Divergent by Veronica Roth

The best thing about my book, Divergent, is that it is fast paced.  Because the book is fast paced, I am not bored reading the book and I want to keep reading to find out what happens next.  Sometimes, though, things happen very quickly and I have to slow down while reading to digest the significance of the events.  I like fast paced books because they seem to develop quickly and I don't have to wait too long to get to the eventful parts of the book.

It is really important for me that a book be fast paced, otherwise I am likely to get bored.  In fact the only time I did not finish reading a book was when I found the book to be very slow paced and boring.  I just could not keep reading it, because it was not moving along.  The other reason I like fast paced books is that the author dedicates more time to the climax and the resolution of the story instead of the buildup.  Of course, I expected Divergent to be fast paced because it is an action filled story!

If you have read Divergent, what do you think the best or worst thing about it is?

Veronica Roth: Author of Divergent

Veronica Roth is unbelievably young for someone who has already sold more than five million books!  She is 25 years old.  She states that she started writing when she was twelve years old.  Her first book was turned down, but that did not discourage her.  It in fact, motivated her to write another book, Divergent, the book I am reading now.  Ms. Roth met her agent at a writers' workshop at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Veronica Roth is very tall, she is 6 feet tall.  She seems funny and unpretentious from her blog posts.  I would like to meet her someday.  I may look up her next book tour and see if it's close enough to me to go to.  If I saw her, I would like to ask her which faction she would choose if she lived in the Divergent world.  

Do you think that Veronica Roth will have as much success with her next book that is not in the Divergent series? 

Divergent by Veronica Roth: Vocabulary

While reading Divergent, I observed that the author used uncommon words for the names of the factions.  At first I wondered the reason behind the author's choice, then I found a section in the back of the book discussing this very thing.  In this section, Ms. Roth stated that one of the reasons that she chose these unfamiliar words was her desire to slow down the reader's comprehension of what each faction stood for.  She wanted the reader to learn as much by observing as by the name of the faction alone.  Another reason was that the definition of the more obscure words are more interesting.  A third reason she stated was that these words sounded "cooler"!

As a reader, I think that the author's approach worked.  I learned more about the factions as I read more of the book, instead of immediately forming an idea about the faction from the name alone.  I also enjoyed learning these new words.  I agree with her that these words are more interesting and cooler than more ordinary words.  In general I personally think that reading should always expand your vocabulary and scope of the language, and I think this book does.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

The most important line from chapter four is, "It has been this way since the beginning of the great peace, when the factions were formed. I think the system persists because we're afraid of what might happen if it didn't: war." (Roth 33) I think this is the most important line from this chapter because it really sums up the reason behind the faction system. The factions were formed in the beginning of a peaceful period, which I think must have happened after a long war. The sentence also demonstrates how important and rooted the faction system is to this society. I think that it is ironic that she used the word 'afraid' because she is considering Dauntless which is the faction that values bravery the most, which is the opposite of fear.

The best thing about my book is that it is not predictable. I really don't know which faction she is going to choose, which makes me want to keep reading. I don't like to read books that are too predictable because they get boring easily and I don't want to keep reading them. At this point I am curious which faction she is going to choose and how this choice is going to affect her and the plot in general. However I suspect that whatever her choice may be, I suspect that it will be the beginning of a chain reaction that unravels her society.

Divergent by Veronica Roth Setting

I have just started reading Divergent and from what I can gather it takes place in Chicago in the future. A line from the book that supports this is, "The gaps between the buildings narrow and the roads are smoother as we near the heart of the city. The building that was once called the Sears Tower-we call it the Hub-emerges from the fog, a black pillar in the skyline." (Roth 3-4) In this quote it talks about the Sears Tower which is in Chicago, thats how I knew the setting was in Chicago. I know that the story takes place in the future because they have some technology that is more advanced than what we have today.

Within this future world all the people have been divided into five factions, Dauntless, Erudite, Candor, Amity and Abnegation.  Each of these factions embody an attribute as suggested by the name of the faction.  When each person turns sixteen, he or she has to take an aptitude test to determine which faction he or she belongs in.  However, the main character, Beatrice Prior, is a divergent because she can fit into more than one faction which is not the norm.  Being divergent is not desirable, in fact it is dangerous, as the test administrator explained to Beatrice in this quote, "'This is different.  I don't mean you should not share them now; I mean you should never share them with anyone, ever, no matter what happens.  Divergence is extremely dangerous.  Do you understand?'"(Roth 22-23)

But which faction will she choose, Abnegation, Dauntless or Erudite?

My Book List

I plan to read Divergent by Veronica Roth next.  My friend recommended this book to me because she knows that I like to read "coming of age" books.  I looked up the book and read the synopsis and I liked what I read.  I am looking forward to reading this book and watching the movie that is based on the book.  The movie is supposed to come out on March 21, 2014.  Here is a link to the movie website, www.divergentthemovie.org.  

After I read Divergent, I will read Sun Catcher by Sheila Rance.  The book was recommended to me by www.goodreads.com.  The book seems interesting and intriguing.  It is about a girl in a far away land who is trying to find her true calling.  I think I will enjoy this book because I enjoy reading books that are filled with adventure and the fact that the main character is a female is an added bonus, because I can relate to the character.

Post #14 Heidi by Johanna Spyri Chapter 11 Summary

Chapter 11 begins by talking about how Heidi had given up praying because her problems were not being fixed, but Klara's grandmother convinces Heidi to try again. Then Heidi was reading a story out of the book that Klara's grandmother had given her and she burst into tears because the story was about a grandmother dying. Heidi thought that the grandmother in the story was Peter's grandmother and that this was actually happening, eventually Klara explained to Heidi that the grandmother in the story was not real and that Peter's grandmother wasn't actually dying, but this just made Heidi cry more because she started thinking about her grandfather or Peter's grandmother dying while she was away and then being all alone. Fräulein Rottenmeier yells at Heidi when she hears her crying over the story in the book and she says that if she does it again she will take the book away, this makes Heidi stop crying because the book is one of her dearest possessions. Heidi's homesickness gets worse and she gets paler and loses her appetite because of it despite Sebastian's attempts to make her feel better.

The theme of Heidi is that adversity can be the doorway to wondrous adventures. This theme is supported by the fact that Heidi faces many obstacles such as Fräulein Rottenmeier's cruelty and her difficulties in learning her ABC's and how to read, but is able to overcome them with the help of her friends. When Heidi overcomes these obstacles it leads to new adventures such as having fun living in Frankfurt and learning to love reading. The theme is also supported by Heidi going to live with her grandfather which seems like a bad situation at first, but she is able to improve her grandfather's life and enjoy living with him in the Alps. These are just some of the examples of how this theme applies to Heidi.