Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Hodder Paperbacks (2013), 416 pages
Description
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.
User reviews
LibraryThing member fyrefly98
Summary: Lena Holloway lives in a world where everyone over eighteen no longer has to suffer from the most dangerous disease ever to infect humans. After people have received the Cure, they're no longer at risk of suffering through the pain, suffering, loss of appetite, and heart palpitations that
But things start changing sooner than Lena thinks. Hannah is acting distracted and distant, and when there's an incident at the lab during Lena's evaluation - the evaluation that will determine her husband and her future - Lena spots a security guard that's like no one she's ever seen before. Alex has had the procedure, so he's safe for her to be around, but he's also not quite like anyone Lena's ever met, and it's not so easy to keep her feelings under control. Eventually, Lena begins to doubt the veracity of everything she's ever been taught... because while love is undoubtedly risky, it just might be a risk worth taking.
Review: Dystopian novels mostly have roughly similar plotlines - government is lying to the people so that it can better control them; protagonist starts to suspect the truth and finds a way to buck the system - and therefore a new dystopian novel often stands or falls on the strength of its premise. And, on that scale, I'd say that Delirium was about 2/3s successful. To explain: This book absolutely sold me on the idea that love was a disease: Oliver does a great job casting the various symptoms in cold, clinical terms, and on highlighting love's deadly effects. I also completely bought into the idea that love was something a dystopian government would want to stamp out; after all, people do crazy things for love, and people without strong passions would be much easier to control.
However, I didn't quite buy the level of complete control that the government seemed to have. Lena's story takes place not that long after the Cure was invented, and only a generation or less after it was made mandatory. I just had a hard time believing that so much of the population would have bought into it so quickly, and that given the large number of Uncured individuals we're told still exists, that the system would be stable enough to continue to function. (Also, my inner science geek spent a fair bit of time wondering what exactly the Cure entails, neuroanatomy-wise. I've got some theories, if anyone's curious, although they don't quite jive with the details we're given.)
So, while the premise is interesting, and mostly solid, the execution didn't always match up to it. The pacing's uneven in parts, which, when coupled with some extremely predictable reveals, lead me to spend a fair bit of time wanting the book to get on with it already. As an example, Alex doesn't fess up to his Big Shocking Secret (which, of course, is not at all shocking to anyone who's ever read a novel) until almost halfway through the book. But, on the other hand, I loved how seamlessly Oliver does her worldbuilding, and there were large stretches of character development, plot points, and action that kept me totally involved.
I also really enjoyed the narration. Sarah Drew is a great fit for Lena, and has the added bonus of actually sounding like a 17-year-old girl. She didn't just read the book, she really got into character, injecting Lena's voice with laughter or anger or panic, as required by the story. She didn't quite have the vocal range to pull off some of the adult voices, but she did such a great job bringing Lena to life that I didn't really mind. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Overall, Delirium is a solidly enjoyable if not particularly ground-breaking entry into the field of YA dystopias, and fans of the genre should give it a try. It didn't blow me away, but I enjoyed it enough that I'll definitely be on the lookout for the sequel (and not just because Oliver leaves things on a hell of a cliffhanger.)
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come with Amor Deliria Nervosa. Lena's only seventeen, but she's eagerly counting down the days until her procedure... only three more months, and she's never be in danger of contracting the Deliria, and feeling the deadly effects of love. She's planning on spending her last summer before the cure running, and hanging out with her best friend Hannah.But things start changing sooner than Lena thinks. Hannah is acting distracted and distant, and when there's an incident at the lab during Lena's evaluation - the evaluation that will determine her husband and her future - Lena spots a security guard that's like no one she's ever seen before. Alex has had the procedure, so he's safe for her to be around, but he's also not quite like anyone Lena's ever met, and it's not so easy to keep her feelings under control. Eventually, Lena begins to doubt the veracity of everything she's ever been taught... because while love is undoubtedly risky, it just might be a risk worth taking.
Review: Dystopian novels mostly have roughly similar plotlines - government is lying to the people so that it can better control them; protagonist starts to suspect the truth and finds a way to buck the system - and therefore a new dystopian novel often stands or falls on the strength of its premise. And, on that scale, I'd say that Delirium was about 2/3s successful. To explain: This book absolutely sold me on the idea that love was a disease: Oliver does a great job casting the various symptoms in cold, clinical terms, and on highlighting love's deadly effects. I also completely bought into the idea that love was something a dystopian government would want to stamp out; after all, people do crazy things for love, and people without strong passions would be much easier to control.
