Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent has been on my “to read” list for a few years now.  It moved up my list this past year as my students kept recommending it to me.  My husband Ben got the trilogy for me for my birthday this past spring so I finally read Divergent over the summer.  It was a book I literally couldn’t put down and read far into the night.  It definitely lived up to the hype for me.

Beatrice Pryor lives in a dystopian Chicago as part of the Abnegation (selfless) faction.  There are five factions in this future world all based on an attribute.   These factions include Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent).  Beatrice has never really felt a part of her Abnegation faction.  Sixteen year olds are tested to see which faction they should belong too and then on a certain day a year, they are allowed to pick which faction they will belong too.  During Beatrice’s test, it is discovered that she is Divergent; she could belong to more than one faction.  She is told to hide this fact.

Beatrice decides to pick a different faction, which means that she can no longer be with her family and friends and live the life that she always thought she’d live.  She reinvents herself as Tris and finds herself in a high stack game of survival to make it through the initiation in her new faction.  She also discovers her attractive instructor, Four.  Four is badass, but also seems to hide a sensitive side.

I love a good dystopian novel, but I also love novels where the hero is trying to find themselves and where they belong in this world.  That is what Tris is trying to do in this novel as well as try to survive in an ever changing world.  There is also tension and a chaste budding romance between Tris and Four that I also loved. 

Overall, Divergent was an action packed novel with great characters and an intriguing premise.  It kept me reading far into the night and only took a couple of days to read.  I highly recommend it.  I still need to see the movie!

Book Source – A Birthday Present from my Husband