Delirium (Delirium #1)

I picked up Delirium even though the synopsis wasn't particularly appealing to me. I got the impression that it was more of a love story than anything else really.

When you pick up a first book in a trilogy, you need to understand that the characters you meet in it aren't the author's completed portrait of them, just their beginnings.

That's why I wasn't too upset over how childish(and dimwitted) Lena was in this book. because I knew that she was sure to learn from her mistakes in the next two installments.

as I read though, what really irritated me was that the author had copied some key elements of the book from 1984 by George Orwell; I don't mean common cultural property like the idea of a dystopian society where a rigid government keeps everyone in line by monitoring their every thought and action and delivering severe punishments for tiny infractions.

I mean things like..The coffee

In Lena's household, they drink bad weak coffee. They drank bad coffee in 1984 as well.

The Invalids=The proles

like all dystopians, there are a group of people who rebel against the current authority or somehow live out of its reach. here, they are the uncureds. People who refuse to receive brain surgery to make them immune to love(and passive automatons) and choose to live outside the city borders.

Ring a bell?
Maybe because you've read it before in Uglies by scott Westerfeld

another part that was similar to uglies: Lena, the protagonist and narrator has a best friend named Hana. Her friend doesn't believe in the cure and alludes to the possibility of life outside the city confinements.

i couldn't help but think of Shay.

when Lena and Alex go to The Wilds they come across a street filled with wrecked cars left over form The Blitz. In an almost exact replica of the part in uglies where the abandoned cities have cars jamming up the roads like trophies of a time gone by.

once I got past these, something else stopped me: there are a lot of things in this books that weren't given enough attention.

In the beginning Lena explains that she an Hana have a secret handshake code: "two short pumps, two long ones". later in the book when this comes up the long pumps come before the short ones.

I know it's borderline obsessive to hold a grudge over hand pumps but little things make or break a book. That's just the way it is.

in another part of the book, Lena goes to the beach, takes off her shoes and walks on the sand. when she goes swimming her shoes are mentioned several times as having become heavy with water, but when

she swims to shore she "grabs her shoes" and leaves.

It's entirely possible that she took them off after getting out of the water and just held them and walked barefoot, but wouldn't it be nicer if all this confusion had been avoided?

Things like this just get in my face. I can't get past them.

Have you ever had this friend who almost completely forgets you exist once her boyfriend shows up? that's kinda the way Lena treats Hana. After helping her and Alex stage a few undercover dates, she is not mentioned for a very long time. Long enough for you to notice that she's missing.

Later, Lena [ Goes over the fence with Alex to see what The Wilds are like and completely forgets that this is the kind of thing you share with your best friend. Especially the best friend who's shown enormous interest of going to said Wilds. (hide spoiler)]

at this point I just had to face it. Lena is a crappy friend.

it wasn't until the last hundred pages of this book that I stopped marking things that bugged me with post-its and actually started being involved int he story. I can understand what people mean when they say Delirium has a slow start.

but despite all these things I can't say I hated this book. I hated the stupid things that could have been fixed or refined in it. It was an absorbing story. If a book inspires me to read its successor then I'm happy.

and then the ending happened..

I still have no idea how I feel about that ending. All I can say is I like things that make me both angry and buzzing with excitement at the same time.

To tell you the truth I have been pondering over what to write in this review. I loved it, that much I do know, but I don’t know how to tell you my feelings about this book. Cause the truth was, I was totally overwhelmed. I didn’t really expect to like this book, so imagine my surprise when I didn’t just like it, but when I placed on my list of favourite books.

Lauren Oliver’s writing in this book is truly incredible. I found myself totally swept into the story, the writing is very good and descriptive. You are included in the transformation Lena undergoes throughout the novel and I love how she matured. The twists in the plot are really good at well. I thought I had the entire story figured out, and then: BOOM! Something happened that had my mouth gaping open.

Another thing that had me immersed in the book were the way relationships are explored. Mainly the relationship between Lena and Hanna, and the relationship between Lena and Alex. The strong bond between best friends and the bond formed by love. The relationship between Lena and Alex is smoldering and passionate, and Alex opens her eyes to a different world. They have the odds stacked against them but that makes it that much interesting to see how they won’t let these odds stop them.