However, I didn't quite buy the level of complete control that the government seemed to have. Lena's story takes place not that long after the Cure was invented, and only a generation or less after it was made mandatory. I just had a hard time believing that so much of the population would have bought into it so quickly, and that given the large number of Uncured individuals we're told still exists, that the system would be stable enough to continue to function. (Also, my inner science geek spent a fair bit of time wondering what exactly the Cure entails, neuroanatomy-wise. I've got some theories, if anyone's curious, although they don't quite jive with the details we're given.)
So, while the premise is interesting, and mostly solid, the execution didn't always match up to it. The pacing's uneven in parts, which, when coupled with some extremely predictable reveals, lead me to spend a fair bit of time wanting the book to get on with it already. As an example, Alex doesn't fess up to his Big Shocking Secret (which, of course, is not at all shocking to anyone who's ever read a novel) until almost halfway through the book. But, on the other hand, I loved how seamlessly Oliver does her worldbuilding, and there were large stretches of character development, plot points, and action that kept me totally involved.
I also really enjoyed the narration. Sarah Drew is a great fit for Lena, and has the added bonus of actually sounding like a 17-year-old girl. She didn't just read the book, she really got into character, injecting Lena's voice with laughter or anger or panic, as required by the story. She didn't quite have the vocal range to pull off some of the adult voices, but she did such a great job bringing Lena to life that I didn't really mind. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Overall, Delirium is a solidly enjoyable if not particularly ground-breaking entry into the field of YA dystopias, and fans of the genre should give it a try. It didn't blow me away, but I enjoyed it enough that I'll definitely be on the lookout for the sequel (and not just because Oliver leaves things on a hell of a cliffhanger.)
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LibraryThing member AlisaK.
Okay, seriously. Did I read the wrong book? Because most people talk about how amazing Delirim is and how they can just picture everything perfectly. But when I read it, I was just annoyed. It's like the exct same story as other dystopians. People, whatever you do, do not read Matched and Delirium
The characters just seemed flat. There's basically no character development in the main character, let alone any others
And the insta-love. This had so much insta-love. It was so annoying, and one of my key issues with it.
Maybe I didn't like Delirium because I was expecting a novel where the character fights back against the government. The key word being there is "fight". Yes, there were a couple scenes where there was action, but it just wasn't enough for me.
I'm sure many people will enjoy Delirium, but personally, it wasn't worth the hype.
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back to back. I couldn't finish Matched because the beginnings were so similar.The characters just seemed flat. There's basically no character development in the main character, let alone any others
And the insta-love. This had so much insta-love. It was so annoying, and one of my key issues with it.
Maybe I didn't like Delirium because I was expecting a novel where the character fights back against the government. The key word being there is "fight". Yes, there were a couple scenes where there was action, but it just wasn't enough for me.
I'm sure many people will enjoy Delirium, but personally, it wasn't worth the hype.
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LibraryThing member stephxsu
I dreaded this happening. DELIRIUM had been built up so much almost a whole year before its publication date that I wondered what I was going to do if I did not like it as much as the majority of other YA readers did. But I can’t deny that it wasn’t the book for me…and I’ll try to explain
DELIRIUM is an impeccably crafted novel, and Lauren Oliver has a beautiful way with words. Still, those do very little for me if I cannot believe and invest in the essentials of the story and world…starting with Lena. Pardon me while I throw up my hands and despair yet again at why people insist on having main characters whom everyone else considers special and strong, but really isn’t…and not because of humility, but because they really do not display any actions or thoughts that I’d consider indicative of “strength,” and because they really are, in fact, just plain boring and bland. Lena talks at length about her unusually vibrant mother and how she feels different than everyone else, but little of her actions (or lack thereof) really show me that.
None of the other characters in DELIRIUM really felt real to me, either. The romance between Lena and Alex was more about this inexplicable attraction between the two of them than any substantial development of a relationship. In fact, the narration seems to spend more time describing why this character or other should be a certain way instead of just letting the characters be the way they want us to see them as. Does that make sense? As a reader, I value my ability to figure out what the author intends for characters’ personalities instead of them being analyzed to death by the narration. As far as characterization goes, I definitely think that less (analysis) is more (details).
