Book #42: Divergent

Title: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

Date started reading: June 24, 2013
Date finished reading:  June 26, 2013

Publish date: February 2012
ISBN: 978-0062024039
Number of pages: 487

Official summary: "In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue — Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is — she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her." (http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com)

Official book trailer:

How I obtained the book: Bought for $2 at a Friends of the Library charity book sale

My commentary: --

Memorable quotes:

• “We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.”  
• “I might be in love with you. I'm waiting until I'm sure to tell you, though.” ~ Tobias to Tris
• “Becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. It's learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.” 
• “I have a theory that selflessness and bravery aren't all that different.”  
• “Politeness is deception in pretty packaging.”   ~ Tris' mother
• “I feel like someone breathed new air into my lungs. I am not Abnegation. I am not Dauntless. I am Divergent. And I can’t be controlled.” ~ Tris
• “Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up” ~ Tobias to Tris
• “Human beings as a whole cannot be good for long before the bad creeps back in and poisons us again.” 
• “People tend to overestimate my character. They think that because I'm small, or a girl, or a Stiff, I can't possibly be cruel. But they're wrong.”  ~ Tris
• “Two things you should know about me; The first is that I am deeply suspicious of people in general. It is my nature to expect the worst of them. And the second is that I am unexpectedly good with computers.” ~ Tobias
• “Human reason can excuse any evil; that is why it's so important that we don't rely on it.” 
• “If Eric thinks I did something right, I must have done it wrong.”   ~ Tris
• “Learning how to think in the midst of fear is a lesson that everyone needs to learn.” 
• “Leaving us with Eric is like hiring a babysitter who spends his time sharpening knives.”   ~ Tris
• “Humans can't tolerate emptiness for long.” 
•  “What's worse: to be idle while someone dies, or to be exiled and empty-handed?” ~ Tris
• “There is power in controlling something that can do so much damage - in controlling something, period.” ~ Tris
• “What do I believe? I do not know; I do not know; I do not know.”  ~ Tris
• “Half of bravery is perspective.” 
• “Sarcasm is always at someone's expense.”  
• “Sometimes it isn't fighting that's brave, its facing the death you know is coming.” ~ Tris
• “What good is a prepared body if you have a scattered mind?” 
• “I would rather be dead than empty” 
• “Sometimes pain is for the greater good.” 
• “No one is fearless, that's impossible. But learning how to control your fear, that's something even your Stiff family should learn how to do.”  ~ Tobias to Tris
• “She is well practiced in the art of losing herself.” 
• “I would only go if there was cake.”  ~ Tobias 
• “I chose Dauntless not because they are perfect, but because they are alive, they are free.”  ~ Tris
•  “I will be my undoing. If I become my obsession.” 
•  “We believe in the ordinary acts of bravery.” 
•  “If you don't like something, change it. You are not a tree.”

Buy on Amazon.com: Divergent