Then the ending… Phew! What to say about the ending. It was gut wrenching, I can tell you that much! The waterworks were comparable to my experience reading The Fault in Our Stars. I couldn’t stop thinking about this cliff-hanger for quite a few days. I pondered some more about Lena’s character, and of course Alex’s character as well. Aside from that I also thought some more about the whole ‘Love is a disease’ thing. It became more chilling every time I thought about it. I couldn’t imagine living in a society like that. It also made me realize why I bother with love. Because it can be the most beautiful thing in the world, but it can be oh so painful. I wouldn’t want to not experience it though, because in the end love is a experience that defines us and makes us stronger. The way Oliver described the love between Lena and Alex was beautifully painted.

Furthermore, at the beginning of each chapter. There are quotes from different government approved books, including the “Book of Shhh,” an abbreviation for “The Safety, Health, and Happiness Handbook.” I really liked this, because it gave some insight of the dystopian world presented. The only thing I would’ve liked was more insight to the history and how this world Lena lives in came to be.

In conclusion, I loved this book. It is beautifully written and an emotional read. It left me with a big ass book hangover when I finished it!

When I read the description of this book I had a flashback of the Pretties series by Scott Westerfeld. In Lena’s world adolescence is measured in the number of days until her 18th birthday when she can finally accept the cure and become one of the masses who will never be plagued with the heartache that befalls people in love. She thinks the most important day of her life is when she goes for the evaluation that chooses the path of her life from the moment she completes the procedure. She will have a husband chosen from her, a college handpicked for her, and the number of children dictated to her. She will have to make zero choices and live a life of blissful ignorance and a numbing lack of strong emotions.

Then she meets Alex. Her whole world gets turned upside down and the government she has known all her life starts to be questioned. She wonders whether the procedure is truly as good as everyone who has undergone it claims it to be. As her feelings for Alex grow, her faith her dystrophic society sway. How can she give up the boy she loves for a life she thought she wanted, but isn’t so sure of now?

This book was pretty much what I expected of it. There were a few surprises along the way but it was pretty predictable from the beginning. That does not, by any means, mean it was boring or made me cry any less. I am a softy when it comes to love stories and especially when there are obstacles for the couple to overcome. This is no lock of obstacles for Alex and Lena, that’s for sure.

The end of the book leaves the reader on a cliffhanger. What will become of all my favorite characters? Hana? Lena? Alex? Gracie? I can’t wait to pick up the next book and delve back into the world Oliver created for Lena and Alex.

Review Posted on: http://www.ladybugliterature.blogspot.com

Reading this book really made me think about love being a sickness and if it was worth to love..and at the end of the book i relize love is everything. Love is family and friends. that to have love is worth the sickness. This book is a GREAT book to read.

Steph’s Review:
Okay, so I have a confession to make. You know how Requiem, book 3 of this series is already out? It’s okay if you didn’t. Let’s just say I completely forgot about this series until one of my friends showed up at school with Requiem in hand, and I saw “Lauren Oliver” printed on the cover and thought it looked familiar. So I flipped through the book, saw the Delirium stuff, and I basically banged my head on the table because I couldn’t believe I forgot to play catch-up on this series. I read Delirium around when it came out...and then I don’t know what happened. I just never read Pandemonium, and I don’t know what I was thinking when I skipped over it. I decided to be a good girl and give Delirium a re-read first before moving on, so here are my thoughts.

This was a really solid beginning to this series. It is a romance-dystopia, and in this world, love is considered a disease. It’s the most deadly one of all, that was the cause of other diseases such as depression, cancer, etc. Through tech advancements, they have been able to surgically alter the brain, and thus cure all people 18 years and older of “amor deliria nervosa”, or love. Lena is just one of the everyday people taught to believe this, but her family holds a secret: her mother was infected, and the cure didn’t work on her no matter how many time administered. It is their greatest shame and embarrassment, and they try to keep quiet about it as much as possible. Lena can’t wait to get cured, because all her troubles will end. Well, enter Alex to the scene.

