47: Divergent

Divergent
Veronica Roth
4.5 stars

This is a YA book that I've heard a lot of hype about, but hadn't gotten around to reading. A friend in the ward so highly praised it that I finally went and placed a hold on it at the library. My number came up a lot sooner than expected and I picked it up and read it in about 2 days. It's not a short book, but it is a quick read.

Divergent belongs in the category of dystopian fiction-- the world, or perhaps only the U.S., or perhaps only Chicago, IL, has presumably been through some sort of catastrophe or breaking of society as we now know it. I say this because the setting is a future Chicago and references are made to Chicago landmarks, but there's isn't mention of anywhere else or whether the same social structure exists elsewhere.

This is one of the only issues I had with the book, but it's a fairly prominent issue and one that keep the book from being, for me, fantastic. I think books in this category need to have a solid foundation. For one, I want to know more of the why and how and when and, in this case, the what, that caused the societal breakdown and eventual rebuilding. Here, there is literally nothing. Perhaps these details are addressed in the other books, but if that is so I would have liked Roth to at least hint of that. As is, it's way too conspicuously absent for my taste.

To continue with the set-up, in this future Chicago, society is divided into factions: Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, Amity, and Dauntless. After the breaking of whatever sort occurred, people divided up into these factions based on which human flaw they believed led to the downfall. E.g., members of Abnegation believe that selfishness was at the root of the downfall of society, and thus the faction now holds selflessness above all. Erudite believes that ignorance was the problem, so they value knowledge. Candor-- honesty. Amity-- peace. Dauntless-- bravery.

Each faction is responsible for certain jobs in the city, but this isn't explained super well. Most important to this discussion are Abnegation and Dauntless, which take care of volunteer work/cleaning and rebuilding, and security/protection, respectively. Truth be told, it seems that Dauntless are more or less the goths you remember from high school, mixed with some UFC and Evil Knievel. (No, really.)

Our main character is Beatrice Prior, a 16 year old girl born and raised Abnegation. The coming-of-age ceremony in this Chicago takes place at 16, when youth take an aptitude test designed to tell them which faction they truly belong in, and then make their choice of which faction they want to join. The test doesn't dictate your choice; it is merely supposed to reveal your true self. Beatrice's aptitude test yields surprising and mysterious results and for several reasons she ends up choosing to leave Abnegation and join Dauntless.

Most of the book deals with the fierce initiation process Beatrice-- now going by Tris-- goes through in the Dauntless compound. Along the way she learns more about herself, her test results, and the true inner workings of society. Things are definitely not what they seem, and it becomes clear that Tris may be one of the few who can make a difference.

I give this book 4.5 stars. I was uncertain through most of it whether I'd really love it or not, but the ending was well done and it came together for me. Although there are some glaring problems for me, I am not letting those affect my rating much because a) it was really fun to read, and b) as I said, the holes may be addressed/explained later. I'll give it a fair shake.

Some of the story was kind of predictable, but I was also taken by surprise more than once. There are some questions I have about Tris' family-- her mom especially-- that I'd really like to be answered in the following books.

The love story involving Tris is not overwhelming-- definitely not the focus of the book-- which I really appreciated, but it also wasn't as well developed as I'd have liked. I get kind of annoyed when two characters are suddenly smitten with each other and the author hasn't really given a lot of foundation. (At least in Twilight you know exactly why Edward is obsessed with Bella-- after all, she's like his own personal brand of heroin.)

This is Roth's first novel and I'm excited to read the second installment, Insurgent, as well as the third that is supposed to come out next fall.

38 & 39: Some fun with Lois Lowry

I recently discovered that the fourth installment in Lois Lowry's saga that began with The Giver was released.  I had put the second and third books on my reading list long ago, but it wasn't until I heard about the fourth, Son, that I knew it was time to finish the series. I love The Giver. It's been one of my favorite YA books since I was young myself. I think Lois Lowry has a real gift for writing-- Number the Stars is another incredible read that I need to revisit. 

Thus, for my 38th and 39th reads, I submit Gathering Blue and Messenger. Both of these novels are very short and very easy to get into. I read them both in my spare time over the past two days. I give both of them  a solid four stars, particularly for readers who have read and enjoyed The Giver.

For any who haven't read The Giver, which I hope is none, Lois Lowry sets the story at some future time, presumably after catastrophes of some form have drastically changed life as we know it. In The Giver, the main character is Jonas. He lives in a society that is highly controlled, everything is regulated. People are given jobs or callings, and he ends up with a very important one. The vague ending of TG was frustrating for many, but I actually kind of liked it. I don't struggle with uncertain endings like many people do. Nevertheless, I was beyond excited that she continued the series.

