Book Report: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Let’s take a moment to talk about choices and what’s “best for us” shall we? Throughout life, we are constantly making choices. Some of them are small. Should I wear a red shirt or a blue shirt today? That’s a choice that won’t affect you much unless you’re an extra on Star Trek. Some of them are big. Do I go to school to study medicine or clowning? That one can affect the course of your life, after all one is a respected career full of late nights, studying, and learning various ethical ways to conduct yourself, and the other is medicine. 

Choices seem to be at the heart of Divergent, a series of novels by Veronica Roth. Yes, I know I’m late to the Divergent game and we’re all the way up to book three, but keep in mind these are books, can be picked up at any time, and I did what a lot of people do: wait until they announce a movie then read it before that comes out so I can nitpick the differences. The movie comes out today, mind you, starring hot female protagonist and chiseled reminder that I need to hit the gym later today. 

For those of you who don’t know or like me wanted to wait until the movie comes out, Divergent is set in dystopian Chicago that is divided up into five factions: Abnegation, for selfless people who seem to have no sense of humor; Amity, for the peaceful people; Candor, those jerks who are always telling the truth; Dauntless, for the brave/stupid/thrill seekers (also the protectors); and Erudite, the smart people who design just about everything that everyone uses. 

Sixteen year olds are given a test to determine which one of the factions they should be put in to. Our hero, Beatrice (who goes by Tris, which is actually kind of cool) Prior finds out that she’s Divergent, meaning that she could fit into one of three factions. This is also a big no-no, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear at the start but become increasingly clear later on. But it’s bad, and we know this because the few people that know she’s Divergent work to help her hide her Divergent-ness, (Divergence?) and Tris is constantly telling us that it’s bad.

Eventually, she decides to join the jocks... er, Dauntless group and become brave. The book switches gears and focuses mostly on her training, her interaction with her friends, and her increasing attraction to “Four”, the chiseled male love interest that comes standard in these books, but actually has an interesting back story. (Because “bravery” is important with everyone at Dauntless, they note the number of fears using a serum. Four is nicknamed “Four” because he’s officially only afraid of four things, the lowest ever. His fears are an interesting part of the book, I have to say.)

Tris goes through her training hiding her Divergent-ness, but of course people begin to suspect something, and eventually she uncovers a conspiracy that goes to the heart of all of Chicago.

I may be glib when giving my recap of the book, but I really did enjoy this book. I have to admit, the style in which it’s written takes a little getting used to. Rather than exploring a lot of concepts of an interesting world... just how cut off is Chicago? Do they still have Deep Dish Pizza? Whatever happen to the Cubs? Why is there a Choosing Day? Veronica Roth just sort of jumps right into the story, right to Tris taking her tests and realizing that something was off. But this works to the advantage of the story ultimately, rather than spending a lot of time with exposition, it’s sprinkled into the plot delicately, like toppings on a deep dish pizza.

Look, Veronica Roth, if you set a book in dystopian Chicago, you have to tell us what happened to it’s best export.

Once you can get past the point that you’ll actually have to work for information rather than having it handed to you like a delicious slice of deep dish pizza, it becomes an interesting read, one that really builds on a world that seems established. You may not understand Choosing Day or why being Divergent is so bad at first, but eventually all the pieces fall into place. 

What I really enjoyed about the book is the message of choice. Not just the big Choosing Day where Tris chooses the faction we’re going to care about and a few others that don’t matter because our protagonist won’t go there. Tris is faced with a choice early on, and one of the things that is underplayed is the fact that it’s a choice that not many people have to make. “Hey, you have an aptitude for honesty... you’re going to Candor!” is pretty much the end all/be all of it. Tris is not only told that basically she has a defect, according to her culture, but she also has to make a decision based on it, or end up as an outcast, “Factionless.” Veronica Roth also did a smart job of displaying just what being factionless meant in the early chapters, so you can really feel the weight of what Tris is going through.

In addition, Tris ends up choosing Dauntless, which isn’t the easiest faction to work within. It requires bravery, a hard training schedule, and some serious competition. There’s a chance she could be cut from Dauntless, so even when making a choice here, she takes one that’s less safe, one that could cause her to face one of her fears. (and ends up facing it anyway... hello, hunky Four.) And when I say competition... this is a violent book. Not quite Hunger Games level of violence as they’re not actively hunting each other, but there are a few characters who seem like they wish they were in the Hunger Games. 

It’s dystopian, it’s teenagers... there are going to be comparisons to Hunger Games. It’s just what happens. I was going to make a Sorting Hat joke from Harry Potter earlier, but I couldn’t get it to work. 

