Reader with a Cause discussion

At the end of the paperback version of the book, Veronica Roth provides her playlist for Divergent. Music has the power to transform the mood of a story, or your feelings toward a character, or even how you react to a given scene.

Did you have any ideas about what music would play during a given scene or chapter while you read the book?

Here’s Roth’s full playlist:
1. “Starts With One” by Shiny Toy Guns: “This song gets me in touch with the good aspects of Beatrice’s chosen faction.”
2. “Chasm” by Flyleaf: “And this song gets me in touch with the bad aspects of Beatrice’s chosen faction.”
3. “Come Alive” by Foo Fighters: “This is the love interest’s song for Beatrice.”
4. “Again” by Flyleaf: “And this is Beatrice’s song for her love interest.”
5. “Help I’m Alive” by Metric: “This is Beatrice’s initiation song.”
6. “We Die Young” by The Showdown: “This might as well be the theme song for Beatrice’s chosen faction -- it’s what they would choose for themselves.”
7. “Canvas” by Imogen Heap: “This is the “riding on trains” song.”
8. “Running Up That Hill” by Placebo: “The tone of this song matches the tone of much of the book, for me.”
9. “Sweet Sacrifice” by Evanescence: “I was listening to this song when the first scene I wrote (in chapter 6) popped into my head. That scene led me to the world of the book and its basic plot.”
10. “Arise” by Flyleaf: “A powerful song that’s perfect for chapters 38 & 39.”

Is this different from what you expected? What songs would you add?

This is so different than the soundtrack in the movie! Which I loved - it was very heavy on Ellie Goulding and, to me, that seemed like a perfect fit.

I also found a playlist on Spotify of this soundtrack - check it out here: https://play.spotify.com/user/jennife...

I loved the movie soundtrack but I think Metric's "Help I'm Alive" is a song that fits well with this book. I thought it was creative for Veronica Roth to include this in the book. I think this helps readers connect to the characters and the author in a different way.

In college I did a project for my Shakespeare class where I had to create a soundtrack for one of the plays. I chose Macbeth. It's interesting to see how songs not written for a book/play can work so well with a certain scene.