Insurgent

My big problem with this book and the ultimate reason behind those two, sad little stars. . .

I just don't care.

Not in the Farewell to Arms don't care where it's actually extreme dislike to the point that when there was just piles of death at the end I closed the book and said "good riddance".

Not don't care in the "I can't finish this because I'm bored" way, like all those books I don't remember because I didn't finish them.

The "I don't care because you have literally put no effort into making me care" way.

Who the hell are these people? I know so very little about the world (why, how, when, wherefore? I just don't know) and it seems even less about the people. It really feels like something I would have written in middle school. Roth inundates us with characters in a stiff attempt to inject variety into her story, but the scenes between the characters, intended to reveal personalities, traits, morals, etc., all seems stilted and jammed senselessly into the rest of the plot. Oh, look at us, we are laughing together. You got that that makes us good people, right? But now we're annoyed at each other for a minute because of something stupid, so you got that that makes us complicated, right? And while we're at it, let's throw in a gratuitous lesbian gesture for no good reason other than to have something LGBT in there and perhaps cause some controversy and thus publicity. Like Rowling and Dumbledore, right? Face, meet palm. But seriously, this is kind of a slap in the face to the LGBT community, to my mind. Here, let's throw in some lesbian insinuation but let's do it in a way that feels like we put it in just to put it in. Let's not give some dignity to the LGBT community by creating a real, believable lesbian couple who have a genuine storyline and might garner real interest. No, let's have a single line deathbed confessional that isn't important and gets glossed over immediately.

And I don't like Tris and Tobias. There are some things that bothered me in the first book (awkward age gap for one) that I could get past if I felt that they were compelling. But I didn't believe in their romance. I want my heart to beat, my cheeks to flush, and my brain to go vaguely fuzzy. Noooooooope. I'm glad Tris gets that way, but it just ain't happening for me. (Side note, did anyone else see Tobias as more of a scrawny, vaguely nerdy emo kid, a la Andrew Garfield and not the hulking behemoth juicehead they got to play him in the movie? Seriously, that guy has more muscles than he knows what to do with.) Additionally, I know Roth is trying to challenge their relationship by making them angsty and throwing obstacles at them, but again, it just feels forced. Tobias is a vaguely interesting character, but I don't feel the full weight of him. For example, his dad beat him. Interesting, from a plot point of view. It is one of his four fears he got his nickname from. Then, he beats his dad but not badly, just enough to make a point. But then, pages later, he's totally comfortable in his own home without real explanation. Is it because he now feels powerful? By beating up an older man in front of people just to get respect? Is revenge really the answer to all our problems? I don't know, because they merely skim over it like beating your relatives is commonplace. Plus, that business about Caleb being a traitor -- shouldn't you at least give him a little time to explain why he did what he did? Apparently not, if you're Tris or Roth.

There have been plenty of spoilers up until this point, but the big one for the whole book is coming, so if you're still somehow interested in reading this 500+ page unnecessarily emotional, mindlessly wandering, dangling excuse for YA, please stop now. Or if you're annoyed that I called it an excuse for YA, stop now so we might still be able to be friends at some point in the future.

Apparently, the thing with their world is that they are actually trapped inside this fence, but for some reason this literally bothers no one. They are never given any reasons for the fence; it just is and they accept it perfectly unquestioningly. Oooooookayyyyyyyyy. What must their geography classes look like? Or their science classes? "I would teach you about plate tectonics, but since the world is confined to this city, I won't because it might riotously shift your paradigm." Then, Tobias's abusive dad cozies up to Tris, metaphorically seducing her with tantalizing information about what's "out there". Stuff, you idiot. Go out and find out for yourself! I wanted it to end with Tris and Tobias walking out, leaving the whole society. They are Dauntless after all, right? It wouldn't be that big of a deal to them to step outside the fence and give whatever's out there a try. It's better than sticking around while people plot your death and actively try to capture and run scientific, torturous experiments on you like Mengele. At least this was a different Nazi direction than most other authors take, although the idea of genocide has been vaguely toyed with considering the factions are all trying to eradicate one another.