But I liked the message of not always choosing what’s comfortable, and sticking with the choice. Once Tris is in Dauntless, she works to be the best she can, never taking the easy way out. And as she gets deeper into discovering the Dystopian Government mandated conspiracy to take down the system, she doesn’t back down despite the fact that she’s Divergent, an outlier, and could easily be removed from the system with little or no complaints from the society that just accepts that they should all pick a faction based on one test and leave it there. It’s an interesting concept.

I really enjoyed this book. I’m already well into the second, and I’m ready to hit up the third as soon as I can. See. There’s an advantage to getting into a book series late. Not like Mortal Instruments where I have to wait until May for the last book. It’s sooooooo long. 

I would recommend you pick it up and give it a read. Just make sure you don’t give up on the first few chapters, just get into the fact that you won’t be spoon fed everything right away, and you’ll have to figure some of it out. It’s like a nice deep dish pizza, you have to really get deep into it to get the good stuff.

Banned Books Week: Don't be a Jerk

So, here we are at the end of Banned Books Week. It’s almost time to take down the Banned Books tree, put aside the Banned Book presents, and... I may be thinking of another holiday. 

At the start of Banned Books Week, the American Library Association usually has their list of activities and “what you can do” lists. I like to save mine for the end of the week. The week itself is about awareness, but banning books is a problem for 52 weeks out of the year, not just this one. People publish articles, blogs, whatever for this week reminding people about the problem of banned books. But it has to go deeper than that. So, what can YOU do about banned books?

-The obvious, of course, is not to ban books. Look, I throw this in here, and we all have a hearty laugh (ha!) at the idea that step one is not to ban any books. But that’s easier said than done, sometimes. If something offends you, discuss it. If you don’t like something, talk about it. And if you really, really, hate something don’t ruin it for everyone. We’re all different. Some people like Star Trek: The Next Generation, others like Deep Space Nine. Same with books and values. 

I’ll give you an example: if I were to ban any book today, it’d be Twilight. It has nothing to do with the fact that it’s poorly written. I personally think it’s a dangerous book for young girls to read. The protagonist is a girl who’s special, “just ‘cause” and then proceeds to define herself by her boyfriend, at one point almost killing herself to see images of him after he leaves her. Don’t get me started on the power imbalance between the two. Despite the fact that he’s an immortal, chaste vampire (creepy that a 146 year old man loves a 17 year old girl... I digress) and she’s a normal girl and they get engaged, he won’t turn her into his equal. It’s not until the last minute (after the first time they have sex... after they’re married and even then there are issues) that he finally turns her into his equal. It’s a classic story of an abusive relationship, but extremely romanticized. I just don’t like it. Should it be banned? Nope. I’d hope that anyone in my family that read it would have the values I instill in them to recognize that it’s fiction, that there are issues with it, and if they meet an 146 year old man that finds them cute they’d come talk to me first. But because I didn’t like it, and I have these problems with it doesn’t mean that others shouldn’t read it.

-Read. Read. Read. Read. Read any book you can get your hands on, especially the banned ones. These are the ones that need the most love. Also, reading is fun, as you get to create new worlds in your head. Sure, watching Game of Thrones is fun. But wasn’t it MORE fun when you got to imagine what the Throne looked like in your head? 

Hey, did you notice that I was able to go into detail as to why I didn’t enjoy Twilight? Could it be because I READ THE BOOK? I just didn’t enjoy it. But I read enough of it to be properly informed, and not just throw out vaguries like “unsuited for age group” or “this book is pornography.” I didn’t like the book and was able to make a coherent argument why. Disagree with me. Love me. It doesn’t really matter.

-Encourage others to read. This was actually a good year for me in sharing books. I got someone on the Matched Series, they got me on Mortal Instruments. I got someone else to read The Fault in Our Stars and Thirteen Reasons Why. I was able to burn through about 30 books so far this year. (I don’t always talk about it. Sometimes I have nothing to say. Sometimes I end up with The Twelve, which essentially renders the  last book in the series moot, and actually has a whole section where you learn about the two ancestors of a character that are unrelated to a plot and... it was just... it was just so horrible. Don’t make me relive it, people.) 

But encouraging others to read is important, especially in this day and age. It’s never been easier to get a book. Literally. I’m willing to bet that you’re either reading this on a device that can download a book in seconds, or there’s some device in arms reach that will allow you to do it. So read a book. Look for suggestions. Read anything you want. Don’t be tied down to labels. 

-Lastly, don’t be a jerk. This sort of ties into the whole “don’t ban a book” I mentioned up top, but seriously, calm down. Understand that we live in a country that’s designed to protect everyone’s rights to read, enjoy, worship the way they want, so long as they don’t physically hurt anyone. That means that not everyone is going to share your values. Not everyone will think they way that you do. If they did, it might get old, fast. You need to calm down, understand that it’s a big bright beautiful world, and we’re all going to be different. 