But what didn’t work for me right from the start was the premise of DELIRIUM. Don’t get me wrong: if done right, I’m a sucker for the dystopian love-is-bad setup. But DELIRIUM failed to convince me of the world’s—shall we say, “fullness.” Perhaps this is because DELIRIUM arrives in the midst of a slew of other YA dystopian novels in which love is considered dangerous. It’s a hard premise to develop well, let’s just say that upfront! Nevertheless, as the pages passed, I found myself wondering: from what did this start? How does the science behind the cure actually work? Why do they allow those “dangerous” Uncured rebels to live in the wild without striking them down with all of their might? And then—if the society is supposedly so strict, why does Lena so easily escape the notice of all the Regulators on her law-breaking midnight bike ride? And then—how the hell would a group of people be able to have a typical high school beer-n-music barn party in this society? If that didn’t smack you upside the head as a blatant setup for another chance encounter between Lena and Alex, then I don’t know what will. I just…didn’t think the setup behind Lena’s society was thought through well enough to convince me that the characters fully lived in this world.
The writing is wonderful, but that will not do it for me if the protagonist, supporting characters, and premise of the book do not feel complete. I’m sure that many readers will be so captivated by the lyricism and philosophical provocation to let my issues with the book hinder them, and rightfully so for the book. Still, though, this is what I thought of it.
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why.DELIRIUM is an impeccably crafted novel, and Lauren Oliver has a beautiful way with words. Still, those do very little for me if I cannot believe and invest in the essentials of the story and world…starting with Lena. Pardon me while I throw up my hands and despair yet again at why people insist on having main characters whom everyone else considers special and strong, but really isn’t…and not because of humility, but because they really do not display any actions or thoughts that I’d consider indicative of “strength,” and because they really are, in fact, just plain boring and bland. Lena talks at length about her unusually vibrant mother and how she feels different than everyone else, but little of her actions (or lack thereof) really show me that.
None of the other characters in DELIRIUM really felt real to me, either. The romance between Lena and Alex was more about this inexplicable attraction between the two of them than any substantial development of a relationship. In fact, the narration seems to spend more time describing why this character or other should be a certain way instead of just letting the characters be the way they want us to see them as. Does that make sense? As a reader, I value my ability to figure out what the author intends for characters’ personalities instead of them being analyzed to death by the narration. As far as characterization goes, I definitely think that less (analysis) is more (details).
But what didn’t work for me right from the start was the premise of DELIRIUM. Don’t get me wrong: if done right, I’m a sucker for the dystopian love-is-bad setup. But DELIRIUM failed to convince me of the world’s—shall we say, “fullness.” Perhaps this is because DELIRIUM arrives in the midst of a slew of other YA dystopian novels in which love is considered dangerous. It’s a hard premise to develop well, let’s just say that upfront! Nevertheless, as the pages passed, I found myself wondering: from what did this start? How does the science behind the cure actually work? Why do they allow those “dangerous” Uncured rebels to live in the wild without striking them down with all of their might? And then—if the society is supposedly so strict, why does Lena so easily escape the notice of all the Regulators on her law-breaking midnight bike ride? And then—how the hell would a group of people be able to have a typical high school beer-n-music barn party in this society? If that didn’t smack you upside the head as a blatant setup for another chance encounter between Lena and Alex, then I don’t know what will. I just…didn’t think the setup behind Lena’s society was thought through well enough to convince me that the characters fully lived in this world.
The writing is wonderful, but that will not do it for me if the protagonist, supporting characters, and premise of the book do not feel complete. I’m sure that many readers will be so captivated by the lyricism and philosophical provocation to let my issues with the book hinder them, and rightfully so for the book. Still, though, this is what I thought of it.
