Divergent by Veronica Roth

With the public's want of YA dystopias stories,  I expected Divergent to be extremely similar to the Hunger Games. Maybe I have just lost faith in YA fiction as they all seem to blur into each other after a certain genre gets popular. They have the same target audience yet I was surprised to see that they do have  things that set them apart. To be clear, I haven't read the entire series yet. I have only read the first book, but expect a review on the series as a whole soon.

The book is very straight-forward (everything happens in chronological order) and the language is easy to understand. While most of my friends found it confusing, I found it an easy yet emotional read. It was hard for me to get into the book, as I am use to the background of the story being explained up front. You really go into the story with nothing, I can only compare it to "being born," everything is foreign and you learn things as it becomes relevant. This was extremely refreshing to me.

Yet, the interaction between characters never really boosted my emotions to a fan girl level. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book and once I got into it, I didn't put it down. But the fighting seemed to come out of the blue (and felt a little predictable). The romance of the novel was adorable but they never really made it to an "OTP" level in my mind. Which was good at some level because I wasn't obsessing with my want of the two characters to be together and I got to see the characters as their own person but I wasn't rooting for them to stay together either.

Also, some of the killings didn't seem justified. I felt that Tris could have felt the same motivation and anger without so many deaths. It got to the point that some of the deaths felt boring and didn't bring out any emotions in me (and yes I am aware that is an unpopular opinion).

Divergent divided the people into factions, based on personality traits. This didn't seem very realistic to me as people are more than just a couple of adjectives. It may seem like I miss the point and I know that Roth tried to fix this by ultimately making it a choice for Tris and all the other teenagers, and I know that characters struggle to fit into the faction of their choosing, but I knew the rules of the game and I couldn't make myself believe it. It was more plausible to me in Harry Potter,where you went to the sorting hat. If you have read the book, think of this...wasn't anyone who switched factions divergent? As they were taking new personality traits?

I'm conflicted on this book because I enjoyed it as I read it, yet sometimes I couldn't help but face palm or roll my eyes at the events occurring. I did feel some suspense and excitement but not as much as I did with the big 3. Maybe I am getting old and my over analytically mind won't let me see the wonders-and only the wonders that others have seen in Divergent, but maybe as I read the series my opinion will change. It wasn't a horrible book, I would recommend if you have some time on your hands but I won't be shoving this book in your face any time soon.

What are your opinions on Divergent? Do you have any book recommendations focused on Dystopian societies?

Paper Towns by John Green

I know I am late on the John Green craze, in fact I haven't read more than 2 of his books so I felt it would be good to read some more of his books. Especially because I loved The Fault in Our Stars so much. I am obsessed with his YouTube channel and I find him to be very inspiring.

First of all, I need to point out that I was incredibly excited and pleased that John Green used Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman to supplement his book. Much of the analysis given were things that I had concluded when we studied him in my high school english class. Even though I agreed with what Quentine (the protagonist) thought of the poems, it felt as though Green was shoving that analysis down the readers throat. While I realize that it might be difficult to come to that conclusion if you haven't been exposed to Walt Whitman, it was a bit overpowering. 

Quentine, through his idolization and destruction of that idolization of his friend Margo, comes to an understanding of where he stands and would like to stand in life. At first I was afraid that Margo was going to transform herself in to a manic pixie dream girl, existing only for the male character to find his way to enlightenment. While many of the missions they plan for themselves are a little unrealistic, at least for me because I'm not that brave; Margo is an extremely independent, strong willed character. Easily someone to look up to. 

I loved the first half of the book. Strengthening old friendships, takings risks and pushing yourself to the limit. However, the second half disappointed me. Quentine a smart young man, basically obsesses over   a girl who ignored him for many years. It becomes a chase of cat and mouse. It was entertaining and well written, but I would have preferred that John Green not make Quentine so obsessive. It brings down the character that he tried so hard to build up. Character development is awesome, but the obsession that brought on that development is unhealthy and there was probably a different way to bring that on. But John Green is so good at what he does that it seems like Q was exactly the person he was meant to be. Many mixed feelings about that. 

The ending was a bit anti-climatic  for my taste, though I couldn't picture any other ending that would suit each character like this one did. I found myself jealous of Q's newfound friendships and I can only wish to find a group of friends who are willing to do random, road trips like they did. 

I would recommend this book as it was really good overall. I would give it a 7/10.  10/10s are reserved for Harry Potter :). Have you read Paper Towns? Tell me what you think of it below, I would love to have a conversation with you about it. During the next few days I will be reading Looking for Alaska (review coming soon), because school is starting  and I need to get my yearly binge reading session in.

Hope you guys are having a wonderful week,

Cielo