Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Divergent by Veronica Roth

33 reviews

gracemacdonald94's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.5

Bleugh. While I thought I might like the plot and dystopian setting, I found the teen romance really gross and drawn out and I also found the amount of violence (including sexual violence, abuse, and self-inflicted violence) toooo much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and War

stephmorrisbyatt's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual content

embla_v's review against another edition

adventurous

4.5

En bra dystopisk ya bok. Jag tyckte den var bra och kommer definitivt fortsätta läsa trilogin. 

Det handlar om Beatrice som precis som alla andra sextonåringar måste välja falang. Ska hon stanna hos de osjälviska eller byta till de tappra, de lärda, de ärliga eller de fridfullt? 

Beatrice får möta många utmaningar i det dystopisk Chicago men är ändå en tjej man kan relatera till. Bra karaktärer, bra handling och bra skriven, en bok jag kan rekommendera alla som vill ha en dystopi för åldern unga vuxna (young adult). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

planetshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Divergent series was built on such an interesting concept and was written well. Veronica Roth is a talented author and has published some of my favorite stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

cassandralarssons's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

my3bb8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

whilhelminaharker's review against another edition

1.5

For all that people give this series shit about it's hilariously simplistic and implausible worldbuilding, on this reread I'm inclined to give it a pass. Sure, dystopia is generally supposed to draw parallels to the world we're living in today, but <i>Divergent</i> belongs to that subsection of teenage-aimed sci-fi/fantasy where the world is meant to represent nothing more than the world of a child or young adult. It's more about the emotional turmoil that they go through existing in society, not so much about the society itself. Which is why, dumb as it is, I don't think that the premise here is that silly or worthless when viewed through that lens.

When you're growing up, you're trying to make sense of the arbitrary and yet seemingly all-important rituals and patterns that you see around you. You're trying to sort through your loyalty to your family, to your country, to your friends, and to your own indivuidal needs. You're growing up and realizing that the things you loved you have grown out of, or the people around you have changed, or the world always had a dark side and was never as simple as it seemed. You're trying to answer questions like "What do you want to be when you grow up?", which can feel stifling, especially when you don't know. You are, above all, trying to figure out who you are, and that feels practically impossible when adults don't see you as a full person yet, when pressure is being put on you to choose a path in life(and you better be successful at it), and when you don't even know what true selfhood means. Is it found in the people surrounding you? Is it found in striking off on your own? Is it found in professional acheivement? What defines your personality? Who are you?

So it makes total sense to me why Divergent resonated with a young audience. Is the metaphor clumsy? Sure. But is there value in it anyway? Yeah! I can respect any message aimed at young people that tells them not to buy into the false dichotomy and myth of "either-or" that society forces on us. Be loyal to every part of yourself. Be small and weak and brave and ruthless. Answer to yourself, not to the powers that be. I think that that's always going to be a good message to send to young people.

Doesn't change the fact that this book is horribly written, the characters have zero depth, and it really really stops being engaging once it moves out of the land of "coming-of-age story" and into "generic sci-fi war". But you know. I don't think that the work as a whole is totally worthless. If young girls are looking for stuff to read, this is far from the worst story they could be absorbing.

Also, why does every character have to be introduced with their name spelled out for us in dialogue? "Yeah, that's a great idea, Molly." "This is kind of what we signed up for, Peter." Did an editor even look at this?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty

greenapplescented250's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Suicide, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

macsmith's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

rayne_1906's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

At an immediate, surface level, this is an enjoyable read. The plot is just engaging enough, the characters just likeable enough. However, it contains a lot of inconsistencies and things that just don't make sense. So much time is spent on the very first stage of training, that the fear stages, which would be infinitely more interesting to read about, seem rushed, and when the climax of the book happens, the attack, it seems to have sprung out of nowhere, and therefore feels a bit forced. Speaking of forced, the relationship between between Tris and Four is at best rushed and convenient, and at worst predatory. On the other hand, without delving too deep into the problems of this book, it really isn't too bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, and Alcohol