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LibraryThing member PhoebeReading
I was really excited to pick up an e-ARC of Lauren Oliver’s Delirium on netgalley, as her first book, Before I Fall is one of my crit group member Shannon’s all-time faves.On a prose level, I can certainly understand her fondness for Oliver’s writing. It is very pretty and well-controlled,
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full of the sort of stylistic flourishes often absent in young adult literature. This was especially true in terms of her descriptions of the natural and man-made landscapes of the book. Delirium is set in a near-future version of Portland, Maine, and I almost felt like I’d been vacationing there by the time the book was finished. It’s a very well-described setting.Unfortunately, other aspects of the world building, and many other aspects of the plot, fell flat for me. My first problem was with the premise at large. This is a dystopian novel, and it opens with an extended infodump establishing our universe: in the future, a cure for love has been found, and with it, a host of mental disorders and crimes have been eliminated, too. At the age of eighteen (and not a moment sooner, we’re told, for fear of ill health effects—though this guideline is later broken without more than a slight nod of acknowledgement), all citizens are put through a “procedure” (a partial lobotomy, really), which cures them of all forms of love, from romantic infatuation to filial affection. The resulting population is peacefully matched to their future spouses, and, I suppose, the reader is supposed to be horrified.I had issues with this infodump as a narrative device—I think it’s always a little bland to start a book this way—but I would have abided by it if Oliver had built something truly terrifying with her premise. But instead of seeming scary, our heroine Magdalena’s world just seemed simply implausible to me. I think this premise is indicative of a larger problem with YA dystopians: they often seem to be forming arguments in opposition to criticisms that no one has made. If we’re to look at humanity, historically, and as we know it today, I find it exceedingly difficult to believe that anyone would line up for procedures which “cure” them of love, as the narration tells us has happened in this society—particularly as Lena’s society is nominally somewhat Christian, a religion which at least in its modern form pays a great deal of lip service to the importance of love. Further, there’s no inciting incident—the formation of a political dictatorship, for example; or some sort of plague or war that leaves humanity vulnerable—to really justify this sort of philosophical sea change. We see hints of some political despotism; there are raids of homes and all citizens are constantly monitored. But these tropes go unexplored and when they are described in any depth, it’s somewhat limply. Perhaps Oliver is holding out for the second and third volume in this series to give us any deeper answers, but I found that it contributed to this volume’s failure when added to the more pervasive problems.What’s worse, though (as I said above) what we have of the setting is beautifully described, it’s written in a way that is entirely too contemporary for my tastes. Bear in mind that I don’t dislike near-future political science fiction. When used correctly, I think contemporaneous details can contribute to the richness of a dystopian text. Take, for example, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. In Atwood’s novel, the accuracy of details makes it easy to see how her society advanced from one very much like ours to an absolutely stifling dystopian world. Sadly, the details of Delirium do none of that. Lena runs for her high school track team; her friend downloads music illegally. I found neither of these details, or any of the others like it, to be particularly incisive enough to create those sorts of logical links between our world and a terrifying future. Instead I found myself wondering if perhaps Oliver simply lacked the imagination to create an accurately vivid world herself.She tries. I know that she did because she utilizes an interesting narrative device, starting each chapter with a fictional piece of literature from her society, an excerpt from one of their handbooks for children or history texts or perhaps a prayer. But these, too, fail to coalesce into any deeper, more meaningful message. There was a vague anti-science message that I had a bit of trouble parsing—one prayer is a recitation of the periodic table, and there are references to how the church and science have merged to form a “New Religion, which teaches the Holy Trinity of God, Science, and Order.” I’m not entirely sure why, but I suspect this was supposed to be scary. But I don’t find the periodic table, even if told in nursery-rhyme form, particularly scary, and if the message is that we’re supposed to be scared of scientists who want to give us lobotomies, well then, yeah, clearly.Finally, though Lena’s voice is well-done (if a bit of an Everygirl), and some of the supporting characters vividly rendered, I found Alex, the love interest, the most important character to get right in a book about star-crossed lovers, to be utterly bland. He’s cute. He and Lena kiss. He recites poetry. But other than that, I have no idea who he is, and why he’s so special.Maybe that’s sort of the point. There’s a recurring thread here about Romeo and Juliet. In Lena’s repressed society, it’s taught as a “cautionary tale” about the dangers of love. When Alex hears that, he laughs and says it’s a great love story. The only problem with that is, of course, to call Romeo and Juliet naught but a great love story is to oversimplify. It is a cautionary tale—about blood feuds—and the capriciousness of Romeo’s emotions, particularly, and the fool-heartedness of both Romeo and Juliet are also important themes. Of course, that’s not how Romeo and Juliet are often perceived by high schoolers. Many see it in reductive, over-simplistic terms (see also: how Bella and Edward interpret it in New Moon), which is how they often see love, too, throwing themselves into it whole heartedly even with people who aren’t that interesting.If that was really Oliver’s point, then I think it’s a provocative one for a modern YA author to make. However, if that was her point, I really wish she would have shared it with her audience. Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review purposes from netgalley.com Show Less
LibraryThing member AyleeArgh
In short: I loved Delirium by Lauren Oliver so much I'm afraid the regulators are going to find me and hand me in to be cured.
