Divergent

(Day Thirty-Two)

I just finished the first of three books in the Divergent series. Michael read them before me and says they're so badly written he couldn't finish them -- that's pretty serious coming from Michael, because even he says he can't usually tell if something is badly written.

So I'm surprised I liked the first book as much as I did, though really I shouldn't be. It's a popular series among teenage girls. Yeah, it's not the best writing, and there are some flaws in plot and character development. I would never put it at the top of my "must read" list. But the main character is brave, smart, and good, and the plot touches on one of my favorite themes -- that good and bad aren't black and white. Good people can be bad, and bad people can be good, and everyone has the capacity for both. The setting is interesting -- Chicago far, far in the future -- as are the rules and characteristics of the universe.

Interjection: please forgive the girlishness that follows.

And, like any good series for teenage girls, there's a love story. The teenage girl that still lives inside me loves it. I can't wait to read the next one. Tobias and Tris are great, and here's why: their relationship has all the standard components of a good romance novel. No, there's no graphic sex, at least not yet, and I doubt it's coming. But I'm talking about the real reason women read romance novels -- yeah, they like reading the sex, but what's really appealing is the fairy tale fantasy of love.

The man needs to be strong, to stand up for the girl and to protect her when necessary.
However, he also has to see that she's strong, too, and that she can take care of herself. He has to admire that.
He has to understand her -- the real her, not the person she presents to the world. All women dream of being understood. Scratch that -- all people dream of being understood.
He has to be willing to be vulnerable, but only with her, because he trusts her and wants her to see the real him.
It's not necessary, but it helps if there is some sort of secret and forbidden component to their love that they need to overcome.
There need to be situations where he saves her but also situations where she saves him.
Their love needs to be stronger than something seemingly insurmountable...like freaking mind control.
There need to be "love scenes" that aren't sex -- small, sweet, and relatively innocent moments like when he presses the small of her back in a hallway or she makes him listen to her heart beat to calm down his own.

All this adds up to recreate that same emotion I felt as a girl reading that one Nancy Drew book where she's poisoned and her boyfriend Ned has to help her find the antidote before she DIES. I just took ten minutes to figure out what that book was called for you. You're welcome.

So, I liked the book. I see its flaws but I like it anyway, because it made me feel happy.

I think Michael said books two and three get worse, so we'll see how I feel later.