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A review by aeb3
Divergent by Veronica Roth
4.0
(3.5 stars)
I was looking for a faced-paced, entertaining read a la Twilight and Hunger Games. In this respect, Divergent did not disappoint. Laced with social commentary, the armchair-travel of physical risk-taking was pretty enjoyable.
However.
I found the presuppositions about human nature (that the vast majority of humans/Americans demonstrate an incredibly lopsized dominance of one specific personality trait) difficult to accept. It's a great technique for creating identification with the main character, but became problematic when major plot elements relied on this assumption.
If the population was other than human, the author could have given them these disparate dominant qualities freely. But since they were human (and American in particular), the suspension of disbelief took more effort than was necessary in either Twilight or Hunger Games.
I also could have done without the knee-jerk change from adventure-laced-with-romantic-interest to several chapters of romantic-interest-focus. My preference is for these elements to be more smoothly woven together (as they finally seemed to be toward the end).
An entertaining (and clean) read, with a few missteps. 3.5 stars.
I was looking for a faced-paced, entertaining read a la Twilight and Hunger Games. In this respect, Divergent did not disappoint. Laced with social commentary, the armchair-travel of physical risk-taking was pretty enjoyable.
However.
I found the presuppositions about human nature (that the vast majority of humans/Americans demonstrate an incredibly lopsized dominance of one specific personality trait) difficult to accept. It's a great technique for creating identification with the main character, but became problematic when major plot elements relied on this assumption.
If the population was other than human, the author could have given them these disparate dominant qualities freely. But since they were human (and American in particular), the suspension of disbelief took more effort than was necessary in either Twilight or Hunger Games.
I also could have done without the knee-jerk change from adventure-laced-with-romantic-interest to several chapters of romantic-interest-focus. My preference is for these elements to be more smoothly woven together (as they finally seemed to be toward the end).
An entertaining (and clean) read, with a few missteps. 3.5 stars.