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A Goodreads user asked:

Hi, I'm late to the party here, I just saw Divergent the movie and was wondering, do I need to read the first book or can i jump straight into Insurgent and follow the story.....?

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Sophia Ok so it's true in the Divergent movie they do mention the main ideas and the plot but they also edit a lot of things from the book. My friend watched the movie and asked me if she should read Insurgent and i told her that if she wanted to get a clearer picture of the movie she should read the book first so basically its your opinion that really matters whether you want a clearer picture and more detailed information or whether you just want to follow the story. Brian here's a piece of advice... always read the book before you watch the movie.
Amy Truong DIVERGENT WAS AWESOME! Don't u dare skip the first book! And to tell u the truth, I found it better than insurgent a LOT!
Audra The movie left out some important parts. READ the book!!!
Vanessa Lopez Read the first book because even though you saw the movie you might be a bit lost jumping into insurgent with just part of the plot from the first book
Stephanie Hawker You should definitely read the book first because they end slightly differently
Dofus Mejia Don´t know what you did but in my opinion Divergent the book is way better than the movie. I read the book after watching the movie and enjoyed the book even better. I saw Insurgent before finishing the book(although I had started reading the book), I was upset at the beginning of the movie but ended up liking a lot more than the first one.
Anyway, I think you should read the book or not. Your choice!
Jacob Brausa I say read the book because the book has more information then the movie.
I'm nine years old and I watched the movie first and then read the book and learned more from the book.
Alex READ the book!!! It's way better the movie. You'll understand Insurgent better.
Ari Peroutka read the first book
Danielle August READ THE BOOK :) .....The movie leaves out quite a bit of important details... I insist you read divergent :)
Jessy I just watched Divergent and was really not impressed with what they had chopped out some things weren't really needed then the small but really good bits weren't even added KJNFKEJNKWDKWJFN SUCKED SO MUCH then again I could only get half way through before shutting it off lol
jade collins yeah u can but i will recommend you to read the book first ,
Abby
This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)
Shana Tana You can totally make due with just skipping Divergent and go straight to Insurgent, BUT if you read Divergent before Insurgent, it will give you a lot more than just the 'structure' of the story. The book will give you a better understanding of the story and things are different in the book than in the movie, but getting the same result. Kind of like math 1+2+3=6 or 5-3+4=6...works either way.
Wybie I would suggest reading the first book, because even though the main ideas are the same, there are a lot of details, that got cut out from the book. Plus, if you do end up reading the book, you won't want to put it down!
Sophie Klemp Divergent was SUCH a good book, I think it’s better than Insurgent. It’s still your choice though.
Paige⭑⭒ DEFINITELY read the book!!!!!! For the rest I agree with Sophia!!!!
Akshita Pandey I think you need to read Divergent first and then you can jump into Insurgent because there are some exciting parts in the book which are not there in the movie so you will miss those. Divergent is an amazing book so do not even skip it.
Felicia Deane you should read the first book because sometimes the books are a little diffrent then the movie
Mahak You have GOT to read the books in order and the movie isn't half a good as the book!
Zoe S read all the books 1-4 don't skip any
Roger Huggett jr If you liked the movie you'll love the books. I think the movies were poor adaptations because in addition to missing some important parts and failing to develop any of the characters, some of the parts they do show don't make a lot of sense without understanding the motivations for certain behavior. Its well worth your time to start at the beginning as the series ends far to soon at 3 books.
Hope Its your choice but I think you should read Divergent first. It is a very good book and in my opinion its better than the movie. If you read Insurgent first you will miss a lot of details from the book Divergent and could be confused.
Juana I think you could skip the book. But honestly, you should read the first one (unless you're one of those people that if know the ending of the book, they can't read it. In that case, go ahead and skip it.)
Prarthonapaul Actually I agree that Yu should always read the book before watching the movie. I read Eclipse, New Moon and Breaking Dawn before I watched the movie, so it was fun. But I read Twilight and Life and Death after I watched the movie. So guess what happened, I didn't even finish reading the books halfway, because I found it boring afterwards. Another thing is that if you read the book and then watch the movie, then it helps you criticize the movie which is the best part in my opinion.
Jargal_San just read the book. movie cut all the important parts and characters, Specially, Uriah. Book is 10000 better than movie. Skip the movie, just read the book
Tarien Van Der Walt Hey.
I recommend reading the book first since it describes the plot brilliantly and explains the spark between Four and Tris better. The book is amazing and I strongly recommend reading it first. You won't be disappointed.
Sincerely
Tarien
Stef Rozitis I read it after just seeing the first movie. I felt it was ok to do that. But then I wasn't a huge fan anyway, probably a real fan would say you need to get every detail
Sandy Morley
This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)
Jaclyn Wagner I jumped into Insurgent and was fine. No big deal!
Kristen I think you could watch the movie and jump into the second book. There are just a few minor characters that you may need to google. These people are secondary characters to the last 2 books which is best to read them since they become more important but other than that there were very minor things that were taken out. Everyone always says read the book then go to the movie. I did the opposite and it's pretty much the same.
Jordan Slater The book is more detailed than the movie and they have change a few thing in the movie adaptation.

The movie leaves out a few minor details; The characters are not as developed in the movie compared to the books.
I watched the movie first and read the book and the book talks more in-depth about the other characters; The move feels like its centred around Tris.

After Watching and reading the story I asked myself two completely different questions I couldn't find the answer to.
Eyleen i would recommend you to read the book too because i only saw the movie and i had to google a lot of important facts it was hard to follow the story first but i still understood the book..
Nicole Laureen Thevening I have to agree with everyone. You should read the book first because I just saw the movie trailer for Insurgent and although it was amazing it does look like it might be leaving out many parts from the book itself. So again I suggest reading the book first.
Taylor I also saw the movie and decided I want to read the books but don't want to read the first since I already know what happens. I know I'm missing a few key parts so I read this to help me catch up. http://www.vulture.com/2014/03/what-g...
I have no idea if that's sufficient enough but it's going to work for me so I can get right into the second book!
Shawna Lisa Escobedi You should read the first book first because some of the stories in the book are not mentioned in the movie and you need to know the details in the second book.Plus Divergent the book is AWESOME
Vin Speaking out of experience of reading a book after seeing the film adaption (not Divergent, another book), I can tell you that it is more fun that way, I am not doing it again, but I know it was a nice experience. If you read the book after watching the movie, you not only can enjoy knowing what is going to happen next, but also find some small but noticeable difference. That is what makes it so exciting. So I do advice you to read the book so you are more up to date than what the movie let you see.

Here is something to think about as you decide whether or not to read the book: What happened to the initiates that didn't make the rank? Don't let the obvious answer fool you.

Good luck.
Lory Calabrese I saw the movie and was so into it I just had to read the books!
Julia M. I also saw the movie and I believe it explains the main ideas. I just skipped to the second book because it would have felt like I was rereading a book that I had already read. It is your decision if you would like to read the first book, I would recommend it. But, if you are really eager to find out what happens next, then just go on to this book
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by Veronica Roth (Goodreads Author)
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