I Am Selfish. I Am Brave.

Divergent has been getting a lot of hype for a while now. With the premiere date of the movie creeping in (tomorrow, eek!), I felt like I had to get in on the action. And boy, am I glad that I did.

When I was home last week, I decided, on a whim, to pick up Divergent. I liked The Hunger Games series and Harry Potter, but other than that, I am not super into dystopian/science-y books. The few other dystopian novels that I've read, I didn't enjoy. It's not to say that I hated those types of books, I just hadn't read enough of them to form an opinion on them. Since Divergent (the book, and series) had so many people raving about it, especially people whose opinions I trust, I picked up only the first book. That was my first mistake. I should have bought the box set.

Tuesday, around 5:30 while I was waiting for my water to boil for my pasta, I decided to pick up the book and read a few pages. A few pages turned into about 50. I read while I ate my dinner and considered taking it down to the fitness center with me. I decided against that, setting the book down for the half an hour or so that I was gone. When I got back to my room, I showered and started watching my television shows for the night (Pretty Little Liars and Twisted. Side note: What in the hell happened on PLL? So nuts!) After they were over at around 10, I came back into my room and looked at the closed book on my desk. I did a few things on my social media sites and decided to pick the book back up to read a few chapters before I started doing some schoolwork. That was my second mistake.

A few chapters turned into the entire book. I sat in my bed from 10:30PM until, approximately, 1:45 AM reading Divergent. I didn't take a water break. I didn't stop to check Twitter or Instagram. I was completely enveloped by the story. As much as I love reading and some of the books that I've read over the past few years, no book has truly captivated me as much as Paper Towns by John Green did back in summer between 8th and 9th grade. These two books are the only ones that I've read in entire sittings without even thinking to stop for something.

I was attached to the characters and each of their stories, even if some were awful people. Tris reflected parts of myself that I didn't even know existed. The plot kept unfolding and I had to clasp my hand over my mouth to keep myself from making comments out loud and potentially waking up my roommate. I always roll my eyes when I see reviews saying that you can't put the book down, blah, blah, blah. In Divergent's case, I see why. It is, no doubt, a page turner. It is addicting and just a truly great story. I have told at least a dozen people since finishing it that they have to read it immediately.

Unfortunately, I can't see the movie until I go home for Easter (crossing my fingers that it will still be out). My local movie theater is hosting an International Film Festival for the rest of March and the regular movies won't start showing until the beginning of April. So that's a major bummer, but that just makes me even more excited to see it.

Have you read Divergent? If you haven't, are you going to see the movie?