Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

I often have problems remembering story plots after reading a book since I am sorta a concentration-deprived person but this book is an exception. After reading it, I could still recall scenes after scenes accordingly right from start to finish, savouring all the bits that held me in awe. Ahhhh……

Divergent is exciting, well-paced yet intense, riveting to the point of throwing me into the spirals of thrills and suspense. I was totally sucked in. To be honest, I found this book a bit “draggy” at the beginning, yet the pace picked up soon after and since then I was captivated. The book was “unputdownable” , literally. It is a dystopian tale set in the far future in Chicago, USA. Apparently, it is post-war period where the country is still recovering itself from shambles and though it is not detailed in the book, the people seem to be kept within a compound bordered by gates. The current government segregates the people into five factions, namely Dauntless (The Brave), Amity( The Peaceful), Candor( The Honest), Erudite( The Intelligent), The Abnegation ( The Selfless) based on the ideals of how a well-governed country should build of to prevent from more wars and more disintegration in human kind. When one reaches sixteen, regardless of which faction you are from, you will go through a computer-initiated test where you face with simulated scenes to test you on all the five traits mentioned. The test result tells you which faction you belong to. However, you are free to choose any faction that you want as you will spend the rest of your life committing to the chosen faction. Since all five factions are separated, once you switch your faction, it means you are no longer seeing your family and your faction members. Beatrice (Tris) grows up as an Abnegation but all her life, she feels she doesn’t fit in like her parents and her brother, Caleb. She is torn between leaving her faction and family and choosing a whole new life ahead of her. When her test result shows she is a Divergent, meaning she fits in all the traits of three factions – Abnegation, Dauntless, Erudite with equal dominance, she is told to keep this as a secret. Now being a divergent is dangerous as the previous cases show that Divergents would be killed. It is revealed later that such aptitude test and simulation program are developed by an Erudite leader who wants to eliminate Abnegation due to some resource/ food allocation issues ( more than that, in actual fact). In order to do so, she needs an army and who could have made a better army other than Dauntless? Hence, she conspires with Dauntless leaders and develops simulation serum to be used in the training on the Dauntless initiates with the purpose of controlling their minds once they are injected with the solution. During the initiation, Tris goes through physical and mental training, namely combat training and mind simulation training to focus on overcoming own fear landscapes. She comes out on top finally. During the training, she falls in love with her initiation instructor, Tobias, nicknamed Four.

The story is propelled to its climax when all the Dauntless faction members, who are now injected with simulation serum and controlled in their minds, are to follow the computer-generated instructions and head off to Abnegation to kill them off. Tris and Tobias, being divergents, are resistant to mind manipulation manage to terminate the computer system and escape with the hard drive that contains the important data to seek refuge in Amity.

Divergent is a cleverly thought-out and well-planned story, written in simple and easy to follow plots which make reading such a marvelous thriller a breeze. Having said that, there are times when I had my heart pounding and screaming for the near-death experience both Tris and Tobias went through. The jumping-off-the-roof scenes, gunpoint scenes, and the fear landscapes scenes are enough to make Divergent a major cliffhanger. One thing that I find lacking in this novel is there seems to be less and if any, short conversations. I would love to read more witty repartee between characters yet Tris and Tobias are both not the chatty type. Tobias, especially is painfully inhibited with his words. Tris, to me, is not a very likable character as I think the change in her is abrupt and awkward. One minute, she is vulnerable and unsure of herself and the next she is gritting her teeth, getting vicious, wanting to punch someone in the face. The transformation from being a childlike smallish girl to a muscular and gun-shooting girl is a bit too much for me to handle. And it happens only in a matter of a few weeks time. Tobias, on the other hand, has a more well-developed portrait, which I liked.

I am really glad that I read this book! The author, Veronica Roth truly deserves a standing ovation for writing such a successful debut that accumulates so much fanfare that it is now being made into a movie! Really, really looking forward to the movie.

Book Review: Looking for Alaska by John Green

I love bildungrosman/ coming-of-age books and a good one is really hard to come by, which is why I was so happy that I read Looking For Alaska by John Green. This book reminds me of The Catcher of the Rye, for some reason. Perhaps both fall under the coming-of-age category with elements of juvenile delinquency and both are so well-written, in a different way, of course. Yet this book is more than that. You can only read it to know better.

