Insurgent

I read the novel Insurgent by Veronica Roth. This author’s style is more contemporary than anything, and very descriptive too. The words are very simple. The sentences are also very short. I honestly do not enjoy that type of style. I like my books to be lengthier and it’s diction to be greater. One paragraph that exemplifies this on page 42 is: “I inch closer to Tobias, not sure how to comfort him without making things worse. I pick up my apple with my left hand, and grab his hand under the table with my right. But I can’t keep my eyes away from Marcus. I want to know more about what he said to Johanna. And sometimes, if you want the truth, you have to demand it.” As you can see, the first two sentences are pretty descriptive. But as it carries on, the sentence length seems to become shorter. And in this paragraph, there are not any crazy uses of syntax whatsoever. All of that isn’t necessarily bad, as this book is written for teenagers. This creates an affect of rush and thinking fast, as the main character, Tris, is rapidly thinking about the situation at hand.

One of the best quotes in the whole entire novel is: “I feel bare. I didn't realize that I wore my secrets as armor until they were gone, and now everyone sees me as I really am.” I personally believe this is a really good sentence containing imagery. Although her secrets are not technically real, she still compares them to armor. It’s as if those secrets protected her throughout her journey. But since her secrets became visible to everyone, she no longer has that armor to protect her. She is now vulnerable to mental and physical attacks on the body and mind. This can also be applied to the real world, as almost everyone my age has secrets that, if found out, could destroy them, or, like Tris, make them vulnerable to the world.

After reading this book and its predecessor (Divergent), I would in fact recommend this book to my peers. It’s a good book, although not super challenging. But a book doesn’t always have to be a challenging read in order for it to be enjoyable. I’d especially recommend this novel, and not just the novel but rather the whole entire Divergent series. If a friend or classmate enjoyed series such as The Hunger Games, I’d say: “Hey, why not pick up this series. It’s pretty good.” Plus the movie is coming out in like a week, and you must read the book version before seeing it’s on screen adaptation. All in all, good book, 5/10 stars.