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An insult to people that work for a living
From page 25.
"This is where the factionless live. Because they failed to complete initiation into whatever faction they chose, they live in poverty, doing work no one else wants to do. They are janitors and construction workers and garbage collectors; they make fabric and operate trains and drive buses."
Reading on in this book the reader is led to believe the only jobs that are meaningful are government jobs. No significant character in this book MAKES anything...they are all parasites on the working class. This is in direct contrast to Hunger Games where the working class rebels against a central government gone mad. I am no Marxist but it turns my stomach to see so many young readers reading a book that depicts people that do actual work in such a negative light.
I have mild spoilers below here.
This book is not well edited. While I like a good Sci-Fi novel, with invented environments, they must be believable. I cant get past some gaping holes in the Divergent story telling;
Dauntless Faction only admits 10 new members a year? Give the nature of the factions lifestyle lets give them an average lifespan of 56 years. They join at age 16...so 10 recruits a year over 40 years gives a total of 400 of them total? Of that number some are running tattoo parlors, clothing stores and administrative roles. The balance left to do Dauntlesses core role of defense of the city. Not really enough people to watch over Chicago... (today Chicago employees about 12,000 cops)
At one point, in the black of night, Tris is descending the very large Ferris Wheel on Navy Pier..several hundred feet in the air. A support gives way and she is left dangling on finger tips from a pipe. Her companion, Four, who is just a few feet away does not move to grab her. Instead he descends the entire Ferris Wheel in the dark, and finds the control room, starts the Ferris Wheel that he admits he has never operated before and rotates the wheel so that Tris is brought to safety... Really? How long did that take?
The nine Dauntless candidates sleep in a single shared dorm room. During the night following the posting of the competition standings someone creeps out of bed and stabs the leading candidate in the eyeball with a knife. Nearly murdering him in his sleep. A little drama ensues around the chaotic moments right after the attack ... but NOTHING else. The attacker is not identified or searched for. So do they all just jump back in bed and go to sleep? Just turn off the lights and not wonder who the attacker might be? Or if they will strike again? Really?
