Insurgent opens next week Friday, March 20, 2015.
If you don’t know what this means, then clearly, you’ve been living under a snow pile for the past three months. I’ll fill you in.
Insurgent, the second movie in the Divergent series, features a dystopian society in which all people must choose to live in one of five factions: Amity, Erudite, Abnegation, Candor, or Dauntless. (For an explanation of each faction, visit my faction vocabulary post.) The society was originally divided into factions to promote peace and balance, but unfortunately some factions aren’t happy with the set up and want to take over.
Also, not all people fit nicely into a faction. Some end up factionless, the equivalent of modern society’s homeless. Others are special, or Divergent, having qualities of two or more factions as well as superior abilities.
Tris, the heroine of the series, is Divergent, which makes her dangerous in the eyes of the people vying for power. She and her boyfriend, Four, who is also Divergent, lead a fight against the evil people trying to take over.
Four is brave, mysterious, and as you can see, gorgeous.
This is a fun dystopian series, with rebellion, truth serum, and tattoos, and some good questions about human nature. I read Insurgent a year ago, but I know a 13-year-old Fan Girl who has read the series repeatedly and treasures her Collector’s Edition books. She can tell you what you need to know before you see the movie.
WN (Word Nerd): How many times have you read Insurgent?
FG (Fan Girl): Uh, I stopped counting after ten.
WN: Seriously? Ten? Why do you like this book so much?
FG: Because Tris is awesome.
WN: What are the key plot points of Insurgent, the book?
FG: Probably [Tris] finding out exactly what Jeanine [the evil leader from the Erudite faction] is up to, figuring out what to do with the hard drive [an item with critical information that Tris stole from Jeanine in Divergent], as well as resolving personal conflict about Will. [Tris had to kill Will, her friend, at the end of Divergent, and this haunts her.]
WN: How does the main character,Tris, change in this installment of the story?
FG: She is very reckless and conflicted at the beginning, but near the end she learns to enjoy life and put her emotions aside when making decisions.
WN: What goes on between Tris and Four, who just started their relationship at the end of Divergent?
FG: They fight a TON. 🙁 They learn-ish to trust each other – a problem they struggle with a lot even going into Allegiant, the third and final book in the series.
WN: What are some of your favorite parts of the book? Favorite lines? (because I know you can quote some.)
FG: My favorite part is when [Tris and Four] are in hiding at the Amity compound. [People in the Amity faction grow all the food and are peace loving – think hippies ]. Tris says to Four, “That’s why you like me! You’re not very nice either!” when she’s high on peace serum.
WN: Why should people read the book before seeing the movie?
FG: The same reason you should read any book before a movie. It – the book – gives you more information than a movie can give you.
WN: Excellent answer. What’s cool about the collector’s edition of Insurgent?
FG: It has special interviews, posters, and even some of Veronica Roth’s rough drafts and early manuscripts.
The Fan Girl’s friends were raving about the movies but hadn’t read the books, something that distressed both Fan Girl and me, so I promised to take them to see Insurgent if they read the book first.
Hopefully, I’ll have a pack of girls with me at theater next week. 😉
Have you read Insurgent? Do you plan to see the movie? Please share!
Julia
haven’t read it yet, but I really enjoyed Divergent! I also heard the 3rd one wasn’t great, which is why I didn’t rush out to read Insurgent. (which has a gorgeous cover i think)
Insurgent is definitely worth the read. I’ve avoided Allegiant too, but I will tackle that soon, if only to appease my daughter- whoops- I mean “fan girl”. 😉
Haven’t read the book, but like you, I have a Fan Girl in the house! Love the interview here 🙂 Not a fan of Dystopian, but you’ve made it sound quite interesting.. Also, the main actress is in The Fault in Our Stars? I remember my daughter saying that both Gus and Hazel are in both movies but play boyfriend/girlfriend in one and brother/sister in the other…
Yes, Shailene Woodley plays the lead in the Divergent movies as well as in #TFIOS. Ansel Elgort plays Gus as well as Tris’s brother. I haven’t seen TFIOS yet, have you? Ansel just isn’t Gus for me. I liked the book so much, I’m afraid the movie won’t cut it. (Flashback: Twilight #1). I’d love to know what you think.
A cool mom would rent Divergent and then take her daughter to Insurgent, if said daughter would allow it. 😉 I’m not big on dystopian either, but I like this series. However, I haven’t read the last book yet because so many fans didn’t like it. Will have to before the next movie comes out.