Dixie’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2014)

Dixie’s comments from the UIU Library group.

Jodi and all, the timing of this book discussion was perfect for me; I recently concluded a 6 week theatre artist residency at a Madison middle school on bullying. I partially buy into the PTSD defense that Peter's lawyer presented and I do believe that Peter and the other shooter are products of our contemporary society. I say I partially buy into this defense because this is only one piece to the puzzle. Peter planned his attack and that is what sets him apart from the other shooter. Peter had to be predisposed to this kind of violence because he was not responding to a situation that was happening in the moment, as was the other shooter. There is much research that supports Picoult's protagonist's reaction to his victimization, and there is also much research suggesting a certain amount of desensitization to violence after being repeatedly exposed to it, even in the form of video games. Yet, I do believe that all of these factors have to converge in a person who is predisposed to this kind of response because, of course, there are millions of students who are bullied their entire school years and who play violent video games but do not lash out by killing others. In any case, while I was a bit bothered by Picoult's constant switching between characters' points of view, in the end I am glad that she presented multiple perspectives on this incident.

Hi Tiffany and Jodi. I ended up reading all three books and found the character development much more solid as the series progressed into the second book, which was my favorite of the three. I did find the final book rather hollow and uneventful.
On another note, I just finished an arts residency at a local middle school and saw one day that one of the students was reading Divergent. When I asked who was reading it, I was surprised to find that roughly 6 students raised their hands. While we did not discuss the book further, I have to think that this is a popular book in that age group right now.

Hi Jodi and all,

I finished Divergent last night and I definitely thought the book got better toward the middle. I will be reading more.

I appreciate the strong female character that leads this story, but beyond the central character, I also appreciate that this author draws all male and female characters equal.

That said, I do find a couple of elements of the plotline troubling. The first, as Jodi mentioned already, is that the emphasis is too much on violence. In that sense, it reminds me of the sensationalism of violence in movies that is primarily for the sake of selling the movie; for that reason I will likely forego seeing the film. On the other hand, I find the plotline of human character as a determinate of social groupings and interactions most interesting, and I want that to be developed further. I will be reading the next book in the series in hopes that the author will do so. In other words, I hope to see her exchange much of the gratuitous violence for more in-depth development of the social-psychological element of plot.

Hi Jodi and all. My name is Dixie and I teach online for UIU. As a result of the recent email about this book club, I decided to purchase this book for my Kindle. I just started to read it and am only about 1/5 of the way through, and so far I find it interesting but not captivating. The imagery and character emotion are not as vivid as they could be. But, who knows? My thoughts may change by the time I finish the book.