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corrigan's Reviews (451)
Here's the thing: It's hard to REALLY get into a book when, for the first 150 pages or so, you have no idea what the central conflict is. Yeah, you've got a whole bunch of kids who don't like each other training together to be a part of the same faction, but is that it? There's really no way of knowing that this is going to escalate beyond like, a really high stakes summer camp.
I will grant, though, that Veronica Roth does a great job with character development here, even if she spends way too much time on it before actually developing the plot. For once, I was swept up in the love story. I'm not a love story kind of gal, but I was into it. She also does a lot to eschew gender stereotypes, which is awesome. Most of the characters could probably have been written either way, aside from little moments like Christina asking Tris to be "a silly, annoying girl" for a minute. Those moments are nice, though. I read Hunger Games for a class, and most of us thought Katniss was a dude for a good portion of the book. Roth doesn't go so far in staying away from stereotypes that she just turns her female characters into men. There's nothing shameful about femininity, so she allows her characters to be fully realized. They are tough, they are scared, the get giddy when they're kissed. It's all good. Roth is a young author, and I think our generation is sick of stereotypes. We realize we are all more three dimensional than fiction has allowed us to be.
Still, the writing was laughably bad at some times. Like, BRB, I have to go read this ridiculous paragraph out loud to my husband because SERIOUSLY? bad. I'm paraphrasing here, but at one point there's a bit that goes something like:
I hadn't expected to see her again.
"I didn't expect to see you again," she says.
Ouch.
This book isn't bad. I also wasn't a huge fan of the writing style of Hunger Games, but I liked the story. I almost like the story here. I like it enough that I'll read the second one. It has potential, and I care enough about the characters that I want to see what happens to them next. That's all I really ask.
I will grant, though, that Veronica Roth does a great job with character development here, even if she spends way too much time on it before actually developing the plot. For once, I was swept up in the love story. I'm not a love story kind of gal, but I was into it. She also does a lot to eschew gender stereotypes, which is awesome. Most of the characters could probably have been written either way, aside from little moments like Christina asking Tris to be "a silly, annoying girl" for a minute. Those moments are nice, though. I read Hunger Games for a class, and most of us thought Katniss was a dude for a good portion of the book. Roth doesn't go so far in staying away from stereotypes that she just turns her female characters into men. There's nothing shameful about femininity, so she allows her characters to be fully realized. They are tough, they are scared, the get giddy when they're kissed. It's all good. Roth is a young author, and I think our generation is sick of stereotypes. We realize we are all more three dimensional than fiction has allowed us to be.
Still, the writing was laughably bad at some times. Like, BRB, I have to go read this ridiculous paragraph out loud to my husband because SERIOUSLY? bad. I'm paraphrasing here, but at one point there's a bit that goes something like:
I hadn't expected to see her again.
"I didn't expect to see you again," she says.
Ouch.
This book isn't bad. I also wasn't a huge fan of the writing style of Hunger Games, but I liked the story. I almost like the story here. I like it enough that I'll read the second one. It has potential, and I care enough about the characters that I want to see what happens to them next. That's all I really ask.
Good grief. If I wanted to observe a couple constantly alternating between telling each other they love each other and calling each other stupid, I'd go to a family gathering. Whatever charm there was in the Tobias/Tris relationship in book one is gone, and their dynamic quickly becomes a competition to see who can out-bella-swan the other person by recklessly endangering themselves. Not to mention that they demonstrate time and time again that they have absolutely zero trust in each other. It's maddening. I find myself practically yelling at the book, "You guys hate each other! Break up already!"
The relationship drama is only slightly more infuriating than the fact that the plot of this book basically consists of a lather, rinse, repeat cycle of Tris and the gang getting into trouble and being saved from it just in the nick of time. Like the first book, the most interesting part is the end. The rest is just filler.
I know this is popular. I want so badly to like it. I just....
The relationship drama is only slightly more infuriating than the fact that the plot of this book basically consists of a lather, rinse, repeat cycle of Tris and the gang getting into trouble and being saved from it just in the nick of time. Like the first book, the most interesting part is the end. The rest is just filler.
I know this is popular. I want so badly to like it. I just....
Well thought out argument about gun control from a gun owner. Of particular resonance is his dispute of the blame-the-media mindset used as a scapegoat. Turns out, if we're judging by the books, movies, and TV we consume most often, we're not really all that into guns. Go figure.
