Divergent In the Time of Corona

Coronavirus (Covid-19 if you may) lockdown provided an opportunity for many people to catch up on reading, attend online workshops and bond with loved ones and family. Not me! I spent my days rotting my brain out with Netflix and books I hated with the hope that I might find some new perspective. I will be coming back to those books when time permits and when I feel like it. Sadly, as a mother of two children under five, I have little control over my life, so if all I get to control is this blog, then, by God, I will show my absolute control here!

Needless to say that there are spoilers coming ahead, also, here is a link to the Plot Summary in case you need to refresh your memory.

“There is one mirror in my house” prepare yourself for some wild and frizzy hair in this story!

“I sneak a look at my reflection when she isn’t paying attention -not for the sake of vanity, but out of curiosity.” Kid, I hate to disappoint you, no one cares if you look at yourself in the mirror, you are allowed to at this time. Also, no one looks at themselves out of curiosity, what does that even mean? You don’t know what you look like? Besides, you are sixteen, so your face is probably filled with zits and pimples perhaps the rule should be that you don’t get to see yourself until you hit 18 or 19.

“I offer the man a small bag of dried apple slices. He reaches for them, but instead of taking the bag, his hand closes around my wrist. He smiles at me.” This is a scene when Tris runs into a factionless man on her way back from the school. From what we are told later, she has to pass by the factionless sector everyday on her way to the school and back. He continues to flirt with her telling us that in the future rapists are accepted as part of our society and we must offer them food. Also, we are told that in the future, fresh produce is rare. But, Tris is carrying the apples just to share them with factionless rapists. Doesn’t seem too bad to be factionless I guess.

“I stand and look over the edge. There is a body on the pavement below us; a girl, her arms and legs bent at awkward angles,” With everything going in the story you come to accept that it was brushed off as a normal thing to happen. But, who cleaned up the mess? I watched too much CSI to know the mess a falling body might make! Also, how did they tell her parent, oops, your daughter fell off while jumping off into a moving train as part of the faction initiation ceremony, it happens to the best of us. But, hey, faction before blood right? Yup that's sounds about it.

Talking about cleaning up messes, the initiates are offered sleeping quarters that seems to clean themselves up. They are also offered money allowances for no reason that they spent mostly on getting tattoos and makeup. So where do they get the drugs from, because those kids have so much free time and too much money at their disposal.

Cozy Dinners

Dauntless eat in a dining hall together. Cozy family dinners are saved for the Abnegation without the coziness, of course, because we are too selfless to show love. It is like eating a roast without the smell of it!

Aah this dining hall brings me right to one of the biggest plot holes you can find in a story. “I hold my side as I reach across the table for a piece of toast.” Toast gets cold really fast. In fact, a toast is warm enough to be buttered or spread for about 45 seconds (yes, I did the timing myself), of those there are 15 seconds when the toast is too hot to be touched. Basically, you have only 30 seconds of hot toast. Of course, if you live in Saudi Arabia, you can take your toast outside to warm up, you will be dead, your toast warm again, and your butter evaporated. If you live in Saudi Arabia, your butter is already melting by the time your toast is done anyway. Since she is not in Saudi Arabia, I would think that they have house elves standing by the table waiting for Tris to reach out for a toast to bring out a warm toast. Otherwise she is eating cold toast along with everyone else. Also, food is sparse so it would be more logical to not set a dining hall that resembles Harry Potter’s, the extra food will be wasted. A self-serving dining hall would have been better and would make a lot more sense when it comes to money spending. You get what you want to eat and you pay for it! It would cover a lot of plot holes in the story people.

“In the center of the table is a platter of food I don’t recognize: a circular pieces of meat wedged between round bread slices. I pinch one between my fingers, unsure what to make of it.” I get that Abnegation eat plain food (I guess it is a bit of a stretch with the biblical sin gluttony where Abnegation try to consume food as a source of energy not a mean of enjoyment). But a sandwich is a sandwich, you see one, you eat it, you don’t wonder what to make of it, specially if you are on a dining table with people who are mocking you for being different for God’s sake! Also, you are telling me that she goes to the same school with other factions, but she has never seen a hamburger? And that she sees meat inside bread and doesn't know what to do with it, and still she comes off as deadly smart I have never eaten a sushi but when I saw one I knew what to do from watching others around me eat it! Not to mention that hamburgers can’t get any plainer than that, now if it was Chicken Masala Auntie’s-Special-Extra-Spicy it would make a lot more sense. Now that is food for sinners.

