Thursday, March 20, 2014

TGC's "Divergent" Book Review

The film Divergent comes out in theaters tomorrow. It's the first of a trilogy of dystopian teen novels from a Chicago-based author Veronica Roth, who grew up in a posh northwestern suburb of Chicago where I served coffee during my time in grad school. 

The first special thanks offered by Veronica Roth in the acknowledgements section of her debut novel is gratitude to God and his Son. In the next sentence, she uses terminology most Christians would consider profane in expressing her thanks to her agent. This is the sort of contradiction that characterizes Roth’s New York Times-bestselling “Young Adult Dystopian” series comprising Divergent (2011), Insurgent (2012), and Allegiant (2013). The contradiction carries on through the stories and confuses what otherwise could have been an edifying, even Christian, message.

You can read the rest here.

Will I see it? I'm not sure. As I've written before, I enjoy dystopian stories, and I'd like to see a post-apocalyptic portrayal of good ol' Chicago. But, given this review and my hope that dystopian stories don't become a fad (we still have The Hunger Games), I may wait for a few more recommendations.

But hey, at least it's not Twilight.

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