Reddit mentions of Divergent (Divergent Trilogy, Book 1)

It's probably pretty telling that the character I relate to most in fiction is pretty damn unlikeable. That would be Victoria/Egg in Boy Proof: self-sufficient, cynical, and obsessively nerdy while pushing everyone away. It was so refreshing to read about a character who didn't have friends fawning over her and wasn't treated as a martyr because people weren't fawning over her. Narratively, the situation was a pretty clear-cut case of "You really brought that on yourself, you know" rather than "Poor MC!"

I will draw a distinction between characters who are meant to be unlikeable, characters who are inadvertently unlikeable, and characters I probably wouldn't want to be friends with in real life.

Whether your MC is a hero(ine) or antihero(ine), you're supposed to be rooting for them. Everyone thinks they're the hero of their own story, and they should have internal motivations and justifications to match. The bully isn't spreading a rumor about the girl she hates because she's a bully: she's doing it because she feels she deserves it. Show why she thinks the objective victim deserves it. Maybe she humiliated her at the science fair and she's been nursing a grudge. Maybe she gave her a nasty look on the bus. Maybe everyone thinks she's Little Miss Perfect and she's not. Maybe the evidence said she stole the money but she didn't really. Reading about these justifications and looking at situations from another perspective is why reading good fiction makes you more empathetic: you get to know characters who have entirely different thought processes.

Some more examples:

Meant to be unlikeable, but you're rooting for them because you understand them:

• Gilly in The Great Gilly Hopkins (MG about foster care) - angry, rude, thieving
  
• Elisa in The Girl of Fire and Thorns (YA fantasy about a fat, religious princess) - borderline case as I thought she was a very sympathetic character, but she does wallow quite a bit in self-pity before she develops a (seriously impressive) spine.
  
• Tris in the Circle of Magic books (MG-YA fantasy about mage school) - abrasive and prickly
  
• Daisy in How I Live Now (YA WWIII) - emotionally flat
  
• Eleanor in Eleanor & Park (YA contemporary set in the 80s) - pretty sure the reader is meant to understand that Eleanor is isolated by both personality and circumstance. She's not exactly reaching out to anyone.
  
• Claudia in Incarceron (YA steampunk/fantasy mashup) - imperious, demanding, self-centered
  
• Meggy in Alchemy and Meggy Swan (MG historical fiction) - cranky and resistant to change
  
• Matilda in Matilda Bone (MG historical fiction) - pious and judgmental
  
  Meant to be likeable and they're not:
  
  
• Ivy Rowe in Fair and Tender Ladies (adult historical fiction about Appalachia) - twit
  
• Eve in... Eve (YA dystopia) - self-centered twit
  
• Tris in Divergent (YA dystopia) - no discernible personality that I could find to base a judgment on
  
• Briar Wilkes in Boneshaker (YA steampunk + zombies) - Again with the lack of personality thing. Among all the characters, she came closest to having a personality, but was still a cardboard cutout.
  
  When characters are supposed to be likeable and they're just not, the fault usually seems to lie with the author for failing to tack on a complete, nuanced personality. Or, the personality is there and the decisions run entirely contrary to the informed traits and it's clearly not a case of "humans are occasionally inconsistent."
  
  I think what annoys me the most is when characters make dumb decisions that run contrary to what we know about that character. For example, in Eve, [when](#s "Caleb tells her that she should move on because all of the small children she supposedly loves and all of the men she's supposed to be deathly afraid of will certainly die when she is tracked, Eve throws a hissy fit because obviously he's a cruel man who doesn't want her love and is just trying to get rid of her.") Also, even though she's never seen a movie or really read about (what the reader knows as) modern times, "the crickets sound like cheerleaders!" :D :D :D This runs entirely contrary to what we're supposed to know about her (she's desperate to get to a different location, she's terrified of men, she protects people).
  
  In comparison, Nell from Into the Forest (adult dystopia) makes some [objectively terrible decisions](#s "like giving up a chance to return to society and fingering her sister"), but they make sense for the context and what we know about her character (scared of change, totally focused on the memories of her family). Daisy from How I Live Now is another unlikeable but sympathetic character making [bad decisions](#s "such as splitting up the group, obsessing about an incestuous relationship, etc"), but again they're presented in a way that makes sense for her mindset and circumstances.
  
  Likeable characters I probably wouldn't want to be friends with, but root for anyways:
  
  
• Aly in Trickster's Choice - keeps trying to score points off people with snark and humiliating come-uppances. Fun to read about, but annoying in real life.
  
• Gemma Doyle in A Great and Terrible Beauty - overly concerned with being in the popular crowd, which is not my thing.
  
