were created to ensure that society functions efficiently and to prevent war.[6] Abnegation and all the pushovers behind it are in charge of the government because the power should be given to those who don't want it, or so we are told; the self-entitled, self-centered and arguably self-sufficient Erudite work on developing new technology; Candor is composed of what can easily be called human lie detectors, whilst the job of ensuring security, then, falls on the hands of the always reckless sociopaths of Dauntless. It was unclear to me as to what Amity did, other than they did everything with a big smile adorning their faces.

So, exactly what happens in Divergent? We spend the majority of the novel with Tris, as she participates in the training that will determine whether she'll truly is a Dauntless or if she'll become one of the factionless [7]. Considering that the purpose of the Dauntless is to protect others and keep the order (aka the police) the training those who wish to be part of them have to endure is preposterous as it is mainly composed of senseless violence, death-defying acts of sheer stupidity that are supposed to be considered a signs of bravery,  and what doubtlessly is psychological torture. 

Somewhere along all these training, the times Tris got the living everything beaten out of her (see: senseless violence), and was nearly raped by a pack of bullies that were hardly punished by any given authorities, we're supposed to remember that title of the book is Divergent and that it means something. Fortunately, the author makes sure to explain the meaning behind the name of the book; being a Divergent, it would seem, means that you can easily fit into any of the factions and immediately become a problem to the authorities, should they discover your condition.

Early on in this review I stated that I'd enjoyed Tris as a character. But the problem with Tris is that Roth seems to have used her Divergent condition as an excuse to make her capable of being good at everything she does. Or at least, that's what she'd have us believe; because the truth is that if Tris could have easily fit in any of the other factions - including the Erudites - how was it that more than once I found myself being two or three steps ahead of her? And in spite of being a Divergent, and knowing how dangerous this could be if anyone found out, Tris constantly did things that more or less equated to her jumping up and down and telling the world exactly what she was.The inconsistencies in her character could become irritating, as I expected Tris to both catch up on what was going on and to simply know better than to act like an idiot.

The thing about Divergent is, though, that it still sort of met my expectations; the problem was that in order for it to meet them, it stumbled its way to the climax, tripped with its untied shoelaces and then proceed to fall on its face like a drunk freshman after its first College party. At times, I wasn't amused, but that didn't stop me from finishing what is a 500 pages long book in two and a half days. Because for all its flaws, Divergent is addicting, and serves the purpose that so many other young adult novels fail to do: it entertains the reader without asking them to take its narrative too seriously. 

★★★

NOTES 

1.  Think of Harry Potter and all its houses but without the sorting hat. I found it pretty cool, at first, and immediately sorted myself as an Erudite, which should not be a surprise to anyone who knows me. In fact, because I am nerdy, I went out of my way to sort the factions:

• Gryffindor: Dauntless! And don't tell me that the "sociopaths" part makes them Slytherins because, cunning and ambitious=/=sociopath. And really, you are very naive if you think that Gryffindor is full of saints.
• Hufflepuff: I actually feel like shoving the spineless Abnegation and almost catatonic Amity into Hufflepuff is an offense to the house, but they just really don't fit anywhere else.  
• Ravenclaw & Slytherin: The two houses in which Erudite would be sorted into, of course. /biased

2.  Sounds familiar? It should! Because Tris is basically the low-rent version of our beloved Katniss Everdeen. And I know that sounds harsh, and that I said I liked her, but that doesn't mean it's not true. It's like Veronica Roth read the book and went, "Ohh, I'll make the blonde, short, and well-off version of Katniss and everyone will love her." No, really, I understand why some people didn't like Tris at all; the bitchy, deadpan and "selfish" demeanor works for Katniss (and for us as readers) because at this point in her life, and after all the things she's been through, she's almost entitled to be that way. But Beatrice? No. She's bitchy and sometimes mean, and kind of selfish without any reason other that she claims to never have fit in Abnegation. And it kind of pissed me off a bit that the author felt like excusing these flaws of her, because - why? Why can't the main character be like that for no reason other than she's an ungrateful sixteen year old? Sixteen year olds are often self-centered little shits just because they can. I WOULD KNOW, I WAS ONE. I just don't get it. I mean, honestly, the reason why I like her is because she was like that instead of the meek and annoying typical MC we get in most YA novels.

3.  I'm actually not sure that phrase made much sense. Because I pretty much used the literal translation of this spanish phrase (No todo es color de rosas) that basically means that not everything was/is pretty/good. Anyways, my apologies if it confused you!

4. I did! I mean, as opposed to a lot of Dystopias out there, I did feel like I was reading about a completely different society. Most of the time, anyway, because sometimes she'd mention JEANS and I'd go like, "Are you telling me the super smart Erudite have yet to come up with something more comfortable than JEANS? SHUT UP!" 

5. Who the hell would EVER think that separating people like this is a good idea? Like, I have NO idea how the world in this novel EVER functioned? It makes no sense at all. Because by their very existence, structure, and way of living the factions promote things like segregation, discrimination, inequality, oppression, and competing belief systems. DO THESE SOUND FAMILIAR? They should. Because the leading causes of discord & war among human civilizations throughout history. Are you really gonna tell me the Super Smart Erudites did not see this coming? Oh, what am I talking about, they've always known, the crazy bastards! No wonder by the end of the novel they're trying to go all fuck da police! let's throw down the system!

• 5.1 Did I forget to mention that the Erudites developed this vaccine that basically turned most of the Dauntless (except for Tris and her boyfriend, of course) to throw down the government by annihilating the Abnegation faction because they are the government? So basically genocide! yay! and it was taken super lightly and really, at the end of the book it was the Big Plot but for MOST of the book it was just a ~*threat*~ that Dangerously Loomed in the Background. Ugh. I like this book I like this book I like this book. 
• 5.2 I also forgot to mention that Tris made her instructor her boyfriend. I'm sorry. Except I'm not because the entire romance was stupid and unnecessary, but thankfully was like only 2% of the book, so thank you for sparing me of that, Veronica Roth. 

6. War happened. And, again, you're telling me NO ONE THOUGHT THERE WAS ANYTHING WRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM? I can't. Don't insult my intelligence, Veronica Roth. I beg you.

7. The factionless are the individuals who have dropped out of their factions or have gotten kicked out because they never passed the tests you're supposed to pass when you turn 16 in order for you to be fully part of your faction. Lovely. More segregation. But to be honest, I think that, ultimately, I’d prefer to be factionless because, frankly, all those factions are full of assholes.