Imagine a country where everyone is separated into groups based on a quality she exhibits. You’d have your smart people, the do-gooders, the jocks and fighters, etc. Now picture being forced to choose where you belonged at the age of sixteen, but the catch is, unless you stay with your parents, you may never see them again. Your loyalty would be to your group, not your family. What would happen if you were different? What if you didn’t fit in? Or what if people thought you were dangerous, simply because you didn’t conform to their social norms?

That is exactly what Ms. Roth has done with her wonderful novel, “Divergent.” The story is set in the dystopian world, and the country we are introduced to is divided into five separate factions: Erudite, Candor, Amity, Dauntless and Abnegation. Each faction is created by people who have varying opinions on why the world collapsed before. Those who oppose violence created Amity, brave people who hate cowardice formed Dauntless. Abnegation values selflessness and providing for others’ needs before your own; in Candor, citizens are completely honest, cherishing truth over deceit. Then, there are those who believed that people are ignorant, and therefore, need to learn more and focus on gaining more knowledge; this faction is Erudite.

Beatrice (Tris) Prior is born into Abnegation, but at the age of 16, she (like all other teens her age) is given a test to see which faction she most belongs in. Her results are inconclusive, making her a Divergent, which she is told is a dangerous thing to be. She is sworn to secrecy, but now has a hard road ahead of her. She makes her choice of faction, but it isn’t easy to fit in, when she doesn’t quite belong.

Along the way, she has to fight her way through a grueling initiation in order to be an official member of her faction. She makes friends and enemies, and even finds love in an unexpected place. Her journey is full of action and excitement, as she finds out that something much bigger than she could imagine is going on. Tris also discovers that the relationships she has formed aren’t going to be easy to keep once jealousy, love and hate get involved; but she has to learn how to manage all of this if she wants to succeed.

There is unrest between the various factions, and Tris has to decide what is most important to her: being Divergent, her faction, or her family. War breaks out, but no one fully understands what happens. All Tris knows is that people are dying, and she is among the few who could help. Will she take the risk? Will she succeed in preserving her country? What will happen since she is Divergent? The only way to find out the answers to these questions is to read “Divergent” by Veronica Roth. And if you enjoyed that, be sure to check out the sequel, titled, “Insurgent.”