Hot, gorgeous, and downright swoony, he makes Lena question everything she once believed. She really refuses to acknowledge her intrigue about him, having been taught to stay away from the boys at a young age. Thats the thing about love though right? You can’t just ignore it and push it away, no matter how hard you try. I always love reading the moments when the protagonist of a dystopic book has that sparkling realization. When they figure out that everything their society tells them is horribly twisted and full of lies. I feel like this is when a character really blooms into a hero/heroine, and when the true plot of a dystopia series begins. Delirium is no exception, and when Lena realizes that love is the only thing that is right in her life, her character is completely changed into a true lovable protagonist.

Delirium was very well written. Lauren Oliver’s writing is weaved wonderfully in this book, which is probably one of the most enrapturing points. I admit I did not like Lena at first, because I felt like she was just blind. Maybe it’s because we live in a world where love is held high, but she honestly annoyed me with all her crap about detesting love and wanting the cure. Once she opens up with Alex though, I loved her--being all rebel and sneaking in the corners. Alex. LOVE. HIM. I wish he were real, seriously, I want him to read poetry to me or something (and that’s really weird because I unfortunately don’t quite have an appreciation for poetry...). Delirium is a little lacking in action until the end of the book, but just watching Lena be resculpted was enough to keep me engrossed.

The ending broke my heart omg. It’s one of those endings where you can’t believe what’s happening. It’s like HUGE PLOT TWIST--The End. It took me awhile to come to terms with it, even though it was my second time reading it, and somehow I feel really thankful this series has been completely written. Reading Pandemonium next, which I should have a review up for soon! I absolutely have to finish this series, and find out the fate of Lena, Alex, and this society.

Delirium is one of those books that was getting a lot of attention, grabbed my interest, but I kept putting it off. Now I must say if you have this one on your to-read, do it now! Do not wait! It will be well worth your time. I know there’s a lot of Dystopian novels out there that promise a unique premise, and I definitely think that this one delivers.

This world is kind of scary in how believable it is. Not that I think our government would decide to come up with a “cure” for love. But love does cause people to do crazy things sometimes, so of course it can be twisted around and calle a disease. Falling in love is scary, but not for the reasons that the Book of Shhh feeds the citizens.`It’s easy to buy into the concept of love being a disease that leads to so many problems, and our heroine, Lena, is like the poster child.

Lena was a completely refreshing character. It seems like in general the heroine of Dystopian novels are at least suspicious of the government that they live in, if not total rebels. Lena is 100% good girl. She honestly believes that getting the “cure” is the only way to live. No music, dancing, dreaming, flirting with boys, are the only way to protect herself from the same fate as her mother. Lena is horrified when her best friend is involved with the above activities. She can’t wait to turn 18 and be free from the possibility of contracting deliria. At least until one night when she decides to prove to Hana that she can live a little and ends up meeting an uncured boy.

Meeting Alex shatters the bubble that Lena has been living in. He introduces to an array of brand new feelings and sensations, and soon Lena realizes that maybe love isn’t what the government says it is. Of course, they want to run away together to avoid the cure, but it’s not that simple. I was on the edge of my seat through the final third of Delirium. I knew something was going to go wrong, but I didn’t know what form it would take. The ending is a major cliffhanger, so I need to get my hands on Pandemonium ASAP!

I would say that Delirium is one of my favorite Dystopians so far. It’s unique and I was engaged from the very beginning. The world is disturbing, yet believable, and I think the author did an amazing job explaining it. There’s little excerpts from various texts that the government issues that will just make you go “what?!” Those were definitely a nice touch. I wholly recommend this to all YA Dystopian fans.

"I love you. Remember. They cannot take it."

Probably among the most powerful last line of a book I have read. It perfectly sums up the theme of Delirium and everything that Lena has learned throughout the story.

I am still having trouble believing how much I loved Delirium! I have always enjoyed dystopian novels, comparing them to our own society today to see how easy it would become for us to become them. And Delirium is no different. While the concept seems so unbelievable, and impossible to happen to us, the way the society is portrayed, and how the people act made me realize it is somewhat plausible, while none of it is in danger of happening today, I could see how it could happen, which to me makes the world come to life.

