Book vs. movie review:

The Book

I have no idea why on earth it took me so long to finally get around to reading Divergent. I loved the book. The movie was good too, but as usual, I thought the book was better. It was both a blessing and a curse to have read the book right before I watched the movie. It was cool because I was really pumped up and excited with the story fresh in my mind, but at the same time- the book was fresh in my mind. So every time they deviated from the story line, I instantly noticed. The book was wonderful in it’s own right.

This is one fast paced story line. The action never stopped. I couldn’t believe how much stuff happened in just one book. I mean we went from setting the stage in this new dystopian world all the way to war in one book. It was a lot. I loved Tris. What I love the most about her was what made her a Divergent in the first place. She questions things. She can’t be labeled. And she doesn’t just accept answers on their face value. She wants to know why, and I would be lying if I said that I was any different. And like Tris, it has gotten me into trouble a time or two also.

I’m going to spare you some of the details about what happens plot wise, because I am assuming that I am last person in the YA world to read this book. There were so many things that I liked about the book. I loved watching Tris adapt to dauntless. She really is pretty incredible. She isn’t automatically great at everything she tries, but she is not afraid of working hard and practicing. and she is really brave. I also loved seeing how some of the other dauntless initiates handled the faction change as well. Al was really interesting, and what happened with him made me so sad.

The Movie

I thought the movie did a great job with the sets and making Veronica Roth’s world come to life. I thought they did a fantastic job portraying the different factions. I thought the castings were also great. They were just how I pictured the characters in the book. Tris was fantastic in the movie, just as plucky and brave as she was in the book. Four, Christina and Peter were also all wonderful. (or wonderfully awful in the case of Peter.) Eric was also creepy as heck.

I was super pleased with all of the castings and the world building and the factions. I also thought the relationship between Tris and Four was really well done in the movie. Four was hot! Some smaller storylines were cut out and shifted around for the sake of getting everything into the movie. That didn’t bother me too much. Like I said, there is a TON of stuff that happened in this one book and at 500+ pages, I knew there is no way all the details would make it into the film. But a couple of changes irked me a bit. I was really disappointed that the “test” was cut short. And maybe the most disappointing of all was that we barely got to see Al. We didn’t get to see anything about him and Tris, and we didn’t get to see how he struggled with the initiation. I thought that would have added to the movie overall, and it was a part that I really enjoyed in the book, so I was bummed that they cut that whole storyline out.

One change that I was pleased to see, was that they didn’t really make notice of Tris’ plain or not so pretty appearance. When Four admitted that Tris was not that pretty in the book, it made me sad, so I was happy I didn’t have to relive that in the movie. The obvious change in the ending of the movie was surprising, but I am not sure whether I am annoyed with it or if I like it. I think that might have been a good choice movie wise, but I am still such a fan of staying true to the book. I am still conflicted on this one. It turned out pretty cool, but it was so, so different.

Overall

Both the movie and the book are great! I really, really enjoyed reading and watching Divergent. I think it is going to be a huge hit for the trilogy in theaters. A lot of people are saying that they like it more than the Hunger Games movies, and I don’t know if I would go that far, but I do love the first movie and book a lot. I can’t wait to read the second book because I honestly have no idea where Veronica is going to take the series. I thought the war would come at the end of the second book, but now I am super excited to see what else she has in store for us in books 2 and 3.

Bottom line: the movie was great, and I thought it was pretty perfectly cast, but the book blows the movie out of the water.