Anyway, Tris agrees to help out Tobias's dad, effectively betraying her faction and her boyfriend for basically no good reason except that. . .no, no good reason. And the big secret? There's stuff out there and this whole world was like one giant lab rat experiment. According to some super secret video footage made by a relative of Tris (but I have no idea who), someone, somewhere decided to put all these people in this artificially created society and wipe all their memories so they have fresh starts in this new world because. . .wait for it. . .the world is evil and this is the only way to fix it. By dividing people up into artificial, inflexible groups, people will start to rebel and realize that people are, like, complicated. Once people realize that humans are complicated, they will have magically regained their lost morality and can go back out into the wider world and spread the message to the rest of humanity.

REALLY?

That's your big reveal? A jumble of nonsense that isn't believable and has more holes than the literal Swiss cheese I am now fantasizing about eating rather than think more about this book? Yes, yes that's it. So what on Earth can happen in the next book? I want them to go outside the fence and realize that people don't suck that badly (like in Fahrenheit 451 where Guy Montag realizes that the true society is on the fringes) or that everyone's dead and gone (like I Am Legend but how would you know? You would literally have to peek into every corner of the Earth's surface. Or develop really intense technology. Because guess what? People we didn't know about still walk out of places like the Amazon on a disturbingly regular basis). But that won't happen. Tris will lead the new world order of angst and teenage depression and passionate kissing but not sex.

More than anything, I want to feel something genuine. Nothing in this whole series has had the ring of truth or the shine of the bona fide. Nothing resounds -- nothing strikes me to my core. The whole book felt like I was skimming over the surface of emotions and a hint of meaningfulness. I am reaching toward the surface but I cannot break it and get through to the real bulwark of human nature. And as such I am out of cares to give.

Will I read the last one? Yes. Will it be like pulling teeth? God, I hope not. However, my hopes are not high. I am the kind of person who needs to read through to the end (I finished Twilight. . .let's not talk about it), but I am not looking forward to it. The saving grace of this series is that its written in such an elementary fashion that it takes very little time to get through 500+ pages.

Here we go. Onward, but not necessarily upward.

Insurgent picked up right where Divergent left off, on the train moving away from Dauntless headquarters with Tris still haunted by what she had done during the simulation.

The story moves deeper into the revolution, building with more characters and more layers with each chapter. Tris and Tobias become closer but eventually their differing views on who to trust and what is right and wrong start to come between them. Thought they fight to stay together and not let their differences overcome them, it becomes extremely difficult and at many points later in the book looks as if their relationship is doomed.

This book captured me the way the first one did. We learn more about our characters and about Tobias's parents. Nothing is as it seems, which isn't surprising considering the curtains Tris and Tobias began to pull back about the revolution at the end of Divergent. You might think you have the gist of what is going on with regards to the government overthrow that Jeanine wants to occur, but you're probably wrong. There is a huge twist at the end of the book that will leave you dying for the final installment of the trilogy.

You won't be disappointed.

I give this book a definite 5 stars.


Happy reading!

3.5 stars

This book definitely got better in the second half. I'm actually kind of looking forward to the third book. Tris is kinda a psychopath and so are like half the characters in this series

This book picked up where Divergent left off.

I have noticed recently a lot of the books I have been reading I have been paying attention to the psychological aspect of what happened to the characters. Most of the story dealt with the aftermath from things Tris had experienced in Divergent. Despite Tris being a little broody every once in a while I thought it was well handled. I liked how Tris who had been raised in a sheltered environment had a difficult time dealing with the violence from the first book.

It was interesting how Tris felt she was learning lessons from each faction. I thought that was a good point, but then I began tho wonder about the world which had been built in the story. How could the characters who were not divergent not understand the need to learn from each other? How did they not realize they needed each other? Then I got stuck on the idea that a person is not all one thing. They may have one focus, but a person is more complex than that. That being said the book was fast paced and enjoyable to read.

Oh, yeah! The final scene places everything in context... and even so, Tris (our heroine) has been able to keep our attention and interest all the way through the book. Her ultimately honest interactions with others and her discoveries of herself...make her quite believable. I, for one, want to know what will happen next.