Divergent

Book Name

Divergent

Author

Veronica Roth

Book Description

In the future, the world is divided into 5 factions – Dauntless (the brave), Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Erudite (the intelligent), and Amity (the kind). Each person is required to live within one of these factions, and they can decide which to pick during the Choosing Ceremony when they are 16 years old. Beatrice Prior is a member of Abnegation. She looks out for the rest of the world and doesn’t think of herself. Well, she tries not to think of herself. Beatrice isn’t the best Abnegation member. So when the Choosing Ceremony arrives, she is forced to make a decision – should she stay with her family, or follow what she really wants? Beatrice ends up deciding on a faction that shocks everyone. But will she be able to survive the Initiation process of her new faction? Will she be able to fit in and live the rest of her life happily? Or will she end up factionless, like the people on the streets? Find out by reading the book!

Age Rating

15+

This book contains some topics that would not be suitable for younger kids. There is a decent amount of violence and romance in the book (detailed below). Beatrice and her friends get tattoos and since the author portrays them as cool, younger kids might want one, which they shouldn’t. The Initiates (people who are trying to get into the faction) are injected with liquids and put through simulations. The simulations have scenes that include violence and a person’s fears (known as a ‘fear’ simulation in the book – a person is forced to face their fears) and they are described in detail. This might cause a younger child to feel scared. Erudite and Abnegation have enmity between them, but the Erudite take it to the point where they start trying to wage war on the other faction. Older kids may be better suited to understand the idea of such intense hatred. One person kills themself in the book and younger kids will most likely not have been exposed to the idea of suicide yet which is why they might not take it well if it is exposed to them this way. There is the usage of weapons such as guns. Most older kids will be exposed to most of the ideas and topics in this book, which is why they may be better suited to read it.

Good Messages

3/10

Some good messages in this book include perseverance (shown through Beatrice’s determination to finish Initiation and become part of her wanted faction), the importance of family (shown through Beatrice’s realization of how much she loves her family after an unfortunate event takes place) and the value of peace (shown through what happened when the wasn’t peace between Erudite and Abnegation).

Violence

8/10

There is a lot of violence in this book. During the Choosing Ceremony, the 16-year-olds are required to cut open their hand and drip their blood onto the symbol of the faction they want to join. The faction that Beatrice chooses requires them to jump from high heights, learn how to throw knives and other weapons, fight with each other, and shoot guns. All of these events take place in the book and the author describes them and the injuries Initiates receive while learning the skills in detail. The Initiates go through ‘fear simulations’ (simulations where the person is forced to face their fears) and in them, people get injuries and use weapons. To get into the simulations, people have to be injected with a needle. Towards the end of the book, there is a war between Abnegation and Erudite. Erudite uses Dauntless members as their weapon. Dauntless members unknowingly kill huge masses of Abnegation members. In the war, many people die and get injured.

Language

3/10

There are no really bad words in this book, just some usage of ‘jerk’, ‘stupid’, ‘shut up’, and ‘freak’. The word ‘Stiff’ is a degrading name for Abnegation members, and Beatrice is called that.

Romance

6/10

Beatrice and another member of her faction slowly grow closer and closer. They hold hands, hug, and eventually kiss. They kiss a few times, one of which is passionate. Other characters also kiss. In Beatrice’s fear simulation, she is scared of having sex. Her boyfriend tries to have sex with her (virtually, not in real life), but she refuses. 

Adult Topics

Beatrice’s faction takes part in quite a bit of drinking and in one scene, a drunk member approaches Beatrice and talks to her (not in a bad way). As mentioned above, In Beatrice’s fear simulation, she is faced with the fear of having sex. In the simulation, Beatrice’s boyfriend kisses her and removes his shirt, as though they were about to have sex, but they don’t because she refuses.

Tvix’s Take

O. M. G. This book was so. GOOD. I’m not even kidding – I finished this in less than a day. I got it in the morning, spent 3 hours reading it, then finished it before bed. This was SUCH A GOOD BOOK, LIKE I CAN’T EVEN STRESS HOW MUCH I LOVED IT. I loved the idea of dividing the world into 5 parts, I thought that was really clever. The factions themselves were something that readers could understand and not super complicated. I also wondered many times during the book which faction I would be part of (I decided that I would like to be part of Erudite. But the nicer, non-war, Erudite). There was always some kind of suspense in the book. At one point it could be who was going to stay in the Initiation, and at another, it could determine whether someone was going to die or not. The romance in this story was really well planned out. There were little moments that lead up to the main romantic scenes, and that was super clever as it generated suspense. One of the reasons I kept reading was because I wanted to see whether Beatrice and the other member actually ended up together. I was NOT expecting the war at the end, though. That was a huge twist for me. I didn’t realize that the hatred between Erudite and Abnegation was so intense. There were also some sad parts that I wasn’t expecting either. But the war scenes were so well written. It wasn’t the same old ‘fight-die-cry’ writing, it was packed with suspense and action. This book is definitely on my favorites list, and I would strongly recommend it to any person above the age of 14.