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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Divergent by Veronica Roth (Audiobook)

Author: Veronica Roth

Narrator: Emma Galvin
Title:Divergent
Publication: May 3, 2011
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Pages: 487
Length: 11 hours 11 minutes
Audience: 15 and up
Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Overdrive Audiobook

Synopsis (from Goodreads.com): In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . .or it might destroy her.


My thoughts:
I am so late to the Divergent train. My fiance enjoyed book and has tried for a while to get me to start the series. Several of my friends have read it and enjoyed it as well. After seeing the novel is being made into a movie, I had to read it. My fiance read the novel after reading The Hunger Games and told me it was much better than The Hunger Games. I'll be honest and admit I was not the biggest fan of The Hunger Games, but I'm not sure how you could compare this novel to The Hunger Games in a fair manner. The only similarities are the corrupt government (dystopian setting) and how people are separated into different groups. I will also admit this, I did enjoy Divergent much more than The Hunger Games.
Beatrice is your everyday teenager who is trying to find her place in the world that is different from your typical dystopian novel. In this novel, there are factions. I kept trying to decide which faction I would be in while I was reading. As much as I would love to have picked one, they were all corrupt in their own ways and had their flaws. If I had to pick, I think I would be Erudite, I love to learn new things. Anyway, back to the story. The characters are realistic. You have your bully who is Peter, the two true friends who are Christina and Will. Then you have Al, whose role is in a grey area until his place is cemented in the story line. Four is well, I'll leave that for you to find out. There are many different characters who may not seem important, but they all fulfill their roles to the storyline in due time. 
To me, Veronica Roth has created this world and seamlessly tied all the ideas and people together. It is a splendid novel. I listened to the audio version and the narrator was fantastic. Emma Galvin kept my attention and Veronica's story played through my mind as I spent hours in my kitchen cooking, preparing, and cleaning just so I could listen to the next sentence. It took time for me to read it because I've been busy, but once you pick up this book it is hard to put down. I highly recommend it!
 

7 comments:

  1. I'm glad the audiobook was good. I really liked the paperback - I'm looking forward to reading 'Insurgent.'

    I think I'd want to be in Amity.

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  2. I have yet to read this series too. I'm pretty sure I'll love it and won't wanna put it down, so I'm trying to wait till all books in the series are out. Great review!

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  3. I actually haven't read The Hunger Games. I saw the film and I liked it enough once, but the whole story just wasn't completely appealing to me. One of these days I'll get around to reading the books hopefully.

    BUT DIVERGENT - such a good book! I loveeeed it! :) I need to really ready the second book. I haven't gotten around to it yet!

    Great review!

    Liza @ Book Crook Liza

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  4. I'm also behind on this series. My motivation is to read it before I see the movie. Thanks for the interesting review.

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  5. I LOVE this story. I love Tris and Four. I am so glad that you finally read it, and that you enjoyed it like I did!

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  6. I have yet to read this series, but I am definitely going to before the movie comes out. I've heard so many good things about it from all my reader friends.

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  7. I read this one and really liked it, but was slightly disappointed. I think it was because there was so much hype for it after the Hunger Games and it didn't quite live up to that for me. As someone who grew up a few hours outside of Chicago and now lives in its suburbs, I love that aspect of the story as I recognize many of the places they mention throughout the story. Veronica Roth is actually coming to my area for a signing the week of the release for book 3 and my mom and I just got tickets today!

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