Divergent, or "Yeah, I liked it, wanna make something of it?"

Okay, so I'm not the greatest proponent of the Young Adult (YA) genre on the planet. What I write gets a solid "R" rating most of the time, though I suppose "Turning the Darkness" would have landed a grudging "PG-13" from the powers that be.

I tried to read a Harry Potter book once, but I fell asleep. (Yeah, that's right, bring it - I refer to Tolkien as "Bored of the Rings" as well.) I thought "Hunger Games" was lame, film and book version.

And, "Twilight"? Don't even get me started.

Now don't get me wrong, there's good and bad in every genre - my buddy PT McHugh writes some kick ass fiction in his "Keeper of the Black Stones" series. It's great stuff, and I would recommend it to anybody out there.

But, in my view P.T. is a voice in the wilderness of teenage angst.

Last night, my wife and I were looking for something to watch on television. Since we ditched cable, we have to pick our shows from YouTube, NetFlix, Hulu, and Amazon. While sifting through the Internet, we happened upon Divergent.

I read the synopsis: YA. We both rolled our eyes. But, there was nothing else on, so we gave it a try.

For two and a half hours, we were immersed in a gripping, action packed dystopia. It came as a total shock.

The heroine was intelligent, her only super power was her mind wasn't as easily controlled as those around her. She trains as a soldier, and spends a great deal of the movie getting the crap beat out of her - she doesn't start out as someone who kicks ass and takes names, she gets there through personal growth. Wow, what a concept.

Now granted, there's a lot of over simplification - if this is their army, Chicago is *doomed*. I picture these hordes led by folks like Toe Cutter from The Road Warrior outside the walls. Sooner or later, these hippies have had it. And, the treatment of the war games probably left anybody who played Halo scratching their heads.

But, the film worked for me, and I don't say that often.

I'm going to read the book.
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J59ZKV6/ref=s9_bbs_gw_d0_g318_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1Y304DFA9AHX7X7GQ7X1&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

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