CDBC Divergent (Book1)

freezorburn

Hi all --

Just thought I would open up a thread to discuss Book 1. I can post some specific discussion questions if you think that would help, but since many of us have finished the whole series I thought it might be a good idea to start off with whatever impressions or critiques you may have of the book.

So, to recap: Book 1 ends with Tris and Four, having shut down the Erudite attack on Abnegation, escaping towards Amity headquarters with Marcus, Caleb and Peter. Both of Tris' parents have died as a result of these events. 

What do you think of the story so far? Are there elements of the story, or characters, that you hoped or expected we would learn more about as the series moved forward? 

TJ1979

I'm so sad that her mom died. And her dad, but mostly her mom bc she was dauntless also. I'm glad she is reunited with her brother. I'm really curious about Marcus. And skeptical of Four.

freezorburn

Yeah it would have been great if she could have had one more conversation with her mother in a non-life-threatening situation.

I'm trying to figure out how it happens that Tris never met Four/Tobias before he left Abnegation. Especially if they are supposed to be only two years apart and their parents know each other so well. Did he just never leave the house? Not even for school?

TJ1979

Yes! I wondered that too. Although I thought they were 4 years apart, not 2.

unaveragejane

I only read book one, and it's been a while, so my memory of it is a bit fuzzy. I do remember thinking it was kind of odd that the attack seemed so contained and isolated. Maybe it was just that I didn't imagine big enough, but I don't remember any mention of any stray factionless folks (or any other factions) getting caught up in the mess. It seems odd to me that no other factions stepped in to break up the fight, nor were there even any bystanders mentioned that I recall. And now they're headed to Amity-ville, right? That seems like trouble waiting to happen. "Oh, you folks want to come stay with us? That will make you happy? Sure! Oh, now you Erudite folks want to take some of these folks prisoner? Sure thing, boss." It's the whole "can't please all the people all the time" thing, and I think it's going to blow up in their faces. But maybe Amity decides to be completely neutral and shuts their doors to everyone. Hmm. Almost makes me want to read the next book. Almost.

TJ1979

Good point Jane! Amity can't please both dauntless and erudite. Hmm...

freezorburn

I can't remember if it was mentioned earlier in the book how many years ago Four and Eric's initiate class was, but when Tris and Four finally get together and she mentions the age difference, he says something about two years.

freezorburn

I thought they could only attack so many people at once, because there really aren't very many Dauntless. There's that whole thing about there not being any older Dauntless. Not sure how old the oldest are, but let's say they "retire" at 65, there are probably still fewer than 1,000 of them, assuming they only induct 10 new members per year.

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freezorburn

Yeah I went to see it on a rainy day when our book discussion fell into a lull. Trying not to let it influence my discussion of the book though.

freezorburn

Chickypoo2468 said:

I felt like the attack was so sudden. Then when they ended the simulation and fled it seemed like they were out of harms way so quick. Chicago is big, but it isn't that big. And I wrote a bunch more but the bump just gave me an error and ate it. Out of nowhere. I thought Eric and Four were in the same class? I've also been wondering how Tris and Four never met. He's 18 and she's 16. And I was not aware of a movie...

I'm a bit of a media geek so I had read somewhere last winter about how the the movie rights got picked up very shortly after she had signed with her publisher -- first book wasn't even finished yet. Basically the publisher and the movie producers saw the concept and heard Ka-Ching! and signed Veronica Roth before there was a finished product. So the rollout of the books and movies have all been coordinated with eachother. Which is why I've been a bit cynical about this from the start. Still, I'll admit I'm having fun with it.

TJ1979

SecretAgentKate said:

By chance have any of you seen the movie?

Nope.

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freezorburn

SecretAgentKate said:

Ahhh, now that probably explains why the end of the book and end of the movie were quite different. I actually preferred the movie's version.

(DS's naptime musings!)