Before reading Delirium, I never really thought about how integrated love is in our society. So many songs are about love, books about love, poems about love, even a whole day dedicated to love!(ironically the day I started reading Delirium). But as I read it I found anything about love standing out more and more, even just generally saying "I love you" to my family, or hugging my friends goodbye. I cannot imagine a world without love, or where it is thought of as evil. But Lauren Oliver has created a believable world where love is a thing to be feared, and on certain levels, it almost makes sense. Which was the most astonishing thing to me, at times the way it was described and the effects of it did seem like a bad thing that should be eradicated. But after building up our belief that perhaps in an alternate universe love was a bad thing. Then, the author went right ahead and broke down those notions, destroying them so utterly I couldn't believe I had ever thought that maybe it was a somewhat understandable thing. It was clear that love had been twisted into an unrecognizable thing in Lena's society, something untrue and terrible. But slowly she discovered the truth about love, and why it was such an important thing to have, to hold on to, and to die for.

Another thing I thought was so interesting about it, was the way they twisted Christianity. A religion based on a relationship of love, was created into a way to keep people believing love was evil. Whenever I came across "Bible passages" or "Bible stories" I found myself astonished at how twisted they were. Even the Creation story and heaven were recreated so as to agree with the assumption that love was evil.

Once again I noticed the destruction of love(no duh!), language and history used to keep the people ignorant. I really enjoyed reading the passages at the beginning of chapters that gave perfect examples of them. From falsifying history and what life was like, to deliberately censoring information and outright lying.

Oh, and just a brief note on the characters. I loved Alex! He is so much better than Peeta(sorry Peeta! You're still awesome, just beaten by Alex!) I just loved his whole personality, he was funny, sweet, and smart, and just his whole outlook on life was great(plus he was cute) I also loved Lena(though I kept chuckling at the thought she has the same name as the main love interesting in Beautiful Creatures), it was interesting to watch her chance and grow and discover the truth. Hana was great as well, though she annoyed me at parts for the most part I think she was a perfect friend for Lena....though now I feel bad for thinking for a moment that she turned Lena in to the regulators. Woops....And Gracie! I think she is my favorite barely mentioned character ever! She is so cute and sweet and a brave hero too!

I had very high hopes for Delirium, having read on a number of blogs that it was pretty much the most fantasmagorical book of the year. These kinds of expectations often wreak havoc on my reading experience, because the book just cannot live up to the hype. Delirium largely did.

The concept of this dystopia is endlessly fascinating, unlike any of the dystopias I have read before. Certainly, there are others where love is denied and not welcomed by the society (Brave New World, for example), but I have not read one where love was the main issue. The society's documents, which open every section (as is done in Unwind), were very interesting, especially the slightly altered Bible quotes. Very clever.

Dear reader, you may have already gathered that I really do not like Romeo and Juliet, but here it is again, weaved throughout the story. The initial reference was pretty hilarious though; in this world, they did actually allow the play to be read (unlike Shakespeare's love poems), because it was a perfect example of the dangers of love. Even the young saw it not as romantic, but as a horror story. Ha!

The beginning of this novel actually reminded me, oddly enough, of Footloose. The kids, who have not been treated for the love disease, are not allowed to have any fun. They have early curfews, boys and girls aren't allowed to mingle, and loud music and dancing are forbidden. As expected, many kids will find a way to do forbidden things, nor appreciating their parents stifling them. Of course, the comparison ends somewhere: Regulators armed with guns are not quite the same as John Lithgow armed with a Bible.

The only downside to Delirium was that much of the plot was pretty predictable. Still, I enjoyed the writing, the concept and the characters. I eagerly await book two! Highly recommended!

Depressing at first but such a page turner when you reach the climax. . . Alex's sacrifice was hurtful, I felt hurt, I almost wanted to cry. . . I can't wait to grab a copy of PANDEMONIUM. . . ^_^

You won't be able to resist it, and it has a pretty cover!