Divergent by Veronica Roth

Reviewed by Aimee

Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Hell is used many times throughout the book.  Exclamations involving deity are also used.

Violence:  Kids who want to be in the Dauntless faction have to pass a series of tests.  The kids fight each other in a ring until they are unconscious or give up.  There is hitting, kicking, and blood.  A girl is hung over a ledge where if she lets go, she will plunge to her death.  There are many instances of fighting, described in some detail.  Tris is made to stand at a target while someone throws knives around her.  Her ear gets nicked and she bleeds.  A boy is stabbed in the eye while sleeping.  This is described in some detail.  Kids are injected with a drug that makes them hallucinate their worst fears.  (Drowning, being attacked by animals and people, having to kill family)  This happens several times.  Tris is attacked, beaten and then almost thrown off a chasm into the water.  A boy kills himself by jumping off the chasm.  His dead body is described in some detail.  Four’s dad used to beat him with a belt.  He was forced to stay in a closet as punishment.  The kids have to face their worst fears as the final test in a simulator while everyone watches.  Some kids have to simulate killing their families.  The people of the Dauntless faction are all injected with something that controls them and they are forced to kill innocent people.  There is shooting, blood and death.  Tris is shot in the shoulder.  She watches both of her parents die.  Tris shoots Will and he dies.  Tris shoots Peter in the foot.

Sexual Content:  Some people kiss and someone says, “it’s not like they are stripping naked.”  Some people corner Tris after a shower and pull off her towel, laughing at her while she stands naked.  Tris is attacked and someone gropes her chest.  There is some kissing throughout the book as well as some scenes of touching and sensuality.

Adult Themes:  Kids get multiple tattoos and drink alcohol.  People are broken up into factions that represent different things like peace, protection, learning, honesty and selflessness.  These factions have become extreme and some, power hungry.  There are internal and external dissentions and plans to overthrow the government.

Synopsis

Beatrice Prior lives in a dystopian Chicago society.  This society is divided into five different factions, all with specific ideas and purposes.  Beatrice’s family live among the Abnegation who are taught to always be selfless.  But at the age of sixteen, Beatrice, along with every other sixteen year old, is given a test.  This test determines which faction she is most compatible with.  Then she is allowed to choose to stay with her family and faction or abandon them for a faction more to her liking.  Beatrice has never felt like she belonged with the Abnegation, and when her test results show inconclusive, labeling her a Divergent, she is more confused than ever.  Her choice to accept the Dauntless as her new faction brings difficulty and fears she never thought possible and forces out a strength and courage she never realized she possessed.  Beatrice will need every bit of that strength and courage to live through the challenges and enemies that face her.   Her seemingly perfect society is unraveling and her label as Divergent is a death sentence.

This book is fast paced and full of action.  I know a book is well written when I can’t put it down and I can’t stop thinking about it.  Another sure sign is when I forget to review because I’m so caught up in the story and then I have to go back to make notes for the review.  This was a book I wanted to talk to somebody about.  I still do!  As noted above, the violence in this book is high, and at some times, uncomfortable for me.  I tend to be on the sensitive side when it comes to violence.  Overall though I found this book captivating, exciting and thought provoking.  It is labeled YA (15-25).