Divergent is set in a future where society is divided into factions based on character traits or virtues - a Belbin test taken to the extreme. The groups are Erudite (interested in accumulating knowledge); Candor (those that tell it as it is); Amity (peace loving): Abnegation (selfless) and Dauntless (adrenaline junkies). In a Belbin test, the answer is that elements of all the different traits are ideal but being a "Divergent" in the novel is to be an outsider and dangerous.
The book is a page turner and a quick read but quite why society is divided up into these groups is never fully realised and its clear that this system is not one that could ever be sustainable - they all dislike and mistrust each other and there seems to be no production or manufacturing.
When Beatrice chooses Dauntless over her family's Abnegation, the story takes us into an in depth initiation into the Dauntless faction. This takes up most of the book and does feel similar to the Hunger Games in pitting fellow teens against each other to see who succeeds the trials.
The grander scheme of domination and betrayal only comes in to play towards the end and as this is the first of a trilogy, I thought that this would continue into the other novels. There was plenty of potential for cliff hanger endings, but everything was tied up at the end and the day was saved, albeit with a fair bit of tragedy.
Right from the opening shots of a devastated Chicago and its large protective wall, it was clear that the film makers were going to give a clearer realisation to the novel than the author. There was thought to how this society worked at the basic level, from the creation of electricity (turbines on all the skyscrapers), to the vast fields of crops producing food to feed the inhabitants. The story was little altered but because of these touches, I would choose the film over the book.
Some of the more extreme violence has been removed such as the eye stabbing (presumably for the certificate) and the Pit is more of a concrete skateboarding park than the dangerous jagged rocks and waterfalls described in the book.
The confrontation with Jeanine in the final act was different and came across as a last minute idea that didn't logically work - wouldn't she have come under the same control orders as all the Dauntless?
It will be interesting to see where the next instalment takes us, but its already been announced that, like all trilogies recently, the final part will be split into two films. Will any cinema goer stay the distance?
Some of the more extreme violence has been removed such as the eye stabbing (presumably for the certificate) and the Pit is more of a concrete skateboarding park than the dangerous jagged rocks and waterfalls described in the book.
The confrontation with Jeanine in the final act was different and came across as a last minute idea that didn't logically work - wouldn't she have come under the same control orders as all the Dauntless?
It will be interesting to see where the next instalment takes us, but its already been announced that, like all trilogies recently, the final part will be split into two films. Will any cinema goer stay the distance?
If you enjoyed the book, try Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thomson, where the UK has divided its society according to the medieval humors - cholic, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic - or Aldous Huxley's genre defining Brave New World, where status is decided before birth.
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