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readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- 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
Before getting into my thoughts on the book I want to mention that this was a reread after first picking it up around 2015. I read again out of curiousity after forgetting a lot of the plot and wanting to compare it to the movies.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death
Homelessness, comment about scalping, near-drowning.hayleyvem's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Genocide, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
ravensandlace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- 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
3.5
Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com
I recently reread Divergent with the goal in mind to actually start reading books that I own in an effort to cull the every growing pile of books I have. It’s been a bit slow going, if I am being honest but I’m making every effort to do so.
That being said, I am going to post my old review but if I have new thoughts to add to my old review, I will add them via parentheses and italicizing the statement. I don’t have much to add to my old review as it pretty much sums up what I felt while rereading this book.
I understand all the fuss surrounding this series now. I get it. It was a pretty good book but it wasn't great. I didn't fall in love with it like I expected too. I had heard so many things about this book and the series as a whole that I truly expected to love it. Instead, I'm just left feeling eh about it.
I think maybe it was Tris as a narrator. She is just so damn dull. (This is still incredibly accurate. I felt like Tris was even more boring the second time around. She did things and said things that just drove me wild. She had the personality of flour, to quote Louise from Bob’s Burgers. A lot of her decisions just didn’t make any sense to me.) I understand that she comes from a very....bland faction (for lack of better words) but still. I felt no real emotion emitting from her. She described everything and just told us what was going on. I couldn't only handle so much of that. I hope she gets a bit of a personality boost in the next book.
What I did like about this book was the unique aspects of factions. Where factions are based on personality traits, similar to Hogwarts houses. I really liked that. I hope that we get to learn more about the different factions like Amity. I would also like to learn more about how these factions came to be. I didn't get much of the history of the world Tris lives in.
Overall, I liked this book but I wasn't in love with it.(While rereading this book a second time a thought occurred me. It felt like I was reading a brand new book. I only remembered bits and pieces of the book. That is certainly not a good thing) I want to continue it, though, because the concept intrigues me. I hope there are more of the other factions along with how Divergences came to be. Plus, I have heard that the ending of the series is infuriating (I don’t remember what the big ending was supposed to be so I suppose that is a good thing) and I'm curious to know what could even happen to make people get so mad. (Probably something relating to her and Four. They are such a mismatched pair, if I’m being honest.)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder
Tw: mind control and manipulationmatthewmcc's review against another edition
emotional
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and War