By: Lauren Oliver
Format: Hardcover, 441 Pages
Published: February 1, 2011; HarperTeen
Source: ARC from Publisher
Challenges: Dystopia Challenge
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Synopsis (from Goodreads): Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.
But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.
My Review: As a lover of all things dystopian, I was very eagerly anticipating a chance to read this book. In many ways, the book met my expectations, but in others I was left feeling a little bewildered.
One thing that a dystopian must do well for me is establish a sense of fear or urgency pretty much at all times. There isn't a lot of time to rest for our heroes, and they have to be constantly aware of their surroundings and who to trust. Delirium definitely came through on those points. However, I thought that classifying love as a disease to be a little strange. The society obviously encouraged affection and didn't encourage hatred. I think what they actually were trying to prevent was passion. Passionate love can sometimes turn to passionate hatred, and we all know how that ends up. In many ways the book reminded me of the movie Equilibrium
. (Bonus: it has Christian Bale in it. However, there is a particularly tense scene where puppies are killed. Just so you know). Basically, the entire population has to take a pill to prevent them from feeling emotion. This eradicates crimes of passion. There is also an underground rebellion much like the one in Delirium that the government would just like to ignore and pretend it doesn't exist.Lena's character was a little too reactive for my tastes. For most of the book, I felt like the plot was moving along almost in spite of her, and at times she was definitely struggling to keep up. And because I didn't love Leta, I had a hard time understanding why Alex decided that he did. Speaking of characters, I really would have liked to know a little more about her best friend Hana, and her niece Grace. Both of these characters were so well-developed at the beginning of the story that it was really disappointing when they took a backseat once the romance between Alex and Lena started to take off.
The writing definitely carried this book for me. Had the writing not been as good as it was, I probably would not have liked it nearly as well as I did. In fact, while I was in the moment reading the book, I had almost no complaints. It wasn't until I sat down and really thought about the story that I thought about a few inconsistencies. I'll definitely pick up more books by Lauren Oliver in the future, because I certainly was taken with her style.
My Rating:
