Ardent Book Lovers have always lived with the burden of Hollywood. There have been countless adaptations butchered by an overzealous director, so committed to a big picture release and making millions that the results were underwhelming and tragically disloyal to the original vision. (Ella Enchanted, anyone?) But this is all old news to most people, isn’t it?

Thankfully, with the enormous popularity of Harry Potter, Hollywood is beginning to understand the importance of bringing authors onboard when it comes to portraying their narrative. JK Rowling had a huge say in the Harry Potter franchise, and most recently John Green was on set for nearly the entire filming of his novel The Fault in Our Stars. More and more, fans are following author cues to prejudge how faithful they can expect their beloved book-turned-movie to be. Typically, where are author returns from the film with radiant reviews, fans are willing to hope for the best. While I can think of a few disappointments (Twilight and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones jump to mind), overall when an author feels that Hollywood has honored his or her tale, fans aren’t disappointed. Well, now it’s time for Divergent fans to stop holding their breath: Veronica Roth has spoken!

You can read her entire account of the experience on her blog, but we’ll give you a snippet of what the writer had to say.

I loved it. I was completely absorbed by it. Even though I am so familiar with this story, I clearly remember grabbing the arms of my chair when Tris runs to catch the train after the Choosing Ceremony because I was nervous that she wouldn’t make it. (And then I thought to myself…YOU WROTE THE STORY, VERONICA.)…I feel like I should say that Shailene Woodley as Tris and Theo James as Four are everything I hoped for (or maybe more than I dared to hope for).

So there you have it! What do you think? Was anyone on the fence about Neil Burger’s vision?







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