I kept forgetting to do this recap and when I sat down to do it tonight I was like, ‘Nah you’re pretty on track. You did one last week!’ and then I checked and it has been TWO WEEKS so woops my bad y’all.
Getting down to business with Tris!
Or rather, let's get back to a narrator who makes death-defying fights and actual life-altering decisions sound as boring as watching paint dry while listening to Enya on repeat.
She wakes up and is understandably in a ton of pain, which makes me wonder what would happen if the Dauntless ever actually broke a bone or severely sprained something—like sure, you can play it off and walk on it (your body can do a lot of pretty intense things if you force it to) but in the end it’ll just slow you down if you don’t let it heal properly so... what gives. Are they like horses? Do they just get taken out back and shot if they break something?
So many things to unpack here. First, I still have no idea what Tris actually looks like. I guess casting directors must loooove this vagueness because you could literally slot any white female actress into her role and I’d be like “Yeah I guess that’s Tris”. Describe your characters! How are you gonna write a whole fucking series without giving the reader clear definition of the main character?
Second, I swear to God Tris has had this ‘mirror realisation’ moment like five times already and I’m only 119 pages in.
And third, ‘pale as a sheet’ is one of those expressions that needs to die. What colour sheet? Chartreuse? What are you talking about here, Tris!?
They’re headed (by train) out to the city limits today, because it's career fair day! Just kidding they're headed out to see how the Dauntless guard the city, and Four needs to have his intense smolder moment while they do so:
Look how mysterious~ and sexy~ he is. Does he ~*~*dazzle*~*~ you?
Just once I’d love to see a protagonist see their love interest doing something really mundane and be like “lol wow he looks kinda ugly but I still like him” because THAT IS WHAT LOVE IS, YOU GUYS.
There’s some nice heavy-handed foreshadowing:
How very Lowry of them. I think I hate that ‘the whole world is actually existing outside this weird colony’ trope, but that’s a personal gripe. I know people who love it.
“Yes, Alex, I’ll take ‘phrases that should have been edited out before they reached the final draft’ for $300 please.”
Tris explains that the Dauntless have really limited job options, which means I never would have chosen this faction (well, that, and my desire to not hurtle myself off of a moving train. I can barely get off a bus without fracturing my ankle). Their jobs are literally limited to guard, tattoo artist (I’M NOT KIDDING), or working for the leaders of the faction.
W h a t.
They disembark the train and a guard comes and meets them, and not much else happens because they're near the city borders and... they're just looking at it I guess? From what I can gather there are farmlands out there as well (unless I'm just misreading this) where the Amity faction works. A boy she used to know from Amity comes and talk to her, and what follows is the funniest scene so far in the novel. Like, Roth must actually be trolling her readers to write this and expect us to take it at face value:
YOU. GUYS. She wrote a character who literally had banjo exit music on cue. That is, without a doubt, the funniest thing I’ve read this week.
Some more foreshadowing from Tris:
OH MY GODDDD IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE THIS OBVIOUS ABOUT IT PLEASE AT LEAST MOVE THE PLOT ALONG FASTER.
Four approaches her, gives her fighting tips, then tells her he left during her fight because it wasn’t something he wanted to watch. And that is apparently super sexually charged or whatever, but who cares because the chapter is over and now they’re going back to the camp. I’m not sure what the point of this field trip was? They didn’t even really do anything... do photos not exist in this world or something? Could this not have been done in a two second slideshow inside a classroom?
Did Roth just write an entire chapter for the sole purpose of making us feel wary of why this society is ~~**~*~locked inside*~*~*~ their gate?
Mercifully, these chapters are short, though! See you next week (or in two frickin' weeks I guess) for some more City of Ashes!
She wakes up and is understandably in a ton of pain, which makes me wonder what would happen if the Dauntless ever actually broke a bone or severely sprained something—like sure, you can play it off and walk on it (your body can do a lot of pretty intense things if you force it to) but in the end it’ll just slow you down if you don’t let it heal properly so... what gives. Are they like horses? Do they just get taken out back and shot if they break something?
