I read a lot
of books and I watch a lot of movies. As
I’m sure you know there are a lot of movies that are based on books. In those cases I typically read the book
before seeing the movie….or if I haven’t had the chance to see the movie before
reading the book I usually skip reading it.
I do this because usually the movie doesn’t hold a candle to the book
(at least with how my brain works).
Divergent has proved to be an exception to this rule for me. I saw the movie before reading the book…and
then knew I HAD to read the book (the trilogy actually). So I quickly downloaded the trilogy on to my
Kindle and started my journey into Veronica Roth’s world of dystopia and
divergence.
Thankfully,
I was pleasantly surprised with how closely the movie adaptation followed the
book. Don’t get me wrong…there were plenty
of changes – some things added and some things excluded – but overall I was
pleased.
Out of
curiosity I did some reading (surprise, surprise) to see what changes I may
have missed. In case you are interested
I’m including some (but not all) of the changes here.
***Warning***Spoilers
Below***If you have not read the book or seen the movie and plan to do so you
might want to stop reading now.
Divergent is
the story of Beatrice (Tris) Prior (played by Shailene Woodley), a 16 year old
girl living in dystopian Chicago.
Society is divided into five factions based on the particular virtues:
Abnegation (the selfless), the faction she grew up in; Dauntless (the brave);
Candor (the honest); Amity (the peaceful); and Erudite (the intelligent). While the children grow up in one particular
faction when they are 16 years old they must select their faction of choice at
the Choosing Ceremony. Most tend to stay
with their original faction with very few changes. Beatrice’s choice surprises even her when she
chooses Dauntless. What follows is the
story of her transformation into the world of the Dauntless as she undergoes
rigorous physical and psychological tests and figures out to handle a secret
she is trying to keep from everyone. And
then there is Four (played by Theo James) – the Dauntless leader she meets and
develops a romance with.
The movie
has quite a bit of other talent staring in as well: Ashley Judd plays Beatrice’s mom Natalie,
Tony Goldwyn plays her father Andrew, Ansel Elgort plays her brother Caleb, Jai
Courtney plays the Dauntless leader Eric, Ray Stevensen plays Four’s father
Marcus, Maggie Q plays the Dauntless tattoo artist Tori, Miles Teller plays the
despicable Peter, Zoe Kravitz plays Beatrice’s friend Christina, Mekhi Phifer
plays Max, Ben Lloyd-Hughes plays Will, Christian Madsen plays Al, Amy Newbold
plays Molly, and the extremely talented Kate Winslet plays Jeanine.
- · Book: Four is only 18 years old in the book. / Movie: Four is 24 years old. Theo James (who plays Four) was 28 at the time of filming but is believable as 24. His age of 24 works for the movie except for the romance with Tris. Tris is only 16 (in both the book and movie), which makes their romance a little bit of an issue. For many this will probably be frowned upon. Theo James looks young enough that you might not even think too much about it. I understand that they reason they made this change was because it made it more believable that Four advanced as he did in Dauntless at the age of 24 rather than 18. While I understand this I don’t think was a necessary change.
- · Book: The Dauntless only wear black. / Movie: They also wear red. I have no idea why they made this change. I think the fact that they wore black in the book was more symbolic of what they stood far.
- · The character Uriah is not included in the movie version. I read that the studio said he would be in the sequels and would be a “great actor”.
- · Book: Edward loses an eye (by way of a butter knife!). / Movie: Edward doesn’t lose his eye. This is a significant change in my opinion because the violent act towards him plays heavily into his frame of mind in future stories.
- · Several differences relating to the assault on Tris by Drew, Peter, and Al.
- · Peter is much more threatening and violent in the book. On that note…Peter is played by Miles Teller in the movie. He did fine in that role but I’m not so sure if he would have been up to task if Peter was as volatile as he was in the book. I read that Miles Teller originally wanted to play Four. I am so glad that wasn’t what happened because he does not suit that role at all for me.
- · Several differences relating to Tris’ fear landscape (much better in the book).
- · Book: Tris is caught by the other initiates when she’s done zip lining. / Movie: Tris has to pull on a brake and stop herself when she’s done.
- · Book: Tris beats Molly. / Movie: Molly beats Tris. (Really…what is the point of this change?)
- · Book: Tris also gets a tattoo of the Dauntless symbol and Abnegation symbol. / Movie: The only tattoo shown are the birds.
- · Book: Visiting Day / Movie: What visiting day???? In the book Tris’ mom comes to visit her and they have a very important conversation. In the movie this conversation is had a completely different location never mentioned in the book.
- · Several differences with the “capture the flag” game.
- · There is a lot more of Jeanine Matthews in the movie than in the book. I suspect that this is because Kate Winslet played Jeanine Matthews and anytime you have an actress of that caliber in your movie you use her as much as possible.
- · The ending is slightly different in the movie – again I think this is due to Kate Winslet.
Since seeing
the movie not only did I read the book, but I also followed it with the rest in
the series. I have now completed
Insurgent, and Allegiant, Free Four (a short story), as well as Four: The
transfer (told from his point of view).
There are other Four stories coming out in July and I will be reading
those as well (reviews on them later).
If you enjoy
reading I encourage you to read this series.
It is considered young adult however adults will enjoy it as well. The movie was excellent too. I am looking forward to seeing how “Hollywood”
manages to bring the rest of the story to the big screen.
You can find
Divergent, and the other books written by Veronica Roth here:
You can
follow Veronica Roth on her page here:
And you can
follow her on Goodreads here:
And finally,
here is the link to the movie’s website:
***
Divergent (2014)
(PG-13)…my rating: A- (Go see it!)
Divergent
(by Veronica Roth)…my rating: 4 ½ / 5 stars (Go read it!)
