Review: Severance: Stories by Robert Olen Butler

Title: Severance: Stories

Author: Robert Olen Butler

Rating: 3.5 Stars

The human head is believed to remain in a state of consciousness for one and one-half minutes after decapitation. In a heightened state of emotion, people speak at the rate of 160 words per minute. Inspired by the intersection of these two seemingly unrelated concepts, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler wrote sixty-two stories, each exactly 240 words in length, capturing the flow of thoughts and feelings that go through a person's mind after their head has been severed. The characters are both real and imaginedMedusa (beheaded by Perseus, 2000 BC), Anne Boleyn (beheaded at the behest of Henry VIII, 1536), a chicken (beheaded for Sunday dinner, Alabama, 1958), and the author (decapitated, on the job, 2008). Told with the intensity of a poet and the wit of a great storyteller, these final thoughts illuminate and crystallize more about the characters' own lives and the worlds they inhabit than many writers manage to convey in full-length biographies or novels. The stories, which have appeared in literary magazines across the country, are a delightful and intriguing creative feat from one of today's most inventive writers. - Summary from Goodreads

This short story collection contains sixty-two stories, all of which are exactly 240 words long. The stories are told from the point-of-view of famous figures from history, mythical characters, a random chicken, etc. all of whom were beheaded. These 240 word stories show the thoughts of these characters after their head has been severed from their body. Despite being short, there are lines that have more than one meaning in them which shows the economy of the writer. Stories that seem to be straight forward turn out to have undercurrents of the most disturbing scenes and subjects. Because the stories were so short, they were incredibly addicting and it was always exciting to see who lost their head next. 
                -Christina

Four: A Divergent Story Collection by Veronica Roth

Title: Four: A Divergent Story Collection
Author: Veronica Roth
Publication Date: January 1, 2014
Rating: 4 Stars

Two years before Beatrice Prior made her choice, the sixteen-year-old son of abnegation's faction leader did the same. Tobias's transfer to Dauntless is a chance to begin again. Here, he will not be called the name his parents gave him. Here, he will not let fear turn him into a cowering child.

Newly christened "Four," he discovers during initiation that he will succeed in Dauntless. Initiation is only the beginning, though; Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. His decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future--and the future of the entire faction system.

Two years later, Four is poised to take action, but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her, it might become possible to be Tobias once again.-Summary from Goodreads

Four is a collection of short stories told from (you guessed it!) Four’s POV which take place both before and during Divergent.

One of the things I noticed was how young Four’s voice was in the first two stories. This is not the Four that we know and love, this starts two years before we first meet him. He had a tough life to begin with, but Dauntless really changes a person and you can really see how far he comes. I really loved seeing that character development on the page.

Sometimes when I was reading, I was worried that it would feel like the same story all over again: life in Abnegation, choosing ceremony, first jump, training, fear landscapes, etc. But Four is not Tris and his experiences in Dauntless were very different from hers. Not only was his life in Abnegation different, Dauntless was a different place back then as well. He didn’t have to worry about being kicked out for not being good enough in training and, obviously, he didn’t have the same issues with fighting that Tris did. He was also more of a loner and did not instantly form relationships with the other initiates, although he eventually did make some friends.

It was interesting to see him interacting with his fellow initiates. I really liked seeing his friendship with Zeke, Shauna, and Tori; it was a side of him that we’ve never seen before. In Divergent and Insurgent we only see Four when he’s with Tris, these stories show his life in Dauntless and what he’s doing when he’s off page. It’s stories like these when you realize how little one character can see, there’s a whole world contained in a book and one character can only see what is right in front of them. Four’s stories are just another point-of-view of this world and show things that Tris could never see.

If you’re a fan of the Divergent series then this is definitely worth checking out. It is not a novel with an intricate plot or a self-contained story, but it does add some great background to Four’s character and shows the world through another pair of eyes.

           -Christina