mermaidmommy19's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Death, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Injury/injury detail, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Body shaming, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Suicide
psliz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Sexual assault, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Child abuse and Blood
kybearbroski's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Suicide, War, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Child abuse
ronjaalva's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide
readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
That being said, I think this is one of the few examples where the movie is better than the book. The plot in the movie is much more cohesive, covering important details without repetition and dragging them out, and characters that are much more consistent in personality. I also wasn’t a big fan of the plot bouncing around.
By cohesiveness I mean that there were just so many moments that could have been combined, altered, or switched around for a more compact story. I think each moment added something but it could have been done differently, like in the movie. There is so much more focus on the goals because of how everything is put together.
The book also has tons of repetition and drawn out arcs without fully delving into them. That applies to the characters as well as plot. I felt like we constantly were hearing how strong Tris is and how much she doesn’t want people to see her as weak, and there were moments that displayed that better in her actions. It could have been left at that, like in moments where she thought about comforting Al or Caleb, and decided not to. If anything it bothered her to see that “weakness” displayed. I like that Tris is a flawed character who feels she has to prove herself, especially given her age, but it became overkill at times. We see that Tris is strong, and that she’s worried about people not seeing her as strong, so it didn’t need to be states so much. There was also just so much of Tris getting through all the challenges and sims to become dauntless, which in retrospect is a subplot to the major plot. I think the movie was better at showing how she was navigating the world as Divergent and finding out what that meant in the midst of her training.
I also liked the personalities for the characters more in the movie, because we see moments of that in books, but it can be a bit inconsistent or less favorable. I think Four and Tori are better portrayed in the movies.
Ultimately I think what is happening here is a big plot that is so dependent on who they are and where they fit in and other aspects that movie or shape the plot get overlooked. It also is not as creative as I remembered. Once more, with the movie outshining in terms of world building.
Spoiler
Some noticeable changes or moments I marked down were: Four being drunk, Uriah bringing Tris to the zipline, more friction with Christina like with capture the flag, Edward being stabbed and deciding to be factionless, side characters like Molly and Drew having more visibility in the books, Tris’ mom visiting her in Dauntless compound, Four not helping Tris through the sim and the whole sim process being different in comparison to the movies, Jeanine being less involved and a bit more callous rather than smart in her presentation, Caleb deciding to be factionless once finding out what Erudite was up to, and how Jeanine wasn’t even in the ending (although this explains why she was left to live which the movie failed to do). The book ending was more lackluster. I also wasn’t a big fan of Tris hitting Four while knowing what his father had done to him. Especially with no apology and her being more upset about him embarrassing her than anything. For the plot being her having Abnegation traits, it didn’t feel on par with this nature she’s supposed to have. The book was also a bit darker, with Tris being sexually harrassed and assaulted on multiple occassions.However, despite all the criticisms, I can still see why it got adapted because there is a lot of potential and you still end up invested in the characters.
Graphic: Bullying, Classism, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Confinement, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Violence, War, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Alcohol, Grief, and Mental illness
Minor: Child death
Homelessness, comment about scalping, near-drowning.carrotsxcks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Bullying, Violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Sexual assault
gurnoor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, and Child abuse
Minor: Sexual assault
gerzonvillegas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Self harm, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Rape and Suicide
chloemar1e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, and Suicide
lorraine19's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Bullying
Moderate: Murder, Suicide, War, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Difficult family relationships, Betrayal, Facing phobias