Roth's idea of a society divided according to dominant personality characteristics is a brilliant and original one, though it reminded me a little of the class system in Aldous Huxley's classic, Brave New World.
The movie's setting is the grim and crumbling urban landscape of Chicago, where the population is kept in check by making sure everyone fits into their chosen roles. There's no room for individuality or multi-faceted personalities in this society. You blindly follow your chosen course because the leaders know best, although there's a power struggle going on between the leaders with brains and the the leaders with a conscience. Sounds like business as usual, 2014!!
Shailene Woodley plays Triss, a courageous, gutsy girl who suspects she's Divergent, meaning she doesn't fit neatly into one category. This puts her in danger because the leaders don't want people with well rounded personalities who can't be controlled. She manages to pass herself off as Dauntless, which starts off all the action in the story and leads to her discovery of a sinister plot that she must overthrow.
Shailene Woodley is a perfect Triss. Strong, cool, brave, conflicted and caring. Theo James as Four is handsome, mysterious and absolutely magic on screen. This is a movie with a little more thought and depth than The Hunger Games and I was glued to the screen the whole time, invested in the compelling characters.
I'm definitely going to check out the book again!!
THE FOREVER ONES NEWS!! The book hit #1 on 2 Amazon bestseller lists and went up to #72 in the entire Kindle store for free downloads. Paige is definitely on the move!
THE PARASITES has received some great reviews and is on Kindle Countdown this week.