In Gathering Blue, Lowry centers the story on a girl named Kira. I went into the book assuming that she lives in a different part of the world from where Jonas lived in TG, though I didn't really have that confirmed until the end when Jonas' existence is briefly hinted at. Kira's society is nothing like Jonas' was, but probably equally as harmful. GB focuses almost entirely on Kira's role in her town, her special gifts, and on the struggle of being good and true when all around you is darkness and despair. At the end, you don't know exactly how but you know Kira is going to do great things.

Messenger's main character is a side character from GB named Matty. Lowry said in an interview that Matty had been one of her favorite characters in GB and she was excited to write another installment that would bring him back and further develop his character. Messenger also features Jonas from TG and informs the reader about what he's been up to since the end of TG. It's pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie. In the course of this book, Matty discovers he also has a gift and uses it to change his surroundings. Though I can't go into the plot very much without spoiling, both of these are so short that if you are interested you could have them read in a few hours.

I'm diving into Son today and will probably review it shortly. I can't wait to see how Lowry wraps the story up.

Ellie's Book #12: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

****

Not too much to say about this one, since everyone has read it or seen the movie and I have little to add.

I re-read this book in preparation for the movie, as it had been about two years since the first time I’d read it. I was impressed again by the urgency of the writing, how the pace keeps moving the reader along, as if by staying in one spot too long the reader, too, will get attacked by giant flying fireballs. As before, I cried for Rue (even though I cry at the drop of the hat where movies are concerned—it’s ridiculous, really—it takes a lot for a book to make me cry, so this is fairly high praise). Katniss frustrates me some of the time because it seems like she switches back and forth very quickly at times from competent kick-ace huntress to “wait, what, you actually like like me?” and the contrast seems choppy and uncharacteristic. But that’s probably just me. All in all I still really liked it. I’m looking forward to getting a chance to unpack my boxes of books and re-read the rest of the trilogy. Four stars.

(If you want to know my thoughts on the movie, you can read them over on my LitGroupie blog, but I didn't want to clutter up this blog with movie stuff for now.)

The Selection

The Selection is a YA novel by Kiera Cass. I think you classify it as a light dystopian novel. I will tell you now that my rating for this book is a 2. It had some potential, but it fell victim to the almost cut and copy structure of the increasingly familiar YA dystopian trilogy.

The basic story is this... America Singer is a pretty average girl. She has a strained relationship with her mother, admires her father, loves her little sister more than anything, and is secretly in love with the boy next door. But, America is risking a lot to be with Aspen because they are in different castes. Everything changes when The Selection is announced. The Selection is the country's tradition for helping the prince, Prince Maxon in this case, find his future wife. Girls submit applications and one from each district is selected to vie with the other selected girls for Maxon's love... and the crown. America hesitates to enter, but finally does to appease her mother and because Aspen tells her she should. Of course, she is selected and goes to the palace. But, before she leaves... Aspen breaks up with her. So, now she's not really sure what to do. She finds herself developing an unusual friendship with Maxon, and, as girl after girl is sent home, America finds herself wanting to stay more and more. Oh, and all of this is being broadcast to the rest of the country as something of a prime time special.

I think this story would really appeal to people who like the Bachelor. Or people who liked the Hunger Games, but wished they were actually a dating game. Or, people who like Cinderella stories and hope that the concept will be developed for reality TV. While it didn't catch me on any of those fronts, I will admit that it was a fairly fun, light read. It just disappointed me so much by being so predictable that I didn't really enjoy it. Here's what bothered me.

#1. While the setting, a caste system with fairly stringent rules, seems fairly dystopian, most of the societal issues are not addressed. For example, America's father has banned history books, which he loves to pour over with America. But... why are the books banned? What has American learned from history that will help her in the Selection?

#2. America starts off as a very relatable, interesting character. She seems strong and dedicated, and you like her. But, then she goes to the palace and starts acting totally bizarre. It was hard for me to care for a character that was acting so inconsistently.

#3. Why is this a trilogy? I once heard an author (not this one) explain that she had written a stand alone novel, but had been told by the publishers that she had to turn it into a trilogy. Does that make your head all but explode too? It's not a strategy for good writing, that's for sure. A story loses focus when it's stretched out too long, and I think that's what happened here. I got to the (abrupt) ending of the book and realized that almost nothing of note had really happened in the book. In fact, **small spoiler**, we don't even get to find out who Maxon chooses. At the end of the book, we're only down to the "elect" 6 girls. I guess I'll have to read the rest to be certain, but I have the feeling that this could have been one silly, fun book that was pretty well done instead of three books that drag a story without much depth on too long.

