Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Come on. What are you afraid of?

It’s incredible, the moment when you’re halfway through a book and realize that you’re going to fall in love with it. It is the kind of book that makes you breathless when you’re reading it and in the end, all you want to do is just to hug the book and congratulate the author. I have the pleasure to tell you that Divergent is one of these books.

I came to Divergent with super high expectation and I’m really glad that I was not even slightly disappointed. The pacing! The worldbuilding! The characters! The well-written plots! Divergent is practically dripping with awesomeness.

Tris is a character I absolutely adore. She’s strong, smart, and brave beyond words. She’s amazing. I was so protective over Tris, and it enraged me that people around her underestimates her just because she couldn’t kick or throw punches well. You can’t judge a person simply by their brute strength.

The chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy.

Oh, I want a bracelet with these words engraved! Never had I read a quote that speaks my mind most cleverly. There is such fragile, thin line that separates courage and simply suicide act. Divergent makes me think about the description of bravery and strength. In the end, I conclude that a strong person is someone who can control their strength, and uses it to protect innocent people around them. Someone who knows border between fearlessness and arrogance.

Divergent is harsh. There are so many moments when Tris and Four have to show the ruthless side of them. I like it that both characters are not perfect and their flaws make them even more real. If Divergent is ever turned into a movie, I’m wondering what the rating would be. There are too many contents that won’t be suitable for younger teenager. For example, the whole Dauntless initiation. I can see that Dauntless initiation has good aim but the implementation is horrible. There is great possibility of death in the initiation and in one way, it’s like the forest law when the weak one is eliminated from the picture because they can’t survive the fight and the killing.

I think what Veronica Ross did in this book is very brave. She makes me questioned many things after reading this book. Virtue, selflessness, bravery… everything seems blurry and gray suddenly. I keep feeling that there is such a thin line between brutality and what you have to do. Everyone has their own reasons for their doing. Each person protects on what they believe most, and I just wish that some people in this book can see things from different perspectives.

Divergent is an amazing read and I’m completely in love with the world in this book. This book is highly recommended, especially to fans of Dystopian genre. I think I might get myself three copies of this book: one to reread over and over, one for display in my bookshelf, and the last to lend to my friends so I can spread the wonderfulness of Divergent.

As we walk toward the Pit, I repeat the line Will quoted to myself so I don’t forget it.

I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. 

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I rate this book:

Five cups of tea. Genius. Beautiful, haunting, and lively characters. Reading this is an overwhelming experience. Must read at least once in a lifetime!