by Lauren Oliver
Release date: February 1st, 2011
Published by: Harper Teen
Genre: Young Adult - Dystopian
Format read: Hardback
SUMMARY
They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever.
And I've always believed them.
Until now.
Now everything has changed.
Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.
Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.
And I've always believed them.
Until now.
Now everything has changed.
Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.
Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.
FAVORITE QUOTES
"You know that you can't be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes, right?" she whispers...
"You can't be really happy unless you're unhappy sometimes. You know that, right?"
~ Hana to Lena, Delirium
"I love you. Remember. They cannot take it."
~ Annabel, Delirium
"I'm already seventeen years old, and I already know something she doesn't know:
I know that life isn't life if you just float through it.
I know that the whole point - the only point - is to find the things that matter, and hold onto them, and fight for them, and refuse to let them go."
~ Lena, Delirium
"Love: It will kill you and save you, both."
~ Lena, Delirium
MY REVIEW
Lauren Oliver's unique plot, capturing storytelling and amazing characters has taken the dystopian genre to a whole other level... the thought of the government claiming that having any type of feelings of love - which causes hate, jealousy, depression and more - is the main cause of all of our problems (crimes, mental illnesses, suicides... just to name a few) seems so realistic. The first half of this book really made me question whether or not it was truly a possibility that 'amor deliria nervosa' may exist...
Lena has had a hard life already and all she wants to do is follow the rules and get cured. Cured from a disease that she doesn't even have yet. But, falling in love, having all of those raging emotions, can be fatal. She knows it. She's seen it. And she wants to be 'cured' before it happens to her... before she is exposed to the deliria... before she meets Alex.
Alex is everything that Lena has been taught to fear her whole entire life. A resistor. An invalid. But she feels some truth in the things that he says. And she compares these things to her childhood, to how her mother used to be... before she died, because of the disease.
Though confused, Lena decides to think outside the box and explore her feelings and new knowledge. As the story moves along, Lena grows and accepts that not all things are what they seem. And that maybe, just maybe, everything that she has been taught to do and say is wrong.
Everything about Delirium completely captured me:
The concept and plot is so original, who would have ever thought that all things pertaining to love could be a disease! A disease that can be cured; where all you have to do is have an operation and you will never have any deep feelings for anything ever again. You will never feel love, anger, passion, sympathy, bitterness... nothing. How upsetting!
Isn't it better to have love than to have never loved at all??? Heartache and all.
The characters are so engaging and memorable! Lena, at first, is just trying to get by and then realizes that there is more out there than she ever knew. As things moved along, she grew stronger and stronger and was determined to figure things out for herself. Alex was charming - he never pushed and was understanding, to a point. He had his flaws and wasn't perfect - that's what made him even more charming to me. Lena's best friend was so full of life - I loved how she balanced Lena out.
This is my 2nd Lauren Oliver book (my first was The Spindlers, which I absolutely loved!) - I knew that her writing would sweep me away into Lena's world. And I know that I am probably one of the last to read the Delirium trilogy, but I would still recommend this and will definitely re-read in the near future!
Lauren Oliver talks about the Delirium trilogy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Lauren Oliver
Lauren Oliver comes from a family of writers and so has always (mistakenly) believed that spending hours in front of the computer every day, mulling over the difference between “chortling” and “chuckling,” is normal. She has always been an avid reader. She attended the University of Chicago, where she continued to be as impractical as possible by majoring in philosophy and literature. After college, she attended the MFA program at NYU and worked briefly as the world’s worst editorial assistant, and only marginally better assistant editor, at a major publishing house in New York. Her major career contributions during this time were flouting the corporate dress code at every possible turn and repeatedly breaking the printer. Before I Fall is her first published novel.
She is deeply grateful for the chance to continue writing, as she has never been particularly good at anything else.
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I LOVE THIS BOOK! I had put it on hold for the longest time and once I finally got to reading it, I tore through the thing, SO thankful that I had the next one to read immediately after. I'm sad that the series is ending!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you reviewed the first book! I've seen so many reviews of her later books, but I wasn't quite sure what the first one was even about! It sounds so good! I'll have to get my hands on a copy at some point!
ReplyDeleteThe entire world has read this book, except me...I should get on it!
ReplyDeleteLisa
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