I look at my reflection in the small mirror on the back wall and see a stranger. She is blond like me, with a narrow face like mine, but that’s where the similarities stop. I do not have a black eye, and a split lip, and a bruised jaw. I am not pale as a sheet.
So many things to unpack here. First, I still have no idea what Tris actually looks like. I guess casting directors must loooove this vagueness because you could literally slot any white female actress into her role and I’d be like “Yeah I guess that’s Tris”. Describe your characters! How are you gonna write a whole fucking series without giving the reader clear definition of the main character?
Second, I swear to God Tris has had this ‘mirror realisation’ moment like five times already and I’m only 119 pages in.
And third, ‘pale as a sheet’ is one of those expressions that needs to die. What colour sheet? Chartreuse? What are you talking about here, Tris!?
They’re headed (by train) out to the city limits today, because it's career fair day! Just kidding they're headed out to see how the Dauntless guard the city, and Four needs to have his intense smolder moment while they do so:
He holds the handles on either side, his arms stretching wide, and leans forward so his body is mostly outside the car, though his feet stay planted inside. The wind presses his shirt to his chest.
Look how mysterious~ and sexy~ he is. Does he ~*~*dazzle*~*~ you?
Just once I’d love to see a protagonist see their love interest doing something really mundane and be like “lol wow he looks kinda ugly but I still like him” because THAT IS WHAT LOVE IS, YOU GUYS.
There’s some nice heavy-handed foreshadowing:
“What are we guarding the city from?”
[ ... ] “Monsters!”
[ ... ] “We didn’t even have guards near the fence until five years ago”
How very Lowry of them. I think I hate that ‘the whole world is actually existing outside this weird colony’ trope, but that’s a personal gripe. I know people who love it.
Four leads us toward the gate, which is as wide as a house
“Yes, Alex, I’ll take ‘phrases that should have been edited out before they reached the final draft’ for $300 please.”
 |
| oh wow what do you know that exists already |
Tris explains that the Dauntless have really limited job options, which means I never would have chosen this faction (well, that, and my desire to not hurtle myself off of a moving train. I can barely get off a bus without fracturing my ankle). Their jobs are literally limited to guard, tattoo artist (I’M NOT KIDDING), or working for the leaders of the faction.
W h a t.
They disembark the train and a guard comes and meets them, and not much else happens because they're near the city borders and... they're just looking at it I guess? From what I can gather there are farmlands out there as well (unless I'm just misreading this) where the Amity faction works. A boy she used to know from Amity comes and talk to her, and what follows is the funniest scene so far in the novel. Like, Roth must actually be trolling her readers to write this and expect us to take it at face value:
“Besides, [my goal in] life isn’t just... to be happy.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier if it was, though?” [Robert] says.
Before I can answer, he touches my shoulder and turns toward the truck. A girl in the back has a banjo on her lap. She starts to strum it as Robert hoists himself inside, and the truck starts forward, carrying the banjo and her warbling voice away from us.
YOU. GUYS. She wrote a character who literally had banjo exit music on cue. That is, without a doubt, the funniest thing I’ve read this week.
Some more foreshadowing from Tris:
The Dauntless guards close the gate and lock it behind them. The lock is on the outside. I bite my lip. Why would they lock the gate from the outside and not the inside? It almost seems like they don’t want to keep something out; they want to keep us in.
OH MY GODDDD IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE THIS OBVIOUS ABOUT IT PLEASE AT LEAST MOVE THE PLOT ALONG FASTER.
 |
| pictured again. Roth's foreshadowing is the finger, and I am the person |
Four approaches her, gives her fighting tips, then tells her he left during her fight because it wasn’t something he wanted to watch. And that is apparently super sexually charged or whatever, but who cares because the chapter is over and now they’re going back to the camp. I’m not sure what the point of this field trip was? They didn’t even really do anything... do photos not exist in this world or something? Could this not have been done in a two second slideshow inside a classroom?
Did Roth just write an entire chapter for the sole purpose of making us feel wary of why this society is ~~**~*~locked inside*~*~*~ their gate?
Mercifully, these chapters are short, though! See you next week (or in two frickin' weeks I guess) for some more City of Ashes!
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