The premise for the book is that Chicago is fenced in from the outer world and the citizens are divided into five social groups: Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). The year this story takes place is unknown. The community is governed by the Abnegation, since they reject individual goals. However, there seems to be opposition from the Dauntless and Erudite factions brewing. Once a person reaches sixteen years old, they must be tested to find out what group they will join. Our heroine, Beatrice, is a member of the Abnegation faction but chooses the Dauntless at the ceremony, even though she tested positive for Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless. She is a Divergent. This is a problem, since divergents are considered rebels. This must be kept a secret. Her brother, Caleb, chooses the Erudite. Beatrice, now known as Tris, finds the initiations at Dauntless arduous. There are fist fights, knife throwing, and frightening mental simulations (they make a person face their fears). Her trainer is Four (Tobias), and her leader is Eric, who is in cahoots with Jeanine, the leader of the Erudite. What are the two leaders scheming? Since Tris and Four are divergents, (none of the leaders know this) they can manipulate the mind blowing simulations to their benefit. What happens during and after the initiations are the crux of the novel. This is where I thought the novel would get exciting, but in my opinion it became somewhat predictable and humdrum. But knowing Hollywood, I’m sure the opposite will occur. This might be one of those rare instances when the movie is better than the book.
The dystopian YA novels are on a good run, and I don’t see that pattern changing in the near future. I prefer the classic human misery novels, such as, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine (1895), or George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945). In all fairness to what I said about Veronica Roth’s lack of conveying empathy and caring to the characters, she did a good job with hate. This reviewer did work up a good hate for Tris’s adversaries, Peter, Molly and Drew. All in all, I do recommend that you read this novel in order to keep in touch with the young adult (YA) market.
RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Comment: As I hinted previously, dystopian novels have been written for a long time. Believe it, or not, the first novel of this ilk was Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver's Travels (1726). Lets talk about three of my favorites:
Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley - The novel takes place in the year 632AF(After Ford, yes Henry Ford). Most of society is unified under the World State. Children are created and reared in hatcheries in a five caste system. The following is a excerpt of the novel, courtesy of Sparknotes, “The novel opens in the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Centre, where the Director of the Hatchery and one of his assistants, Henry Foster, are giving a tour to a group of boys. The boys learn about the Bokanovsky and Podsnap Processes that allow the Hatchery to produce thousands of nearly identical human embryos. During the gestation period the embryos travel in bottles along a conveyor belt through a factory like building, and are conditioned to belong to one of five castes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, or Epsilon. The Alpha embryos are destined to become the leaders and thinkers of the World State. Each of the succeeding castes is conditioned to be slightly less physically and intellectually impressive. The Epsilons, stunted and stupefied by oxygen deprivation and chemical treatments, are destined to perform menial labor. Lenina Crowne, an employee at the factory, describes to the boys how she vaccinates embryos destined for tropical climates.”
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell - Great Britain is now the Oceanian Province of Airstrip One controlled by Big Brother. Welcome to the world of constant war, mind control, and continual government surveillance. The following is a excerpt of the novel, courtesy of Sparknotes, “Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party in London, in the nation of Oceania. Everywhere Winston goes, even his own home, the Party watches him through telescreens; everywhere he looks he sees the face of the Party’s seemingly omniscient leader, a figure known only as Big Brother. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even the people’s history and language. Currently, the Party is forcing the implementation of an invented language called Newspeak, which attempts to prevent political rebellion by eliminating all words related to it. Even thinking rebellious thoughts is illegal. Such thoughtcrime is, in fact, the worst of all crimes.”
Atlas Shrugged (1957) by Ayn Rand - This is one of my all time favorite novels. John Galt leads the U.S.A.’s wealthiest citizens in a revolt against the government’s high taxes, regulations, and interference of big business by withdrawing the important business men to an unknown location. The title of the novel asks, what would happen if Atlas decided not to hold up the world on his shoulders, but in Greek Mythology, Atlas is holding up the sky. The following is a excerpt of the novel, courtesy of Sparknotes, “In an environment of worsening economic conditions, Dagny Taggart, vice president in charge of operations, works to repair Taggart Transcontinental’s crumbling Rio Norte Line to service Colorado, the last booming industrial area in the country. Her efforts are hampered by the fact that many of the country’s most talented entrepreneurs are retiring and disappearing. The railroad’s crisis worsens when the Mexican government nationalizes Taggart’s San Sebastian Line. The line had been built to service Francisco d’Anconia’s copper mills, but the mills turn out to be worthless. Francisco had been a successful industrialist, and Dagny’s lover, but has become a worthless playboy. To solve the railroad’s financial problems, Dagny’s brother Jim uses political influence to pass legislation that destroys Taggart’s only competition in Colorado. Dagny must fix the Rio Norte Line immediately and plans to use Rearden Metal, a new alloy created by Hank Rearden. When confronted about the San Sebastian mines, Francisco tells Dagny he is deliberately destroying d’Anconia Copper. Later he appears at Rearden’s anniversary party and, meeting him for the first time, urges Rearden to reject the freeloaders who live off of him."
One of Ayn’s famous one liners is : “The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.”
What broken pieces are you talking about?
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