Review of Veronica Roth's debut novel Divergent

Written by: Juraj Gerovac (FFOS)

Issue 2 (April 2018)

Roth, Veronica (2011). Divergent. HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Divergent is Veronica Roth's debut novel, and as young writers tend to do, Roth created a young adult dystopian novel containing everything one might expect of such a novel. Roth wrote a story about a young teenage girl striving to find her place in a post-apocalyptic society, and along the way she finds love, courage, inner strength, true friends, and everything that a protagonist usually finds in young adult fiction.

The novel does not stray too far from the formula of young adult stories, but Roth does offer a new take on certain major elements which is different enough to be refreshing, and worth reading. Roth's post-apocalyptic society is a curious combination of Harry Potter's Hogwarts houses and Orwell's 1984's Oceania, where people are divided into 5 factions and any individualism or free thinking behaviour is considered an anomaly that should be purged. The novel also fully embraces the capacity for violence of today's younger generations and describes several incredibly gruesome scenes, which is rather unusual for a young adult story.

The tone is rather dark throughout the novel due to the post-apocalyptic setting, the violence, and even the author's style. Roth writes succinct prose which is easy to read, and as a result the relatively lengthy novel turns out to be a rather quick reading experience.

The story is not all that innovative though, beside the refreshing elements we have the usual story of a young woman who is effectively the chosen one destined to bring society to greatness. Beatrice starts out with great potential, but her flaws are quickly turned into strengths and as a result her character development seems to have abrupt jumps which distance the reader from the protagonist, even though identifying with it is one of the defining features of a young adult novel. Supporting characters are mostly one-dimensional and almost none of them get any real development, besides Beatrice's love interest although that is to be expected.

In the end Divergent is an interesting young adult novel with some refreshing elements but it quickly falls back into the formula of nearly all young adult fiction. It is a decent enough read, perfect if you just need something to occupy you for a day while relaxing by the beach, but do not expect a masterpiece of the genre.