What Not To Expect In The Future

“Caleb is not quite a year older than I am, so we are in the same year at school.” Hold off your hopes for family planning in the future, because it ain’t happening.

“ ‘you aren’t going to be able to make me pretty, you know’……. ‘Who cares about pretty? I am going for noticeable.’…… ‘see’ she says, ‘you’re … striking.’”

Feminists, you might as well give up now, because you are still facing shallow, make-up-pretty-thrill seekers.

“I try to pull a pant leg over my thigh and it sticks just above my knee. Frowning, I stare at my leg. A bulge of muscle is stopping the fabric.” It’s called a butt, everyone use to have it, but not in the future, it seems. However, for the sake of the story, let’s assume she is referring to muscles on her thighs. No more gyms folks, in the future, we grow muscles overnight.

"Written on it is "PAINTBALLS". I 've never heard of them but the name is self explanatory." But hamburgers are not. Also, we now know that paintballs will cease to exist along with ferrywheels. But don't worry, we will still have rapists and killers.

" 'If we were in your fear landscape,' he [Four to Tris] says, "would I be in it?' [Tris] 'I'm not afraid of you' 'Of course you're not. But that's not what I meant.' " The answer to this question will still be a mystery to all of us in the future, so let down your hopes folks.

Four Is Number Four

“ ‘My name is Four’ Christina asks, ‘Four? Like the number?’”

Christina is clearly very stupid, when you meet someone of authority on your first day in a new faction with a funny nickname, you don’t ask dumb questions.

“ ‘Four,’ my mother repeats, smiling. ‘Is that a nickname?’” Tris’s mom is also stupid. Proud parents who just had a baby thought hard and long about names and decided that numerical references sound a lot better than Jimmy and David!

“ ‘He’s [Four] handsome’ she [Tris’s mother] says.” Lady, you don’t even go further than touching your husband’s hands in front of your kids. And he is practically a minor. He is 18 years old in the book, and you are one pervert lady.

“She [Tris’s mother] tilts her head. “You look familiar for some reason, Four.” Of course, he does look familiar, he is your husband’s co-worker’s son. But somehow, no one made the association.

“Marcus is my father’s coworker; they are both political leaders…Marcus is particularly influential. Few people who are born into Abnegation choose to leave it. When they do, we remember. Two years ago, Marcus’s son, Tobias, left us for the Dauntless” Yet no one…I mean NOT A SINGLE PERSON made the connection.

"Four fears then, four fears now." Aaah so he really is four as in the number. How did he rank first if he never overcame his fears or even learned how to stay calm while in the fear landscape. Naturally, the not-pretty, but deadly smart (really? Tris is smart?) chick is how he was able to overcome his fears.

“Do me a favor, he says, ‘and don’t call me that.’ ‘what should I call you, then?’ ‘Nothing….Yet.’” What if you were falling off the chasm? Should I still not call your name? what if I got attacked again, what should I say? O’ handsome knight, please come and help me.

I have to admit that I gave up at this point, I skimmed the rest of the book and can’t really bear going back to write about it. It doesn’t get better though, the love story cracks with stupid problems like the fact that Tris is afraid to be loved so she is doubting Tobias/Four's feelings towards her. I have to say here, there are a lot more problems that can take place between couples than this old beaten "you can't possibly love me" theme. I would appreciate a YA book that really introduces the real issues of relationships with the hope that teenagers grow some real expectations from relationships. But with the lack of affection in Abnegation, you would think all Abnegations have failed relationships!

I hope you enjoyed this review, stay tuned for more reviews to come, write your comments below, recommend books and tell me what you think.

Adios!