Why Yes, I would like to know where I am...

Some books allow you to find out what the setting is using discreet details that would otherwise make no sense. In the book Divergent, this is what the author does. In other words, you don't know where you actually are until you've been reading for a while. Then it all suddenly makes sense.

Divergent gives you a distinct setting at the very begining of the story. This is an abandoned city, with factions in it. Using details from the text, you can gradually figure out that the city is actually Chicago in the future. You also have to have a background knowledge of Chicago to know that it is the city being described.

As I said before, the setting is revealed using discrete details. There are several of these, but missed the first few, and had to go back and figure out how they came into the story. The first cue that this is set in Chicago: trains that run above the streets. In today's world, they are called els. The second cue is the huge marsh. Things can change over time, and since this book is set in the future, I am predicting that Lake Michigan actually becomes the marsh in this book. Cue numero tres: there is a chasm in which a waterfall is falling into. There are two rivers in Chicago that could be falling into it, fed by the marsh/lake Michigan. The fourth and final cue (which is what I found out the actual setting from) is the John Hancock building, one of the tallest buildings in Chicago. The Willis tower was also hinted at (which I just realized as I was writing this).

Putting all of these details together allowed me to understand where the book was actually stationed, and also to pick up on details that I may have missed later in the book, like Millenium Park, The Bean, and some other great places that I have visited.

You can even compare pictures of the fron cover of the book, and the Chicago skyline to see how similar they actually look.