Rather than trouncing quickly on someone else’s point of view, ideas, or way of life, read. Learn. You don’t have to like it, but at least you can talk about it intelligently. At least you can discuss it in a way that doesn’t make you look like a raving lunatic. Also, it opens the doors of discussion, and lets people know that you’re someone you can talk to. It’s just that simple.

We’ll still talk about banned books, mostly as the situations arise. Toni Morrison is under attack by a lot of “concerned parents” lately, almost as if the effort was coordinated somehow. (I’m not often prone to conspiracy theories. I just calls’em like I sees’em.) But I certainly hope you enjoyed this week with me as I discussed a topic that I think is too important.

It’s 2013. The words “Banned Books” shouldn’t exist in America. Let’s work on that.

Book vs. Film... But What if the Book is Really, Really Special To You?

Recently I heard all about how Spiderman taunter/John Carter alien helper Willem Dafoe had been cast as Peter Van Houten in the film version of The Fault in Our Stars. (Henceforth known as TFiOS, because that’s how the cool kids shorten it, and it’s a long thing to type.) My first reaction was: “Cool, because he’s probably the embodiment of that character in the book.” My second reaction was: “Wait, they’re making a TFiOS movie?” (Also, at that point I called it The Fault in Our Stars because I didn’t know about the cool shortening acronym yet.)

For those of you who don’t know what TFiOS is about, beyond the fact that the title comes from the great line from Julius Caesar, “The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, for we are underlings.” TFiOS has nothing to do with that. It has to do with John Green’s 2012 young adult novel that’s probably one of the best pieces of literature that I’ve ever read in my entire life. It’s about a young girl name Hazel who meets a boy named Augustus in a cancer survivor group. (Oh. She has cancer. Was that important? That’s probably important.) They grow closer, eventually traveling to Amsterdam to meet Peter Van Houten, the writer of An Imperial Affliction, the reclusive writer of a book that Hazel is obsessed with. (The reasons are pretty clear in the book.) Not going to go much further, because you should go in knowing just about that before you read the whole book, which again, it one of my favorite books.

Here’s the part where I’m going to get on my soapbox for second: people want this book banned because of the adult themes and a few scattered profanities that teenagers will never hear except for books and movies. I’d take these concerns more seriously if not for the other casting scoop that the members of Augustus and Hazel’s cancer group is being played by real teenage cancer survivors. I’m dropping the mic on this one, finishing the post, and telling everyone they should read this book.

A bit with my history of TFiOS... I was taking a class from an extremely excellent professor who is now my academic advisor so I’m going to keep putting “extremely excellent” in front of references to him for a bit. (Also: He was extremely excellent.) It was a class in how to teach young adult literature, and we were asked to pick our own books for a project, so I picked this one based on the fact that it was the first review that I’d just read on the A.V. Club website that was for a young adult novel that they actually seemed to like (they don’t like a lot of stuff) and that it was new and readily available for me to get. Then I sat down to read it at my school’s library. Somehow, three hours passed by, I was finishing the book and sobbing like Leonardo Dicaprio on Oscar Night. (The ending is sad. I’m not spoiling anything by saying this once you read the words “teenagers” and “cancer.”)

Now, ever since I took a graduate level Shakespeare class, I read slow, because I was taught close reading and making connections that I didn’t make before. Yet when I read this one, I had to... devour it. I had to get the information in my brain as quickly as possible for fear that I’d lose something in the process. So I sat down and read the entire thing in one, glorious three our sitting. I loved it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

The big question that we are going to use to wrap up Casting Call Week here at Bad Shakespeare is the question of whether or not a TFiOS should be made, and what it means to see our art moved to the big screen.

I’ve talked already about how I went to see the wonderfully wonderful Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (twice) this past summer and while it was 3 a.m. I did quite enjoy my first taste of the Life of Pi.  I also saw Beautiful Creatures (which was a little less wonderfully wonderful), and I’m quite looking forward to Ender’s Game, the Book Thief, and Romeo and Juliet. (Which is based on a play.. but meh, this is my blog I get to make the rules. I can even make up my own words. Smooglybard. What are you going to do about it?)

I’m not sure how I feel about a TFiOS movie, because selfishly... it’s my book. Yes, John Green wrote it, and he didn’t write it for me, and the fact it spent so much time on best sellers list meant that other people read it. But I had just a strong emotional connection to the book. I connected to it on so many different levels it’s hard to explain. I grew to really care about those characters during my three hours with them the first time. I’m afraid that seeing a movie, seeing someone else’s interpretation of the material is going to affect me in some way. It’s a strange fear to have, really, but that’s what happens when you fall so perfectly in love with a book. And that’s what I did there.

