BOOK REVIEW

(DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth)

NANDA CHRISTINA
15 707 500 08
FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

DIVERGENT VERONICA ROTH

In a world ravaged by human failings of greed, ignorance, lies, cowardice, and

needless aggression, a new society has emerged. From the brink of apocalypse, humanity has
reorganized itself in a future version of Chicago, split into five factions that uphold and live
by a single core value Amity (kind), Erudite (intelligent), Candor (honest), Abnegation
(selfless) and Dauntless (brave).
Born into Abnegation family, Beatrice has lived her life trying to uphold the ideals of
her parents. Only allowed to look in the mirror once a year, outfitted in the plainest, drab
clothing, Beatrice has strives to be as kind as her mother, as calm as her older brother, and
as good a civil servant as her father. But Beatrice has always known that shes different, and
she doesnt belong in Abnegation. Beatrice struggles with her emotions because, at sixteen
years old, her aptitude test and choosing day have arrived.
Beatrices test results, however, are inconclusive. It turns out that she is one of a very
rare subset of the population: a Divergent. Her tests show that she does not fall neatly into
one of the preset factions, but displays traits dominant in the Erudite, Abnegation, and
Dauntless clans. When her time to choose arrives, she follows her heart and chooses to be
selfish but brave, abandoning her family and choosing Dauntless. While switching clans in
itself takes fearlessness, Beatrice soon learns that if she wants to be initiated into the faction,
it will take much more than a simple choice. With only ten spots available and more than
double that number of hopefuls, Beatrice struggles to make her way in a ruthless initiation
trial and discovers not only what shes truly made of, but what it truly means to be a
Divergent.

Veronica Roth delivers an outstanding range of characters. Some with dark depressing
life stories and others with a light bouncy attitude. You can imagine these characters in your
head and they will take you through the story, making every sentence compelling.
I really enjoyed the main character. Beatrice just makes sense. She has a good head on her
shoulders. She reacts to things in a way that makes sense. Shes not this perfect archetype of a
hero that always makes the right choice. The side characters are also fun, but I felt like they
were kept as too small a part. They werent meaningful. I will also tell you that you can
breathe easy with this novel- no love triangle! Im sorry but, Im beginning to award YA or
stories with a female lead a star right off the bat if the story does not involve a love triangle.
The writing in this novel was very simple. I think what really lost me about this story was the
simplistic style. I really felt that Roth just told me instead of showing me. This story is told in
first person, but I didnt quite feel what Beatrice felt. She told me what she was feeling.
Because of that, I wasnt drawn in. I wasnt jumping from page to page.
Divergent isnt just a single book, it is a very accomplished trilogy too. Including the
books Insurgent and Allegiant, which are also outstanding novels and already came to
cinemas starring by Shailene Woodley as Beatrice Prior and Theo james as Four
Many courageous newspaper reporters have reviewed this book and they have all said
positive comments including the New York press who have said that: Veronica Roth is
already hot but could become the next young adult author to blast off into orbit. In addition
to that, New Yorks Rolling Stone magazine said that Divergent was the next big thing.
Divergent had a big effect on my life. Before, I was always struggling what to read and trying
to find a good series to get in to. Then out of the blue I heard that there was a cutting-edge
book with a strange plot twist and a story full of suspense. That book was Divergent. Ever
since then, I could not put the book down and wanted to read more.
I think that this book would appeal to a young target audience because it shows a wide
understanding of action, suspense and romance. And Veronica Roths cutting-edge writing
will surely make you want to read more.