I think it explains why the book comes off as half-baked. I realize it's part of a series and a lot gets explained later, but I feel like it doesn't stand on its own in terms of establishing the world in which the story takes place. This is the challenge for any sci-fi or fantasy work. The author has to give us enough to go along with the pretense of the fantasy. There is no magic in Divergent, yet I find Hogwarts to be a more believable world.

I kept feeling that the author was feeding us details that didn't work with the story. Like, how Tris identified Al as one of her attackers, by the scent of lemongrass and something else. Lemongrass?! Isn't that a tropical plant? How does Al have a lemongrass-scented something in his toiletry kit, if they are as cut off from the outside world as the author would like us to believe? The Amity must have some seriously amazing greenhouses. Details like this, instead of helping to paint the picture, were more of a reality jolt.

I thought the movie ending worked better too, at least from the standpoint of creating some implied drama and danger.

Another thing about the ending -- saw this coming as soon as Four was injected with the serum that made him confuse his friends for his enemies -- is everyone familiar with A Wrinkle in Time?

freezorburn

Have we pretty much talked this book out? I can't think of anything else. I looked over the discussion questions at the end of the book and they were more like comprehension questions, so I don't think they're really worth our time.

Does anybody want to talk about the movie?

How/when do you want to do book 2? All at once? If we were to divide it up, I was thinking that instead of a set number of chapters we could discuss the time they spend at each faction HQ. Other ideas?

freezorburn

OR we could just move on to the next book club book, if anyone remembers what it was.

OR we can do a new poll to decide what book to read next.

TJ1979

I've just started book 2, and I'm on book 3 of the strain trilogy. So I would be out for another book. But I think @unaveragejane‌ and @SecretAgentKate‌ were going to do their own book club if people are anxious to move on.

freezorburn

Yeah I'm also doing the other book club, but I still like having something to discuss that's not parenting or baby-related, so if there are enough people interested it would be nice to keep this one going.

freezorburn

Works for me. How about: last person to finish Book 2 starts the discussion thread? @TJ1979

TJ1979

Haha, is everyone waiting on me?

freezorburn

Oh wait. I think I should have also tagged @unaveragejane‌ in my last post.

TJ1979

Chickypoo2468 said:

TJ1979 said:

Haha, is everyone waiting on me?

Yes.

"> I guess that's what I get for following the rules.

Into+the+Kitty

Noooo these books sucked. Can we please do another book club book already? [-(

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Into+the+Kitty

SecretAgentKate said:

Into+the+Kitty said:

Noooo these books sucked. Can we please do another book club book already? [-(

how about Twilight

TJ1979

Chickypoo2468 said:

Into+the+Kitty said:

Noooo these books sucked. Can we please do another book club book already? [-(

But I feel we still need to discuss them, no?

Yes! ITK doesn't have to play.

freezorburn

Yeah for some reason these fell solidly into the mediocre grade for me, but I think that makes them even more fun to talk about.

freezorburn

charmingthemoon said:

My CDBC going green to save some green -- I sold my three books in the series to a used book store locally and got store credit! I suppose it may have been wiser to have gotten them from a library, but I am not that cool. I figured I wouldn't be reading them again. I have my husband the credit, and rationalized that I would spend that money on diapers.

It's too bad we can't do that with e-books.

freezorburn

charmingthemoon said:

charmingthemoon said:

My CDBC going green to save some green -- I sold my three books in the series to a used book store locally and got store credit! I suppose it may have been wiser to have gotten them from a library, but I am not that cool. I figured I wouldn't be reading them again. I have my husband the credit, and rationalized that I would spend that money on diapers.

It's too bad we can't do that with e-books.

Seriously! That's actually one of the reasons I got rid of my Kindle. I found it too annoying that I could not share books with friends.

Some titles will allow you to "lend" a book to a friend, but I've only been able to do it once. Eventually the loan expires so it puts a bit of time pressure on your friend to finish the book.

I pretty much only read on my iPad or iPhone, so I'm thinking I'm going to designate my old paperwhite Kindle as a joint Kindle, so DH can use it to read books that I've bought with my account.

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freezorburn

I had forgotten about borrowing ebooks from libraries! I'll have to look into that next time.