Literary vs. Genre

Recently I have read both The Road and Divergent, two titles that one might think not comparable, however I would disagree.

While the aims of the two novels are vastly different, and their inspirations also, many comparisons still can be made. Both books focus on flawed societies formed after catastrophic events, both books are also very focused on close family ties and where things end up when those are broken.

After those points however, it can probably be agreed upon that the two books certainly take a fork. Divergent aims to be entertaining and distracting while The Road is written almost as to metaphorically document the relationship between a father and son in the real world.

Cormac McCarthy, author of The Road has stated previously in interviews that the idea for the book came from his constant worry of what his youngest son will experience when he is gone, fathering a son in your 60's is not without that negative.

Veronica Roth, author of Divergent has said that much of her books content comes as parallel to the life of a teenage highschool student. It seems obvious enough really when you look at the content of the story, essentially being about a girl who has to find her caste and *SPOILER******* it turns out she doesn't belong to any, which turns into a war over whether or not it is okay to be different.

Neither book in my eyes however, can be considered superior, while The Road is painfully well written, it is simply a different style of writing, and it comes from a different aim as compared to Divergent.

There seems to be a fairly clear line although thin, between literary and genre. It's not a negative thing though and both types of books can be sought out and read for different reasons.