Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I picked up this book after watching the movie adaptation of it. But I’m going to use the word “adaptation” very loosely here.

 

“Divergent” is a young adult book set in a dystopian world where people live in 5 different factions – Abnegation (a faction that is the government due to their selflessness), Candor (a faction which deals with legal because they do not lie ever), Erudite (a faction that values knowledge), Amity (a faction that values peace and harmony and usually work in farming and gives food to the rest of the country) and lastly, Dauntless (a faction that values bravery and keeps the country safe).

When the children reach the age of sixteen, they would go through aptitude tests to see which faction they would live in for the rest of their lives (even though they were born in a different faction, for example, Abnegation kids could transfer to Amity due to the aptitude tests) but it is eventually their choice. They would leave their family behind if they were to transfer to another faction. “Faction before blood” was the motto here. But what if the aptitude test didn’t tell a kid which faction she should go to?

That’s the choice that Beatrice had to make, because she’s neither any of the faction. Because she’s a Divergent, a person that couldn’t be controlled. A person that was deemed dangerous because of that very quality.

There is another “faction” called the factionless. People who had no faction and lived on the streets, homeless. But was Beatrice going to make that choice to be factionless?

I would simply just say no here because if you had watched the movie, you’d know so no spoilers here. She chose Dauntless.

Throughout the story, we see her going through her journey as a Dauntless initiate. She made friends but she also made enemies and found love in her instructor named Four, whom she eventually found out was more than meets the eye.

To be honest, I preferred the movie so I do not think I would get my hands on the second and third books. Let me tell you why.

I felt that I was able to root for the protagonist in the movie more so than I could in the book and that is a good move because I do not think that people would love the movie as much if the producers and director were to follow the book. They did divert a lot from the book more so than any other movie adaptations that I had watched before. A lot of times I felt that I just wanted to throw the book or have some magical ability to reach into the book and strangle the main character.

I think she was more selfish and just hard to root for. In the movie, I truly believe that Beatrice is a Divergent because she had all the characteristics from each faction. She was selfless, brave, kind, smart and sometimes honest. The movie is less of a mess than the book and the simulations that they used in the movie is more realistic than the book’s version. I wish the movie version would have been in the book.

It’s not just the main character. The father was more lovable in the movie than the book. Four’s father was less scary in the movie. Peter was still a bully but I preferred the movie version of him when it comes towards the ending.

But there are a few positive things about the book that we don’t see in the movie, most probably due to the length of time. For example, Caleb’s ending in the movie is different from the book. Either they didn’t really say it in the movie but implied or they took a different route. I believe they took a different route due the clothes he wore in the end of the movie. I would have preferred the choice he made at the end of the book. Also, I wish they had shown a little background of Beatrice’s mother in the movie. We found out a lot more about her in the book than the movie. They didn’t really divert much but they omitted one thing in the movie about her that I felt was important.

If you were thinking about getting the book after watching the movie, I’d suggest not if you do not want to confuse yourself. I’d stick with the movie.

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