Divergent (Divergent, #1)

hmm. i usually enjoy teen dystopian novels because of the obvious parallels to the alien universe of highschool with it's numerous cliches, hierarchy and power strangleholds. so the concept of joining your tribe at 16 initially appealed to me. but then the heroine does the exact thing every teen would want: abandons their parents, manners, and the tiresome practice of putting others' needs in front of you - and embraces the thrills and selfishness of a tattooed and body-pierced tribe.
everything about the book seemed designed to translate easily to a movie, starting with the initial choosing ceremony where teens individually come forward to cut the palm of their hand with a knife, and then drip their blood into one of 5 symbolic vessels. huh? cutting open your palm? the author pretty much gives away the direction of the novel when she opens with an action that would be feared and/or intellectually challenged by any tribe that wasn't the protagonist's choice of 'dauntless'
and yet, for a plot that requires children to launch into adulthood at 16, the topic of sex is so mysterious and worrisome that it's actually a vivid fear for the main character, along with shooting her family, drowning, and being pecked to death by crows.

This is another dystopian novel in the vein of Hunger Games, Anthem, and The Giver. I enjoyed this book but I had a few reservations.

#1. I didn't really notice this until I started listening to the novel, and I listened to about 2/3rds of the book; but the prose is pretty stilted, choppy. This could be more about the reader than the actual novel, but even reading the story traditionally, I picked up on an overabundance of "I"s. I guess the sentence structure and style just didn't very much and had little complexity. Maybe this is why the book is considered "young adult."

#2. I caught several tropes common to dystopian literature. This isn't necessarily bad as it connects the story to other novels and films readers may have read or seen.

I do recommend this book for readers who enjoyed The Hunger Games. I thought the device connecting nations to personality traits interesting, and then the integration of that into the major conflict built well on the theme emphasizing the importance of a well-rounded person.