What's Going On Here?

There are SO MANY wonderful book review blogs out there and I can't compete with them, that is for sure. So this is not a book review blog. This is just a way for me to organize what I have read so that I can be better at matching the right book to the right person. The blog title comes from the brilliant mind of the most talented woman who ever lived, Ms. Judy Garland. The full quote is, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else." That is what I hope to do here and in ever aspect of my life.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

How to Fix the World


I know I've been slow with the reading, but things have been crazy-awesome at work, like never before, and my father has been very ill, so time for reading has been slim.
As I read Divergent it occurred to me that it, like a great many of the dystopian YA books around, is about a messed up future because some folks came up with a brilliant idea to make life perfect.
Delirium Series - Takes place in a future where society has decided that love is a disease.  Folks are vaccinated against it and feelings in general, in order to lessen desires and wants and instead, to make everyone content.
Matched Series - In order to avoid unhappiness folks are matched with their life-mate.
Shadow Children Series - The Population Police requires that families only have one child.  A good way to save on resources.
And on and on.
Now I am not ripping on these books, I love Delirium completely.  The first Matched book was great, the second less so, but I will certainly read the third.  And the Shadow Children is widely popular, though I can't remember if I ever read it!  I think I did, but I wouldn't swear to it.  I am just saying that it is interesting that we have a lot of books about dystopian societies that were started with the best of intentions, to bring about peace and happiness to a broken world. In fact, that's the hard-core definition of a dysotpian society.  It has to start out as an utopia.  So books like The Chemical Garden Trilogy and Birthmarked, they wouldn't be technically dystopian because those societies became what they are not because of an attempt to make an (or is it a, an sounds weird) utopian society, but because folks were dealing with disaster. But my tags were wrong then, because I counted those and others like Legend as dystopian, too!
Divergent takes place in what used to be Chicago, and in this future the country is divided into five factions, based on folks' personalities.
Dauntless- the brave
Amity- the peaceful
Candor- the honest
Erudite- the intelligent
Abnegation- the selfless
Everyone stays in the faction they were born into until they turn 16 then they take an aptitude test which tells them in which faction they are best suited to live.  They don't have to pick that faction, but they do have to pick one.  I won't say which one Beatrice chooses or say anymore because I don't want to ruin the surprises.

I am laughing as I think of them joining Erudite!  Hahahaha!  And they don't seem to fit anywhere else.  Too bad there isn't a bunch of people who just go away with each other and live in misery.  That would be best for them!  Away from other people's children!
Divergent was very good, even though it was hard to like Beatrice sometimes, but that's okay, it isn't always necessary to like the main character, of course!
I look forward to reading the next one, soon!

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