Something similar, of course happened with one of my first loves, Empire Falls. I remember they made a movie out of it, cast pretty much people I didn’t think would be good for the part (and for the most part they worked out) but it didn’t capture the “gee wilikers” or smooglybardness that caused me to fall in love with the book to begin with. It didn’t affect my feeling for the book, but it made me a little saddened about the movie. Plus, now I can’t read the book without seeing Helen Hunt’s face. (Although they got one piece of casting so brilliantly perfect with Philip Seymour Hoffman.) 

Even with Mortal Instruments, (the movie was better than people are saying. You need to see it so we can get part two made) I didn’t have as much invested with the characters. Oh, I cared (and still do, since I’m not done with the series yet) about the Jace, his (spoiler: not sister) Clary, whiny Vampire Simon, and hot Isabelle... but I wasn’t as invested in the characters as I was with Augustus and Hazel. Mortal Instruments practically screams, “movie time!” which isn’t bad, that’s an asset. It’s a supernatural action movie: Let’s see the action. Let’s see the demons. TFiOS doesn’t have as much of that.

In any event, that’s just a thought of one fan. I’ll go see the movie (tissues in hand, and without my usual movie buddy, as we learned we can’t see sad movies together after the Toy Story 3 Incident) and I’ll probably read the book again before the movie. And hopefully, Willem Dafoe will leave the Green Goblin mask at home. You know, unless he wants to add a little levity to the proceedings. 

      PS - I found out this movie was being made via the casting of Willem Dafoe, so I centered most of my post around that. I should point out that Divergent diverger and ex-Mary Jane Watson Shailene Woodley is Hazel and some guy I've never heard of is Augustus. I think she'll do well, see my previous note about not knowing who that one guy is.

Book vs. Film part 2: Mortal Instruments

Earlier this summer, I discussed book vs. film in a rousing post that dissected all the ways that World War Z the movie intersected with World War Z the book, and came to the conclusion that the movie managed to keep all of the excitement and promise of the title, then stripped away all of the things like the “plot” and “characters” and “point of” . But I argued that they could be enjoyed as separate entities, with the movie being one thing, and the book being something entirely different, both enjoyable. And indeed, I enjoyed them.

Recently, an awesome friend of mine awesomely got me involved in the Young Adult series, Mortal Instruments. I always had a passing interest in reading this book, but I always seemed to get involved with something else at the time. Then my friend said basically, “read it now” so I did. Also the movie was coming out, and I’d never read a book so close to a movie before, and I wanted to experience it. Normally by the time the movie comes out, you forget about the book, or at least those little things, like for instance changing it so instead of being a Romero-style slow moving zombie invasion that is told through multiple perspectives, it becomes a Brad Pitt saving the world summer action movie vehicle. So I read the book. And I loved it.

The plot: a young girl named Clary learns that her mother was a demon hunter, and as a result she’s a demon hunter, so she can see the secret world underneath our world. She teams up with Jace Wayland and Alec and Isabelle Lightwood to find the Mortal Cup and prevent this one really evil dude from finding it first. 

Quick note: there’s a twist at the end of the first book that makes a lot of the promo art for this movie extremely disturbing. Thankfully, just keep reading.

Anyway, so how did Mortal Instruments the movie stack up against Mortal Instruments the book? Very well. They keep all of the major beats from the book, cut some of the fat out (like any good adaptation should) and moves along some of the plot points that are present in later books. (like ruining the icky-twist, and one rather cheesy moment where one of the main characters, Simon, suddenly doesn’t need to use his glasses and has two tiny bite marks after his trip to a Vampire Hotel. Seriously?)

I enjoyed both, but that does complicate things. I already made the argument for both WWZ’s that they should be enjoyed on on their own, but here I am enjoying one movie because the book was explored so well. Am I negating my own argument? Should you just stop reading this blog now and pick it up again when I go back to discussing Breaking Bad?

No. You’re jumping to conclusions. But I’m proud of this week’s Breaking Bad Shakespeare Friday. Shameless Plug!

MI the Book was a great read. It got deeper into the story of Angels, Demon Hunters, Vampires, and one particularly fun moment that would have been cheesy had it been on the screen. I enjoyed the way the movie took these elements and condensed them down into a deeper moment. It did something rare, it managed to condense the book into a two hour form, something that too many writers today didn’t get. Either they change everything completely, or break it up to try to fit in every last plot point (and get your money. You pay for two tickets for this one book adaptation!) 

But again, it’s something that should be enjoyed on it’s own. It’s something that should be explored on it’s own. Overall the book is fantastic, and so is the movie. It’s great seeing these characters in your imagination on the screen, again, condensed down. I loved the way this was done... but again explored on their own as different things. But this movie is shows what an adaptation of a book should be.