A good teen read

So despite the fact that I am in my late 20's, I have an obsession with teen books. I don't know what it is about them I like so much except that I think they are just much more optimistic than adult novels. These are young adults that have their whole life ahead of them and want to make a difference. It's nice and not at all what most real teenagers I know act like.

Anyways, I restarted my teen read with the Hunger Game trilogy. Then I read Across the Universe which was sadly disappointing to the point where I didn't want to talk about it and why there is no review on this blog for it. The latest book I read was great though and I recommend it to all teens out there. It's called Divergent and it's also apparently the first of a trilogy and I can't wait for the next book to come out.

The Story: Much like Across the Universe and The Hunger Games it takes place in the not too happy future (dystopian novels seem to be all the rage these days). We meet Beatrice who is a member of a faction of future Chicago that believes in being selfless. When people turn 16 they are able to choose to stay in their faction or move to one of the other 4, each that has a different trait. Prior to making this decision they are tested with a simulation to give them an idea of which they'd fit best in. Beatrice is divergent which means that she could easily fit in multiple factions. This is considered dangerous and she is told to keep it quiet. When it's time to make a decision she picks the brave faction which is full of tattooed and pierced fierce young people who fight and jump off trains. She then has to go through initiation where only the top 10 recruits get to stay. She meets some friends, gets a love interest, and uncovers controversy.

What I liked: My favorite part of this book was the romantic story line. I know, it's stupid that that's my favorite part of almost all books I read, but this one grew so naturally and didn't feel forced that I can't help it. It wasn't a "I saw you and you were hot so now I love you forever." It was slow building and only through countless encounters and experiences and understandings that they get together. They also cover the topic of sex in such a great way. Being from the selfless district, Beatrice is actually a bit of a prude. She is in an faction now that treats itself like the wild high school parties I was never invited to only without fear of someone calling the cops. Just because she can now go wild and have sex doesn't mean she's going to. Her beau is not only understanding but supportive of that too. If only more 16 year olds were like that! MTV would probably be out of business though... The book also had a lot of great themes of going against what you were brought up with but still not losing who you are completely. I could certainly relate to not wanting to disappoint my parents but at the same time knowing myself better.

What I didn't like: The factions idea confused the heck out of me for the first half of the book. They eventually explain it better but I felt like a cheat sheet of which faction believed in what ideas would have been helpful as I read the book. The overall story kind of bored me, but I have hopes that they will go into all the things they hinted at in the next two books and this was a more meet the players story. They also killed off a good chunk of the characters in this book. This doesn't have to be a bad thing, it just kinda threw me and makes their deaths less meaningful since they occurred for the most part within 20 pages of each other.

Overall, I highly recommend this to teenagers especially. It's a good story and can also apply to their lives today. Also, no vampires. Branch out, young folks!

Hungry for Happiness

So I finished my first book of the year: The Hunger Games. I include spoilers below but I'll warn before I spoil. I choose this book a) cause everyone and their cousin has read it and told me to read it, and b) because the movie's coming out soon and I have a feeling it will be good. I purposefully waited til after I read the first book to watch the trailer or see the cast (though I did know the two main characters before I read it) and I am excited. Very excited. I wouldn't have cast the lead the same, but I'm fairly confident that she'll do a good job. The lead male is just perfect and I could picture him as Peeta the entire book. The other castings are perfect too, much better than I would have done if I had that task. I'm quite excited. Anyways, this book review seems more like a movie analysis which I'll save for after I see the movie in March. Back to the book:

The story: I liked it. I didn't love it but I liked it. I can agree that it's a really interesting, albeit terrifying premise which was carried out in a believable (if that's the right word) way. In a nutshell the book is about a future dystopia where after the ice caps melt (they don't say this but imply it), and the world has been destroyed by plagues, war, poverty and numerous disasters which were probably mostly man made, there's only 12 districts left in America and a single powerful central government called the Capitol. Due to a failed uprising, the Capitol has decided to once a year take one boy and one girl from each district and pit them against each other in a fight for the death for their amusement and to show that they are the big power. Heroine Katniss is from the poorest district and not expected to last long, but yet she ends up showing much promise when there. Along the way she meets some interesting characters and adventures ensue.

What I liked: It is an interesting concept that I could potential see happening, not anytime soon mind you, but in those conditions it was believable. How someone from such a bad place could do so well is also very believable as you get to learn more about her. She has such anger at the Capitol and you really feel for how unfair and awful her situation is. There are a lot of great characters who I really want to learn more about and can only guess you do in the sequels. There's the previous winner from District 12 Haymitch who is always in a drunken stupor. The fantastic new designer Cinna who you can tell is trying to make a change for the better. My favorite by far though is Peeta, the boy from her district. He seems so honest and real and my god I'm in love with him. It's probably because of this that I can't say I love the book(see Spoilers below if so inclined).

What I didn't like: Katniss is the emotional anti me. She's a hunter and a fighter and therefore doesn't let herself feel to much. It's because of this that I could never relate to her. I do understand it, and I'm not saying she's a robot, cause she's not. She does care for her family and others she comes across but she's not warm and loving and she pisses me off. It's also a horribly depressing book. It's about kids being forced to fight to the death. So the only way they win is if everyone else dies. Including the people from the same district. Katniss and Peeta begin their training together and as they get closer they both have to remember they will need to kill each other in the ring. How awful is that? It took a lot of plot twists and forcing myself to finish the book and once I did, I didn't feel compelled to keep reading the sequels, even though I will give it my best shot.

Stop reading here if you want to be surprised by the book or movie.