Oh, wow, did I love this book. Lauren Oliver has created a superb and horrifying dystopian world in Delirium. Lena is a shy, "in-between" seventeen year old girl who always
But there's a stubborn part to Lena that keeps nagging at her; a part that tells the examiners that her favourite colour is grey (instead of the more accepted blue or green). Then she meets Alex, a fun-loving older boy, and a sequence of events unfolds that leads to her disobeying and lying to her aunt for the first time. She finds that even the smallest disobedience thrills her. She is able to find courage within herself that she never knew she had. Lena's character development was excellent. I really enjoyed being able to see her grow as the novel progressed. I look forward to getting to know her even better in the sequel.
This was my first experience with Oliver's writing and I can't say enough good things about it. The writing flowed so nicely; I read without pause or distraction. The imagery used was powerful. I definitely plan on checking out Oliver's debut novel, Before I Fall. Each chapter was prefaced with a quote from a piece of literature from the dystopian society. These were essentially propaganda, brainwashing the readers into believing that love is a disease that needs to be cured. They set the tone perfectly for the novel, showcasing a creepy and appalling world.
My only complaint is that cliffhanger ending! And now we have to wait until 2012 for the sequel, Pandemonium. I will definitely be buying this book when it comes out on February 1st and I highly recommend that you do, too!
Oh, wow, did I love this book. Lauren Oliver has created a superb and horrifying dystopian world in Delirium. Lena is a shy, "in-between" seventeen year old girl who always
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does as she's told and never lies. She's afraid of everyone and everything ("I'm right to be scared," she says). She looks forward to receiving the cure to amor deliria nervosa on her eighteenth birthday. She believes she will be reborn, healed, and perfect with the cure. She views her mother, who was unable to be cured, as "freakish."But there's a stubborn part to Lena that keeps nagging at her; a part that tells the examiners that her favourite colour is grey (instead of the more accepted blue or green). Then she meets Alex, a fun-loving older boy, and a sequence of events unfolds that leads to her disobeying and lying to her aunt for the first time. She finds that even the smallest disobedience thrills her. She is able to find courage within herself that she never knew she had. Lena's character development was excellent. I really enjoyed being able to see her grow as the novel progressed. I look forward to getting to know her even better in the sequel.
This was my first experience with Oliver's writing and I can't say enough good things about it. The writing flowed so nicely; I read without pause or distraction. The imagery used was powerful. I definitely plan on checking out Oliver's debut novel, Before I Fall. Each chapter was prefaced with a quote from a piece of literature from the dystopian society. These were essentially propaganda, brainwashing the readers into believing that love is a disease that needs to be cured. They set the tone perfectly for the novel, showcasing a creepy and appalling world.
My only complaint is that cliffhanger ending! And now we have to wait until 2012 for the sequel, Pandemonium. I will definitely be buying this book when it comes out on February 1st and I highly recommend that you do, too!
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LibraryThing member dk_phoenix
This was my first Lauren Oliver read, and I started the book with fairly high expectations. I'd heard that Lauren Oliver's books were compelling, vivid, and very emotional stories that drew the reader in and gripped them until the end.
In this case? Mostly true. My main issue with this novel was the
Now, while this is an interesting approach to building a dystopian society, I simply had trouble with the plausibility of it all. We don't really learn why and how the United States decided that love was a disease, and I find that if I don't have a clear explanation of how a dystopian society becomes dystopian, I stop caring. If it can't be explained to me, there's no logical reason for what's happening, and I get frustrated.
Beyond that, the issue of eliminating love is so much more complicated than the way it's presented here. Oliver touches on the inevitability of certain mothers being unable to "bond" with their children and thus needing to be removed from them... or some people committing suicide because of the apathy they develop... but I honestly think she downplayed this aspect. I know it's for the sake of the story, but if mothers didn't love their children, or teachers didn't love the kids they taught, or if no one loved their job, the world would become a very dysfunctional place very quickly.
So for me, the premise was flawed and I didn't buy it.
However... the actual writing, and the story, and the characters? Beautiful. Oliver has this incredible ability to write so smoothly that you'll be halfway through the book before you've taken a second breath. Her style is clear and to the point, not flowery or melodramatic, allowing you to be drawn in without even realizing it. Honestly, even with all the flaws I mentioned above, I will be reading the second book, if only for the author's ability to create characters that you really want to cheer for, and for her ability to make the words simply flow across the page like water.
