Movie Monday: Divergent

Divergent

When opportunity arises, I feature Movie Monday. I recognize that few people have the time or desire to read the amount I do, especially when it comes to the 100 Best Novels list. Luckily, Hollywood loves adapting a classic and I love a good story in any form.

I've put off writing this post. We watched this movie over a month ago, but I haven't been able to bring myself to write about it.

You all know about my rocky relationship with the Divergent series. I read the first one and loved it. Raved about it to all kinds of people. Read the second one, felt mildly disappointed, began to notice the cracks in the writing, but held out hope for the finish. Read the third one. Ugh. Regretted ever pushing people onto this series. Felt my recommendation credibility had been shot. Couldn't believe I loved the first one so much. 

And now, here we are back at the beginning. I was really hoping that the movie would rejuvenate some of that love I had for the story back when I had only read the first book. I was hoping the bad writing would be smoothed over by talented screenwriters.

I was wrong.

I know I'm going against the grain here, but I did not like this movie. At all.

Allegiant - Veronica Roth

Allegiant

Yesterday, I mapped out all my posts for the rest of the year. This will be the last formal review of 2013, but I have a lot of other exciting things planned! Make sure you are subscribed in some form so you don't miss anything! I promise it will be worth it.

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Do you remember way back when I discovered Divergent? It has been almost two years now. Veronica Roth's debut novel was one of the very first books I blogged about. 

If you go back and read the post, you'll have to forgive, well, just about everything. I was very new to this game. I've come so far and still have so far to go...

A few months after I wrote about Divergent, I covered its sequel, Insurgent. Feel free to go read that post. It's lengthy, but I it sums up a lot of things I feel about the series as a whole.

After reading Book Two, I waited over a year for the release of Book Three: Allegiant. Roth, as all series authors, understands the value of a good cliff hanger. The end of Insurgent was no exception. Thousands of fans subsided on movie news alone for months while we waited for this release in October of this year.

I bought the book in early November and have been picking away at it since.  The fact that it took me over a month to finish....that fact alone should say as much as the words in this review. (WARNING: Spoilers Ahead)

Insurgent - Veronica Roth

Insurgent

I have been raving about Divergent to everyone I meet for months now.  Mid-Hunger Games pandemonium, I kept recommending Veronica Roth's dystopian novel to those who enjoyed Suzanne Collins' series.  The first book captured my captured my attention and, honestly, is what ignited this whole dystopian kick I have been on lately.  I do not think I had even finished Divergent before I was questioning Google about the existence of a sequel.  Luckily for me, book two was released at the start of May.  Despite a valiant, though futile, effort to wait for my fiancé to catch up, I succumbed to my need to read this weekend and tore through Insurgent in a matter of a few (very busy) days.  I read at Kevin's softball game; I carried the book around with me during my sister-in-law's college graduation festivities (Congrats, Kristen!) and read at every moment it wasn't rude; I even read 200 pages in the car, a reading location I tend to avoid for fear of nausea.  (Warning: Spoilers Ahead)

Divergent - Veronica Roth

Divergent

I know that I said my next adventure into fiction would be Hunger Games.  However, I had put this book on reserve through the library and it became available, so Hunger Games got reshuffled again.  Do not get me wrong; I love the Hunger Games series.  It's phenomenal.  But so is this book.  In fact, it remind me quite a bit of Hunger Games, but still was different enough not be called a copy cat.