• Tally from Uglies - again with popularity as a major motivation
  
• Anna in A Countess Below Stairs - so selfless she'd make me suspicious
  
  These girls have complete personalities and are sympathetic in text despite their flaws. However, I feel like I "know" them well enough that I can tell we probably wouldn't get along in real life.
  
  tl;dr: Readers are supposed to root for the MC even if they are objectively unlikeable. When the reader doesn't want to root for the MC, it's probably because the author didn't convey their personality clearly or consistently. I wouldn't want to be real-life friends with many of my favorite characters.

I know you said choose two, but I'm gonna go ahead and do three ;)

1 - It's a children's book but my favorite book ever is Mandy by Julie Andrews. It's about a little girl who finds a cottage in a field behind the orphanage where she lives and makes it her own. When I was little I read that book over and over wishing I could find an abandoned cottage somewhere near my house.
2 - Least favorite is hands down, Bleak House, by Charles Dickens. I had to read it my first year of college and while the other books we read were great, that one was just painful to get through. I didn't even get close to finishing it.
3 - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist was my favorite book to movie just because the book was so bad but the movie was excellent.

e-books:
Divergent
And then all kinds of French readers
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Hard copy book I need this book to keep the potterhead in me happy and give me new treats to bake!

E-book. I need this book so I can read it before the movie comes out in a couple weeks!

If I were a book, I hope that I'd be a great one!

Bakugan Battle Brawlers looks like a fun game and it is only $5.97 prime - for you

Sadly I no longer have a gaming system or a TV for that matter... But I LOVE to read so if I win I would like to start the Divergent series.

Thanks for the contest. Yay for prime!

This is the first book in the series I am currently reading. It's YA but I like it.

I recommend the book Divergent to you because it is one of my favorites of all time.

You are looking good! Thanks so much for the contest. I love cosmetics!

M rules

Hi there... Well Of course I'm going to have to recommend Divergent. Why? Well because I liked it. If you are a fan of dystopian novels and enjoyed hunger games this is one for you! Bonus, when you are done you can go watch the movie...


Ok- so there is a high chance that you might have already read that one. So I wanted to suggest another too just in case. If you have not read For one more day, you absolutely must! However I warn you bring some tissues! Seriously, read it! It is amazing. Also on the plus side it is relatively short so I'm sure you would finish it within only a few hours of your flight and can pick up another one! :)

Thanks for the contest! Have a great flight and have lots of fun!

My hair is longer but my sis in law has a cute short cut and uses these products

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I'd love to read this

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CFA9RS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1OCYQBIQB0HKN&coliid=I1984HXN3P0UZW

Your hair is adorable.

Short hairs, no cares

Matched and Delirium seem to be popular among that crowd, but I wouldn't get her both as they are the same damn book premise, right down to the MC's government-approved hobby. Delirium has better writing. Matched is easier to read and has more likable characters. Divergent is also popular, but it's awful.

On the other hand, Feed and Uglies, which were already mentioned, are excellent. I didn't care much for the Uglies sequels, but Feed is one of my favorite books.

If the theme is media in particular, Feed is the most relevant of those above. Little Brother is another dystopia that relies heavily on media involvement and should possibly be required reading, but it doesn't scream John Green to me.

IM AWEOSME

Holy Shitsnacks!

Here.

You are amazing! What a generous gift! I personally loved the Divergent series on the Kindle because I'm a sucker for dystopian young adult novels and this trilogy was as hard to put down as Hunger Games was. There have since been an explosion of these types of trilogies, but I can vouch for the quality of this one. I've actually gotten into arguments with my friends about my insistence about an almost inherent literary quality that dystopian novels possess simply from their ability to force us the think about how our current actions could lead to extreme results in the future. Probably more than you needed to know haha but thanks for the contest! :)

-a hammock because the outdoors is awesome

-this sharpie is amazing

-these pens, although a little pricey, are AMAZING. Additionally, you can get refills for them on Amazon and those are inexpensive

-best coloring pencils imho

-Some really awesome book series one, two, three and four

-for math, here's some sodoku

-Some movies: Overboard, When Harry Met Sally, Burlesque

-Telescope

-Picnic basket

-Spirituality book

-some incense and an awesome fairy burner to go with them

I'll try and add some more later :)

Thanks for the contest

I really really want it! ( $5 and $10

I have to thank the people of RAOA for the suggestion that is my selection: Divergent - by Veronica Roth. It's an absolutely amazing book about a dystopian society that has separated itself into smaller groups based on personality type.

As for why I would like the Kindle Fire, I'm sure other people are far more deserving than me, but I've been reading on my little iPhone screen through a Kindle app for quite a long time now. It works, but it is so small. :( I do not own any kind of tablet computer either, so this is what I've got to work with. A Kindle Fire would be absolutely amazeballs and would help to continue my recent reading bug. :)

Thank you for running this fantastic contest. :)

You should read Divergent. I just started the second book Insurgent and I really am enjoying the series! It is about a dystopian society and is a good quick read. I would like the third book in the series Allegiant if I win!

Best wishes on your book search!!