Divergent (2011)

Having recently spent a lot of Oscar-related time at the cinema and thus having seen the trailer for Insurgent multiple times, I’m finally jumping on the Divergent bandwagon.  It was only a matter of time – I love dystopian fiction, smart YA series, and compelling female protagonists, and this book hits several sweet spots.  (Some spoilers – it’s simply unavoidable.)

It’s not a dystopian novel without a completely jacked-up society, and in Divergent, we have a post-apocalyptic Chicago populated by five factions allegedly installed to prevent a repeat of the devastating wars of the past.  The members of Abnegation, Dauntless, Erudite, Candor, and Amity each follow certain guidelines and traditions based on their self-evident virtue of choice, and every young person’s life leads up to their aptitude test, which tells them the faction they naturally align with, and the choosing ceremony, in which they decide if they want to remain with their home faction or transfer to another.  Beatrice Prior has tried to uphold the selfless principles of Abnegation, but she’s always felt out of place in her faction.  Their ways don’t come naturally to her, she’s drawn to the reckless lives of the Dauntless, and try as she might, she can’t quiet her so-called “selfish” inclination toward curiosity.  She meets her aptitude test with apprehension for the future it may suggest for her, but her results are even more world-shaking than she could have anticipated:  she is Divergent, someone with multiple aptitudes and no clear place in her society of never-the-twain-shall-meet factions.  As she moves forward and explores who she’s supposed to be, hiding her true designation is of the utmost importance.

There’s a lot more plot stuff, but even if I only cover the skeleton of the narrative, there won’t be time for an actual review, so let’s just hint at creepy societal conformity, secret outsiders, teenage romance, ultraviolence, the coolest zip-line ever, giant conspiracies, drug-induced hallucinations, and personal revelations galore.  So much going on here.  For the most part, it hangs together well – some of the twists pulled the rug out from under me, though I guessed others early on, and the book lays some good groundwork for the expanded scope of its sequels.

So far, the world-building is the most interesting aspect to me.  I enjoy exploring the different factions and learning about their practices, values, and inner workings.  It’s especially interesting to meet the various transfers (16-year-olds who changed factions at the choosing ceremony.)  Though they obviously transferred for a reason, they still carry the upbringing of their old factions with them, and it’s neat to see the hodgepodge of their interactions with one another.  However, I have to say – there’s just no way the whole faction system is sustainable.  You have certain factions hating others, Abnegation is sort of the punching bag of the entire city, and while teens are allowed to leave the faction they were born into if it isn’t the best fit for them, it’s viewed as a detestable betrayal, and transferring essentially means breaking from your family forever.  Despite its beginnings as a means of peacekeeping, it’s charged with bristling tensions, tribal superiority, and familial resentment.  No wonder the place is spoiling for the revolution.

Warnings

Some petty insane violence (much of it involving teenagers,) sexual references, drinking, and thematic elements.