It's about a futuristic where a "solution to war" has been found--dividing up society into factions based on personality traits. Beatrice Prior, 16, was raised in the Abnegation faction, which focuses on the virtue of selflessness. Beatrice knows that she is not selfless enough to fit in her birth faction, but her aptitude test results are "inconclusive," which reveals something more frightening--Beatrice is Divergent, meaning that she does not fit into any one faction. Warned never to reveal her test results to anyone, Beatrice chooses to leave her parents and join Dauntless, a faction focused on bravery. But Beatrice, or "Tris" as she chooses to be called, soon finds that tensions are not only rising between the Erudite and Abnegation factions, but also between her young training instructor, "Four," and one of the Dauntless leaders. If a war begins between factions, which side will Tris take? And why is Divergence so hated by the factional leadership?

Divergent reminded me a little of The Hunger Games, but it is much less violent, although there are objectionable elements within it that would make me hesitate to recommend it to younger readers. The author, Veronica Roth, is a Christian--her faith does not appear explicitly in the book, but I think I can safely say that the book is written from a Christian worldview. In this respect also, it differs from The Hunger Games--by the end of the book, Tris comes to really respect her parents and repents of some of the ruthless things that she did during the course of the story. In Divergent, unlike in The Hunger Games, doing the right thing is always an option.
 
What you describe reminds me of the Tom Baker Doctor Who episode "The Face of Evil." The planet in that story had personality types sharply segregated.
 
Thanks for the plot synpopsis, Glen. That sounds really interesting! My library has it, so hopefully I'll get to read the book soon. :D
 
I read the book yesterday! :D It was great. I like the Hunger Games better, but would say that this book is significantly better from a Christian standpoint. ;) I appreciated the ethics in some of the character's actions, whereas the Hunger Games required much more discernment.

I really liked the book, and could hardly put it down until the last page. I can't wait for the sequel to come out!
 
I read the book yesterday! :D It was great. I like the Hunger Games better, but would say that this book is significantly better from a Christian standpoint. ;) I appreciated the ethics in some of the character's actions, whereas the Hunger Games required much more discernment.

I really liked the book, and could hardly put it down until the last page. I can't wait for the sequel to come out!

of course, the Hunger Games are really good, but these books have a deeper meaning, I think.
 
I'm reviving this thread since I have been reading the first book in the series, and I'm curious to see the film now.

I didn't know the author was a Christian. I'm only about halfway through book 1, so I can't be too conclusive right now about the ethics/viewpoint. I did feel slightly insulted at the Erudite use of defining the Abnegation as "arrogant" and "proselytizing tyrants", but maybe there's a reason for this usage. It just bothered me from the standpoint that Beatrice's family comes across as religious, and I was sincerely hoping the books didn't try to paint Christians as being arrogant, naive, idiots who try to force everyone else to believe what they do.
 
I've seen the Divergent movie trailer; still no strong opinion about the story, pro or con. The book author may be a Christian, but you know Hollywood. If they thought they could get away with it, they would make a movie which depicted Our Lord Himself directly ordering inquisitions and witch hunts, and they would call this a Biblical movie.
 
True enough, Copper. Hollywood can't really be trusted with anything labeled "Christian".

My thoughts so far (I'm almost 3/4 of the way through the book):
Is it necessary for the language? This is especially disconcerting if the author claims to be a Christian; God's name is taken in vain on about every page. I don't think He'd find her attempts at writing and including Him very glorifying at all. Other than that, I have no complaints yet. Just the taking of God's name in vain bugs me if the author claims to be a Christian. That waters down your witness, IMHO.
 
I saw the movie trailer, too. What is the story line? Is this like the hunger games where the young girl is going to have to overthrow the bad government?
 
I saw the movie trailer, too. What is the story line? Is this like the hunger games where the young girl is going to have to overthrow the bad government?

It's similar, but kinda different.

Here's a synopsis of the book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_(novel)

I'm about 3/4 of the way through Insurgent, and I have to say, I'm already disappointed. Roth, whether she's a Christian or not, seems to think it's okay to promote underage sex between two unmarried teens. This bothers me. At least with Katniss and Peeta, we KNOW they weren't actually having sex; Peeta was the source of comfort for Katniss in her nightmares.

I'll read the 3rd book, only because I'm invested in them and because I bought the trilogy, but I can't say I agree with Roth's viewpoint. I don't care if it's fiction or not; she's encouraging promiscuous behavior by saying, "look! the heroine and hero are in love and so it's perfectly okay because they love each other and they might die anyway." Puhlease. *sigh* I was hoping this book would follow some of the ethics of Hunger Games, but to be perfectly honest, Hunger Games was far better in quality AND ethics.
 
I saw the trailer too but I haven't read the books, I'll go watch the movie when it comes out and see what's it about. I don't think Ill read the books, so...
 
I checked out the Wiki article; it is quite extensive. I probably won't read the books or see the film unless you give me the thumbs-up, AK (or BK). It's tough to get my husband out of the house to go to the movies, so I don't like to take a chance on anything I am not real fired-up about seeing.

I am curious though: if your score on the test determines which family you join, how is she able to keep her score a secret? Someone must had administered the test and given her the score. So if this big bad government persecutes all Divergents, wouldn't they immediately eliminate the ones who score Divergents on their test?

In a way it seems like a cross between THG and The Matrix.
 
In response to your tests question, in the case of Beatrice/Tris, her test results were forged. In essence, she had an aptitude for 3 different factions (Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite), but her test instructor recorded her result as Abnegation to hide the fact that she was Divergent. She's the only one I know of (and can remember) whose test results were manually altered. I think in the case of most other Divergents, they were able to choose their faction(s) within the test simulations (simulations that judge which faction you have the most aptitude for). It's sad that I'm already to book 3, and I can't remember exactly how that goes. lol.

I may have been too quick to judge, as in the 3rd book, there are some hints that they haven't slept together; however, they continually walk that line, and, while I know people flirt with temptation all the time, eventually people succumb to that temptation. That's got me a little aggravated with Roth. That and all the instances of her characters taking God's name in vain. At least with THG, there's no God OR religion, so there's no mention of God either respectfully or disrespectfully.
 
Interesting. How many books are there? Are you on the last one? Let me know if you would recommend them.
 
Finished the last one. Didn't like the ending. But it does offer hope, which is more than I can say for the last book of the Hunger Games series.
 
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