This post is in honor of a speshul person who is near and dear to my heart and yet oh-so far away. We must meet up this summer. *Jedi mind-trick hand-wave* Thou must not be too busy. Thou must make time to have at least one weekend with the "Atlanta girl". Thou must come and eat ice cream and watch lots of movies and tell me all of your other crazy driving stories. Incentive enough?
~ ~ ~
Disclaimer: This post contains major spoilers for both the Hunger Games series and the Divergent series. Of course, if you're midway through the books, better I break the bad news to you rather than the authors who use flowery phrases and comically dramatic sentences to bring you to tears.
~ ~ ~
Hey all,Today, I talked for about three hours with a long distance friend. Ahhh, luvly times, I tell you. As it is, about an hour of our conversation was…er…synonymous to:
"DIVERGENT! YOU MUST READ THE SERIES!"
"NOOO. I REFUSE I REFUSE I REFUSE."
"REAAAD."
"MAKE ME."
"YOU ONLY READ ONE THIRD OF THE FIRST BOOK. HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT YOU DON'T LIKE THE SERIES?!"
"I KNOW BECAUSE I'M AN AUTHOR."
"YOU MUST GET ATTACHED TO THE CHARACTERS!"
"YEAH, SO THEY CAN DIE?!"
"THAT'S EXACTLY LIKE THE HUNGER GAMES, AND YET YOU'RE OKAY WITH THE HUNGER GAMES?!"
"YES!"
"THEN READ."
"NOOO."
Imagine all of that through a happy dosage of bad internet and such serious lag that our voices sounded like they were filtered through an autotune machine; you can believe that I had a very eventful afternoon. :)
However, I was stumped on one question that my speshul friend asked me, which was, "You've only read one third of the first book. How can you say that you don't like the series?"
Much to her credit, my friend had several arguments on her side, the first of which is the fact that, ladies and gentlemen, I truly only have read the first third of the first book of the Divergent series, even though I have read the Wikipedia articles on all three books. My limited knowledge certainly dampers my ability to accurately judge the Divergent series.
Do I repent?
Of course not, sillies.
This is the twenty-first century.
I shall judge as I will.
*sarcasssm*
A second point against me is the true fact that the Divergent series is not all too much different in genre from the Hunger Games. There is rebellion, mental torture, a female protagonist, a muscular and weapon-wielding significant other, war, and the books' climaxes are virtually identical. If I like the Hunger Games, oughtn't I enjoy the Divergent series?
Technically yes.
But I don't.
So what's the difference?
In three words:
INTENSENESS VERSUS DYSTOPIA
In the Hunger Games, I was quickly able to pick up a running theme: the concept that mindless killing and killing as a threat is evil. While the theme is unarguably intense, it was never abandoned or compromised throughout the entire trilogy, and Suzanne Collins (despite her lack of accurate grammatical skills) did an excellent job of portraying the cruelties of bloody death from war in a creative and thought-provoking series.
On the other hand, I read through the first hundred-odd pages of the Divergent and was still lost as to the theme. The book seemed to be following a girl, who was placed in depression-inducing circumstances, and those depression-inducing circumstances alone seemed - to Veronica Roth - to be enough to build the plot.
Furthermore, did Tris, the protagonist, have a character imbalance? Not as far as I could see. Was Tris really alive and relatable? Nope. Maybe I pitied her, but I couldn't see her situations and challenges and relate because she had so few inner struggles. The book really seemed to move as a basic skeleton stitched together with shallow (though well-described) characters, and, personally, I think Veronica Roth could have benefitted greatly if she had stopped to consider adding a visible character imbalance earlier on in the story.
All that to say, what makes the difference between the Hunger Games and the Divergent series is that one is intense and the other is dystopian. One includes character imbalance. (The fact that Katniss went from being a chaotic, selfish brat to a semi-likable adult really lessens the horror of the trilogy's ending.) One didn't. (Tris had no such redeeming qualities.) One contains a theme. (At least I walked away with a moral in the Hunger Games.) One didn't. (Whaaa--? Everything's a lie…?! Trust nobody…?!)
Two simple elements can make or break a story for this picky author named Clove, y'all: themes and character developments. Are you using them? Refuse to get lazy as Veronica Roth did; take the time to put some extra life into your book, and you'll find much benefit in doing so.
Write on!
Clove
No comments:
Post a Comment