Divergent

By: Veronica Roth

Narrated by: Emma Galvin

Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series - dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

©2011 Veronica Roth (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Though Galvin’s narration is concentrated on giving Tris the perfect voice, she never neglects the secondary characters. Poignant moments with Tris’s mother and Four, her leader and love, are subtly nuanced to let listeners hear the terror Tris often hides.... listeners will hold their breath waiting to see if she can survive the day." ( AudioFile)

this is my second time through this book. It is a very engaging story

The sensationalism of this story is kind of annoying at times, but it is also engaging.

Great series

this is a book that I have read in the past and wanted to listen to the audible version. Excellent job delivering a beloved story and taking me back to it. Veronica does a great job with this series I read thisbbecause it was recommended to me by my nieces and fell in love with the characters going into the next one but this time I will listen to Four before moving into the next chapter

Empowering protagonist

Tris is brave, cunning, bold, and sincere. This book provides a compelling narrative and dynamic characterization of a powerful female protagonist that any adventurous person can relate to.

I wanted more of the unexpected and special.

STORY BRIEF:
Dystopian society set in Chicago, Illinois, in the future. Most roads have holes and need repair. Very few have cars. Most travel by bus. The Dauntless are the only ones who travel by train because they are willing to jump on and off while it’s moving. Society is divided into five groups. At age 16 every teen must choose a group to join. If they choose a different group from their parents, they will no longer live with their parents and rarely see them. The groups are personality types. Erudite are brainy. They research and teach. Dauntless are brave and learn to fight and shoot. Abnegation are self sacrificing and work in government. Tris’ parents are Abnegation. She chose Dauntless. Most of this book is her experience at Dauntless. The new recruits sleep in one large room with many beds. She must compete against other recruits in contests. At the end of training the weakest performers will be kicked out of Dauntless.

Four and Eric oversee the training for recruits. Eric is a sadist. He enjoys putting recruits in danger where they could die. He requires Tris to fight a big boy who beats her bad. Some recruits try to kill each other to eliminate the competition. The leaders don’t seem to care about recruits getting killed and don’t investigate. The recruits can’t look to anyone for help.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
I loved Hunger Games and was hoping this would be as much fun. But it wasn’t. It was ok, but I was not excited to keep reading. Four times a drug is given to Tris causing her to experience frightening dreams about fears. Dreams can be ok, but in this book I saw them as a weakness. The dreams were “the easy way” to provide conflict. The author doesn’t have to develop characters, motivations, actions, and solutions surrounding the dream conflicts. Just have a dream, wake up, and it’s over. Weird things don’t need to be explained.

CAUTION SPOILER: Outside of the dreams, twice some bad guys outnumber Tris and try to hurt her. She survives when someone else saves her, which wasn’t as good as saving herself. END SPOILER.

The result of the bad guys and the dreams give a helpless victim feel to Tris, rather than a character taking action. Her main skill was her brain’s ability during a dream. The heroine in Hunger Games was placed in bad situations and used her skills, smarts, and other character traits to out think, survive, and win. Tris wasn’t doing that, although in fairness, twice she came up with a good idea. The book ends with a success for Tris, but bad things have begun and will be continued in the sequel.

The major crisis at the end was too contrived for me. The bad guy in charge wanted to kill two good guys and should have shot them. Instead the bad guy put them in situations where they could be rescued. Also what happened with the computer was too convenient for me.

Overall, the characters were predictable and formulaic which can be ok. You can have a good story with stereotypes. But it might have been good to see more development around the bad guys and their motivations. There is the beginning of a teen romance, to be continued in the sequel. There is unsettling sadism and cruelty.

NARRATOR:
The narrator Emma Galvin was excellent. She has a pleasing voice and style of speaking. I would enjoy hearing her do other books.

Genre: young adult dystopia romance.

Not really worth it

Any additional comments?

Seemed like an interesting premise at first, and I always like my dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction. Not this time. Started out interesting, then it seemed like the author was running out of steam about 2/3 through the book, and so was I. There seemed to be a lot of action, it was very fast-paced, but not a whole lot of substance. More like an adolescent stream of consciousness. I wasn't even interested enough to finish it, having listened most of the way through it.
I also very quickly got tired of the one-dimensional characters, and all the abnegation nonsense. Actually, none of it made much sense. This book is nothing like The Hunger Games, even if it's trying very hard to be. It is much, much worse.

Having said that, I thought the performance was excellent, the narrator kept it more interesting than it would have been otherwise.

16 years old

If you are a 16 year old girl you will love this book. I'm not, so I thought all of the character's ideas of what love should be like were silly.

Right up there with Hunger Games!!!!!

Divergent is int the same class as Collins Hunger Games...it is almost as action packed and has a very similar feel. It captured me quickly--I was wary when I spent my last credit--wondering if this author was trying to ride the wave of success that Suzanne Collins enjoyed...but not so...this book is remarkable even without the obvious comparison. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys this genre.

Tribute to rugged individualism!

There are over 50 teen and young adult novels in my Audible library as I share my second childhood with my grandchildren's first. I listen to what they read. I'll be 73 years old in a few weeks, but I really like the YA genre. In the case of Divergent, my 11 year old granddaughter is reading it. Somehow such books as Divergent and Hunger Games seem too old for her, but her parents make that decision.

Post-apocalyptic teen/YA novels like Divergent and Hunger Games are not very different from adult post-apocalyptic novels in that human society is struggling to recover and that recovery is highly dependent upon the actions of a few brave individuals who choose or are chosen to lead. Like Katniss in the Hunger Games trilogy, Tris in the Divergence trilogy is a teen girl of unusual determination,fortitude and bravery who is selected by circumstances to lead. Tris is a divergent who does not neatly fit into any of the five factions; indeed, she has characteristics of all five factions, as do we all. She is a person, an individual, who refuses to be recognized as anything or anyone other than herself. Tris lives in a dystopian time and place. She is not so much trying to turn the dystopia into utopia as attempting to change the situation into something that she can live in good conscience with.

The narration of this novel is superb.

I recommend Divergent to all who enjoy post-apocalyptic novels or who enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy.

Amazing

Would you consider the audio edition of Divergent to be better than the print version?

I did not read the print version but ism thoroughly enjoying the audio book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Divergent?

The first kiss after her fear simulation. It was hot

What about Emma Galvin’s performance did you like?

Her ability to add sarcasm and tone to the dialect. Very well,done

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

I recommend it but hang in there when you are starting it. It get less confusing the more read and then it gets kindavsexynand romantic, which I love

Non original storyline with passionate exposition

I was interested for a good whole in the premise and overall story, but that quickly faded away when our main character discovers a romantic interest. Every other chapter at least from that point forward is exposition about how their kisses and touch feel against each other. Its technically PG rated, I guess, but lost my interest in the rest of the story. I won't be continuing the series.