Insurgent

Tris doesn’t know what to believe anymore yet she is curious about everything.  She doesn’t know who to trust yet she confides in everyone but herself.   Insurgent is the next installment in the Divergent series of books by Veronica Roth and it has packed quite a punch of emotions.  And they all came from Tris. 

The book starts right where the first left off – Tris, Tobias, Marcus, and a few other Divergent are on a train headed to Amity to find the other Abnegation survivors.  There are alliances created, relationships tested and trust is a rare commodity.  Tris is only 16 and can’t figure out what to think or do.  She was brought up thinking she was an outcast then all of a sudden a different view of the world is given to her that tells her she isn’t an outcast after all.  She is finding her place in the world, one scrap at a time.  She is trying to believe in herself but she can’t.  She doesn’t trust herself to believe herself if that makes sense.  Everything she says someone is there to refute it or push it aside. She doesn’t take action into her own hands for fear of losing herself and most importantly the first true bond she has ever felt – the bond between her and Tobias. 

When Tris does take matters into her own hands it takes her to the darkest place she has ever been – a place where she doesn’t believe she deserves anything, no love or comfort from anyone.  This is not all that different than what we think a “normal” 16-year old will go through.  Those girls are trying to find a way to express their individuality and their own ideals while at the same time trying not to drift far from the boundaries of her peers.  They want to have their own mind and life but don’t want to stray too far from the crowd that they are seen as an outcast.  That is what Tris is trying to balance and she doesn’t understand that being you is the best part of life until it is almost too late. 

What was interesting about this book is the relationship she has with Tobias/Four.  In this book the relationship was darker in part because Tris’ soul (for lack of a better word) was getting darker.  Tobias was sticking with her no matter what she did but at one point he couldn’t stand what she was doing and told her straight out if she kept up this way of life that he and she were done.  I wasn’t expecting that. I wasn’t expecting the romantic male lead to outright say he would leave her and truly mean it.  What was even more surprising is Tris – even after hearing him say it – was willing to sacrifice the love she felt for him to figure out the truth. Not even Katniss would do that. 

Tris is a very interesting character to say the least.  What will be interesting to see is how she reacts to the events that unfolded at the end of the second book that carved the way for a very different environment in the third book.  Tris finally found herself in the book, finally started trusting herself and the people around her and I am hoping that this “new” environment will not change that.