Miles Halter, a sixteen-year-old high school boy, leading a life of boredom at his school with practically no friends, the kind of boy you might call geeky as he sure is. He has a thing for famous last words and loves reading biographies to find out lives by these exciting people. Motivated by the poet Francois Rabelais’s last words “I go to seek a Great Perhaps”, he decides to leave home to start his boarding school life in Alabama, hoping to start seeking a Great Perhaps life ahead of him. What follows is a journey of finding meaning of life, friendship and more self-discovery with a bunch of other amazing characters like Alaska, Colonel, Takumi and Lara. Each character has very strong personality that exudes teen charisma that is hard for you not to like. Alaska is wild, self-destructive, moody, enigmatic yet highly intelligent, very likable and influential and she loves playing pranks. The story revolves mostly around her and how the other characters come to terms with their inner guilt by “unraveling her mystery”. She is the kind of girl that you never get her and like she says, “That is the whole point.” Colonel is Alaska’s best friend, also Miles’ roomate and the bromance that they strike up at the later part of the story is one of the best parts of the novel. So what is the great perhaps that Miles is looking for and whether or not he’s found it and what would that be is up for the readers to ponder upon after reading it.

It is a beautifully-written story, peppered with so much dry humour that makes you laugh out loud. It is also intense and heart-wrenching at the same time. It has everything a good novel has – a mixture of everything yet so relevant, which makes the story all the more gripping. There are so many quotable quotes that will leave you think about even after a long time reading it. The conversations between the characters are witty, funny and so authentic and they don’t at all sound like ignorant, angst-ridden teenagers and there is always something you can relate to in their experiences.

There is so much goodness in this book that I don’t even know how to start nor where to end. There are a lot of heart-felt moments in this book where you would close your eyes and give it some thoughts before moving on. Also, it explores aspects on how some world religions bring out their respective message to the world and how it can or cant be achieved. Miles’ answer to the question posed by his world religions teacher, which was initially asked by Alaska, as to how will one ever get out of the labyrinth of suffering is perhaps the Great Perhaps he’s been looking for all this while? Or perhaps not now but somewhere later in his life where the Great Perhaps may come in different shapes, sizes and manifestations. Whatever it might be, it must have something to do with beauty.

It is a great read and definitely deserves a re-read for me to discover more Great Perhaps!

Book Review: Bittersweet by Danielle Steel

Half way through the book, I was already feeling daunted by the predictable plot and the hackneyed character development. In a word, it was a yawn. Yet, i still ploughed through the book till the very end.

Bittersweet is a tale about a fortysomething homemaker, India, who is a former award-winning photojournalist, now happily married to her husband, Dough for 17 years, at least she thought they are. They have four happy kids and a regular home life that is admirable to everyone and for 17 years India has led a monotonous life, though she still feels there is always a place in her heart for photography but for the sake of her family, she knows she has to compromise. Instead of bracing her way in the deserted jungles or war zones, she is now taking pictures of her kids’ soccer games and doing car pools. A conflict arises when she is tempted to take up an assignment but Dough has been adamant of not letting her do it and he also makes it clear that it is the deal that she made once they got married, ie she was to be a stay-at-home-mum. India feels stabs of pain when Dough says to her point blank that he doenst love her anymore and there is no point in romance after being married for years and her role is to take care of his kids and nothing more. India is torn. This is when Paul Ward, a wall street tycoon, comes into the picture and offers her a good solace she has been wanting to get from her own husband. The camaraderie that they shared over the summer has blossomed into many friendly phone conversations and heart-to-heart talks. Paul is especially against the way Dough treats India and he not only offers her a shoulder to cry on, he is fully supportive of her pursuing her dreams, which only makes India more courageous to stand up to Dough when they have arguments. Though they both have secretly developed feelings for each other, they brush it aside and prefer to do the right thing which is to stay faithfully married to their spouse. Then Serene, Paul’s wife, dies in an airplane crash. Paul retreats into his yacht and spends months on sea to mourn for his loss. More phone conversations ensue. India is sure by now that she likes Paul more than she thought and Paul, haunted by nightmares and plagued by survivor guilt, makes it clear to India that he could never be “her light at the end of the tunnel”. India, in the midst of a divorce crisis with Dough, feels devastated and knowing that her little fantasy of being with Paul is now shattered has been a double blow to her. They still stay as friends and when Paul decides to come to visit India after months of sailing, the chemistry sparkles once again between them and Paul and India take the plunge into this relationship and are so loved up for A WEEK when Paul, suddenly freaks out and thought it is a mistake to start the relationship with India. He is constantly gnawed by his conscience for surviving Serena and the haunting dreams he has make him feel like a betrayer. At the same time, the prospect of rising four potential juvenile delinquents puts him off too. So he leaves India and tells her not to call him anymore. This time round, India is completely crushed, even more so from her previous marriage to Dough.

