By The Bel: Veronica Roth’s – “Divergent” Book vs. Film

The Book

“She turns to face the future in a world that’s falling apart.” Veronica Roth has set the bar high for film makers, creating extreme scenes that will lend themselves really well to the big screen. The storytelling is gritty and dark and the settings are typical of the dystopian genre, including the almost communist flavour.

The characters are delightfully flawed and I love the journey Beatrice, ‘Tris’, takes when discovering the truth about herself. There is a small amount of romance and I think it adds a much needed silver lining to the thundercloud doom and gloom of the struggle to survive.

The insane risk-taking that is the norm for the The Dauntless faction includes jumping from trains, jumping from buildings, and facing your fears head on. I look forward to seeing how the director, Neil Burger, approaches the task of making the viewer empathise with the characters in a way that is equally as gut-twisting as how Roth has written the scenes.

There are a few fight scenes that are extremely graphic in the book, and I’m already cringing at the fact that they’re integral to the plot, so they really must be shown in the film.

Whether or not the actors will match what I had in my head… I’ll let you know.

Paperback, 487 pages

Published February 28th 2012 by Katherine Tegen Books (first published April 25th 2011)

original title

Divergent

ISBN

0062024035 (ISBN13: 9780062024039)

The Film

I don’t know where to start with the gushing and positivity I want to express here. This film was based on the book and the fact that they had Veronica Roth in on the script helped enormously, especially with consistency and authenticity.

From the plain yet stunning Shailene Woodley, who was a spectacular Beatrice (Tris), to the deliciously chiselled features of Theo James as Four, Venus Kanani and Mary Vernieu got the casting spot on.

Neil Burger took the book and brought it into reality so well. The zip line sequence was enough to have my heart pounding and my fear of heights going crazy. Hats off to the visual effects team (officially the longest credit list I think I’ve seen so far) for blowing my mind for two and a half hours.

The fight scenes perhaps weren’t as brutal as what was happening in my head during the book—thank goodness—though the stunt crew were top notch and also deserve massive kudos for making me cringe and wince so many times.

If we don’t see Divergent in award nomination lists next year, I think I’ll give up on listening to ‘critical acclaim’ in future.

The Wrap Up – Even if you were to read the book after the film, I think you’d gain something from it. This is not one of those glaringly obvious moments of ‘the book is better’. The book has more wiggle room and your imagination is the only boundary. There are differences, but they are not enough to make one better or worse than the other.

If you have the chance to see the film in the cinemas, go do it. On the big screen it is just wow. You’ll be blown away.