I'm afraid this review might be too harsh. It's an okay book, but I'm finding myself very, very, very tired of the predictability of many of the YA books that are coming out right now. Hopefully this is just the awkward adolescent phase of the Young Adult genre.

Another re-read of another great book.

I was given a copy of Catching Fire, the second installment in the Hunger Games trilogy, as a birthday present. Since Vivian did me the favor of opening it early, I couldn't resist re-reading it.

Book #27
5 stars

And to tell you the truth, I think I like it more than the first one. I definitely liked it more this time around than I did when I first read it, just like I liked my second read of The Hunger Games more than my first. I really think that's because I just read them way too quickly when they came out. I didn't let anything sink in. I just had to know what was going to happen.

This time, I let myself absorb more and think about it, and it was awesome. I still got through it really quickly, but not because I was sprinting. I could see Peeta and Katniss more clearly than before. The characters really took off for me this time. Haymitch also grew a lot in my mind. He definitely reveals some extra layers here.

I can't wait for the film adaptation to come out next year. As I was reading, I couldn't help but speculate on who they will get to play certain characters. Finnick and Johanna may top that list. Also, Wiress and Beetee. Any ideas?

An Introduction and My Book #1: The Handmaid's Tale

Hello, fellow bloggers and readers. I'm Kristen. I'm a reader and an editor and chaser of a very active six-month-old baby boy. Growing up, I was that kid who spent recess reading books. I'm not shooting for a specific number of books to read this year, but I still read a lot and look forward to a year of interesting book discussions.

Onto the main event: The Handmaid's Tale

Amazon does a daily deal for Kindle—namely, some deeply discounted book or other miraculously sent to my e-reader. The Handmaid's Tale looked reasonably interesting, so I indulged in a $0.99 splurge.

To quickly cover the basics, it was written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It falls under the category of dystopian or speculative fiction. (As an aside, is it morbid how much I usually love dystopian novels?) The author derived the title from "The Handmaid's Tale" in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

In the dystopian world established by Atwood, the government has been overthrown by a fundamentalist religious group which calls itself "The Sons of Jacob." Any bank account owned by a woman became frozen—suddenly, women had no status or recognized rights except through their husbands. For the common people, society functions somewhat in a communistic format. People are given tokens that represent rations of food and other supplies. On a monthly basis, random people are executed as an example.

Presumably due to radiation and other environmental grossness, fewer and fewer women are capable of conceiving and carrying a baby to term. The radiation can cause infant mutations and other unpleasantness. The remaining fertile women are rounded up, permanently separated from their families and children, indoctrinated, sometimes tortured, and forced to become Handmaids. Handmaids are in essence sexual slaves passed around the upper echelons of society to both continue the human race and to provide children for the wealthy classes of society. The Handmaids live as pariahs and concubines, given three chances with three families to conceive and bear a child before being shipped off to the ambiguously named "Colonies" for a life of hard labor.

The main speaker throughout the novel is a Handmaid. Her name is Offred, a patronymic name given to each of the Handmaids that consists of the word "Of" and the first name of the man she serves (thus, "Of + Fred"). Any time she goes in public, she must wear red robes that sound like a combination of a nun's habit and a hijab. Her story isn't a happy one, and the whole book is rather depressing even for a dystopian novel.

Did I like it? I'm not quite sure, really. I found it interesting. It isn't a pleasure read by any means. Even fairly restrained depictions of the monthly "Ceremony" wherein the Commander has sex with Offred while Offred lies in the Commander's wife's lap (yep—that adds a whole new dimension to the idea of a threesome) made my stomach turn.

I find the societal implications also interesting, as well as the exploration of the underground resistance movement. If I hadn't gotten it for less than a dollar, I'm not sure I would have read it. I do find it fascinating how understated the horror of the book is. I think it's intended to indicate the result of indoctrination. Much of the writing is simply observational, without commentary on how horrible their lives all are. It's at least effective in that respect.

The novel ends ambiguously, which was fine for me. I would imagine those who favor neat tidy Victorian endings with the bad guys punished and the good guys avenged will hate the ending. The ending does give some hope for humanity without seeming phony, which I did appreciate.

I'd say read it if you get around to it. Thus, I'm giving it 3 stars under Meg's rating scale. I wouldn't enthusiastically recommend it, nor discourage anyone from reading it. The Handmaid's Tale is certainly thought-provoking and reasonably well-written. It's a quick read and for all its unpleasantness, I wanted to find out what happens. That's more than I can say for a few books I tried to read last year.