India, now divorced with four kids, with her ex-husband in the midst of marrying his new girlfriend, Paul’s leaving is an insult added to the wound. All the emotional torments she has undergone have toughened her up especially after she survives a car crash. She becomes a renewed person and she channels her energy into taking care of her kids and taking up assignments. By happenstance, she meets Paul again during her assignment in Rwanda, they both agree to rekindle their friendship. From the conversations they have, it is evident that India has grown up more mature and she talks about how her right guy would be the one coming though the hurricane for her. Paul, obviously still very much in love with her, is in self-denial again saying his perfect woman is his late wife, Serena, while battling within himself to say it is her, India. After the assignment is done, both go back to their separate lives until one day Hurricane Barbara threatens to hit her place and Paul comes through the storm to find her. The story ends in both embracing each other, standing in the storm. Pretty predictable, no?

I give it three stars even when I think the plot is cliched and it is so predictable. Having said that, there was some surprise thrown in here and there for good measure and it makes reading this book a good experience though I have to say it is definitely not a page-turner. I love the portrayal of India in Bittersweet by DS in the later part of the novel when she has come to her senses. All the while, she is the one doing all the giving and loving but in return she gets a broken heart. Now she is more assured of herself and knows she deserves better, which makes her even more dazzling to Paul. India is one strong character that many career-women-turned-homemakers would be able to relate to. I am not at all warmed up to Paul’s character in as I think he is indecisive for a man of great achievement and living in self-denial has made him look weak.

Overall, it is an okay but not a compelling read.

Book Review: Who’s that girl? by Alexandra Potter

This is my first of Alexandra Potter’s and i have to say i truly enjoyed reading it. I was drawn to this book mainly by this tagline “If only you knew what you know now”. Also, i am exactly that kind of girl who would always play time-travel either to my past or my future so i thought this book might be my cup of tea and it turned out just as that. Before i read this book, i wondered how the author would spin a time-traveling tale in a modern age setting as time travel is physically impossible unless there is some magic, i guess. Whether it is just a figment of Charlotte’s imagination or the morphine effects done to her brain, we are not sure. In fact, has she really met her twenty-one-year-old self in real life? No one can tell. however, the main concern here is Charlotte, now 32, after meeting her 22-year old, she has changed back to the person she had always wanted to be – the jovial, live-in-the-moment girl who holds onto her passion, which is writing. Looking at her 32 self, which is a far cry from what she had wanted to be, she starts to have all the reflective moments as in is she making the right choice to move in with her current boyfriend which she realises she isnt in love with. Also, it then dawns on her that she had never thought of being a PR person, let alone owning a company. All her current allergies are probably come from being over-cautious to food and her health, which she didnt give it a hoot in her 22-year old self. If meeting her younger self changes her life, rekindling the relationship with the barman who had secret crush on her ten years ago makes her life complete.

This is a tale which is completely funny, relatable (esp if you are a thirtysomething) and definitely makes us reflect on our current life and also looks back at our younger years when we are almost fearless, spontaneous and laugh like there is no tomorrow.
As much as I love the story, I thought it would have been even more compelling if only there is more appearance of Oliver in the book as I think his character is not vividly painted out to readers. It is a such a likable character that it is a shame he doenst deserve more limelight.

Book Review: Code to Joy

I love this book. In fact, among all the self-help books i have read so far, this is the only one i trust like a bible. I love the idea that we are all meant to be happy. Consciously, we try to be happy and our ultimate goal is to be happy in our life. No one in their right frame of mind would want to be a sad person. Anyone? However, the problem is, subconsciously, due to some previous microtraumatic experience which we might have already forgotten, we are held back which makes us lack of confidence and fear to succeed even. Here is where the four-step solution comes into picture and it works. It truly works on me. The story of the flea and the elephant paints a vivid picture of our two minds – conscious mind and subconscious mind. I am amazed at how much we are controlled by our subconscious mind without us realising it.

The best part of the book is it promotes a technique called neuromuscular feedback or muscle testing/applied kinesiology. The series of exercises are utterly simple yet effective and that is what i have been practising on a regular basis even after a month reading the book. This therapy is called energy psychology, a rather recent finding, it seems.

This is not only a good read, but also a code to joy, no less.