Another Book Review: Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Intriguing premise (the reduced population of the city of Chicago is separated into factions, each of which values one quality above all) and an engaging lead character (Tris Prior, raised in the selfless and charitable Abnegation faction but opting to leave her family behind to become Dauntless, who are all about strength and courage) and a reasonable solid story, but marred by carelessness and weak world-building.

Although the author lives in Chicago, according to her bio, she gets basic things about the city wrong: e.g., someone turns south toward the marsh that Lake Michigan has become. (FYI, there is nowhere in the Chicago area where the lake is south; the one thing Chicagoans always say in giving directions is "The lake is always east.") One wonders where the copy editor was on that one. In general, the geography is fuzzy, with a few major landmarks thrown in but the sense of their geographic relationship is unclear and sometimes plain inaccurate.

More critical to the story is that it isn't until near the end of the second book in the series (Insurgent) that there's any intimation of a world beyond downtown Chicago. No one ever mentions it, no one ever discusses or wonders about the past or the outside world; we the readers wonder about how the lake became a marsh and society broke down and whether the factions exist in other cities or just Chicago, and simply what do these people know/believe about the outside world and their history? This rings false to the characters and smacks of an inexperienced author withholding information for the sake of the plot. One wonders where the editor was on that one. I'm not sure overall that the author has even thought through the logistics of her closed society very thoroughly. For example, the Erudite faction builds and uses computer technology; but the raw materials for computers aren't mined in the Chicago area or in some cases in the U.S., so there must be some outside trade, but there's never any indication of it. Or the fact that everyone has all the clothes and shoes they need, but there's no indication where the materials come from or where they are made and by whom. There is cake mix in the Dauntless headquarters and the factionless eat canned food: but the food delivered from the Amity, who are the suppliers of food for everyone, appears to be only fresh produce. Too many things like this that aren't completely thought out make this feel like a first-draft manuscript rather than a finished book.

All that said, I found Tris, though mercurial, an engaging character and the idea of a society divided this way a fascinating idea. The plot (despite certain convenient events) drew me along enough that I wanted to read the second book. (Which I did.)



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