In this case? Mostly true. My main issue with this novel was the
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premise: The United States has decided that love is a disease, and youth undergo a procedure at eighteen to "cure" them of the possibility of ever catching the disease. Marriages are matched by algorithm, and anyone showing signs of the disease is captured and forced to undergo treatment again and again (mind you, this element plays a major role in the plot, so I don't want to say much more).Now, while this is an interesting approach to building a dystopian society, I simply had trouble with the plausibility of it all. We don't really learn why and how the United States decided that love was a disease, and I find that if I don't have a clear explanation of how a dystopian society becomes dystopian, I stop caring. If it can't be explained to me, there's no logical reason for what's happening, and I get frustrated.
Beyond that, the issue of eliminating love is so much more complicated than the way it's presented here. Oliver touches on the inevitability of certain mothers being unable to "bond" with their children and thus needing to be removed from them... or some people committing suicide because of the apathy they develop... but I honestly think she downplayed this aspect. I know it's for the sake of the story, but if mothers didn't love their children, or teachers didn't love the kids they taught, or if no one loved their job, the world would become a very dysfunctional place very quickly.
So for me, the premise was flawed and I didn't buy it.
However... the actual writing, and the story, and the characters? Beautiful. Oliver has this incredible ability to write so smoothly that you'll be halfway through the book before you've taken a second breath. Her style is clear and to the point, not flowery or melodramatic, allowing you to be drawn in without even realizing it. Honestly, even with all the flaws I mentioned above, I will be reading the second book, if only for the author's ability to create characters that you really want to cheer for, and for her ability to make the words simply flow across the page like water.
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LibraryThing member bookwormygirl
Imagine a world without love... a world where your partner in life is chosen for you, where you don't have strong nor deep feelings for anything (family, friends, even something as meaningless as food or even music). Your children are just that, your children. You don't necessarily love them. This
Lena was a great heroine. She tried so hard to be perfect, to follow the rules. She had been counting down till the day of her cure for months. Obviously falling in love threw a wrench in her well laid out plans. Alex the boy she falls for is quite the charmer. I think I may have fallen in love with him along with her. Their love was sweet and innocent and the way that it came to be was charming. Their relationship as well as that of Lena and her BFF Hana were very well done. I loved their discussions, the push and pull between the characters... the emotions. It was all very creative - yet believable. I also liked the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and how they came into play with what was going on in the story. It was almost like a foreshadowing or warning of what was to come .
I truly became emotionally invested in these characters - I could not help myself. I found that I needed for everything to work out for Lena and Alex, that a society really couldn't be this jaded. I was literally on a roller-coaster of emotions throughout. Ms. Oliver's writing is fluid and fresh and something that you become a part of from the moment you read those first pages. I really liked her debut novel, Before I Fall, but I absolutely loved Delirium. I, not only read it in one sitting (oh yea, and it's 400+ pages long), but once I was done with it I could not get it out of my head. I still think about it (and it's been a few weeks since I read it).
All in all, Delirium is riddled with engaging characters, heartbreaking emotional conflict, fast-paced action and a realism that is only enhanced by its dystopian setting. I cannot recommend this one enough. It will haunt you.
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was such a seductive concept for me that from the moment I first heard of Ms. Oliver's Delirium I just knew I had to read it.Lena was a great heroine. She tried so hard to be perfect, to follow the rules. She had been counting down till the day of her cure for months. Obviously falling in love threw a wrench in her well laid out plans. Alex the boy she falls for is quite the charmer. I think I may have fallen in love with him along with her. Their love was sweet and innocent and the way that it came to be was charming. Their relationship as well as that of Lena and her BFF Hana were very well done. I loved their discussions, the push and pull between the characters... the emotions. It was all very creative - yet believable. I also liked the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and how they came into play with what was going on in the story. It was almost like a foreshadowing or warning of what was to come .
I truly became emotionally invested in these characters - I could not help myself. I found that I needed for everything to work out for Lena and Alex, that a society really couldn't be this jaded. I was literally on a roller-coaster of emotions throughout. Ms. Oliver's writing is fluid and fresh and something that you become a part of from the moment you read those first pages. I really liked her debut novel, Before I Fall, but I absolutely loved Delirium. I, not only read it in one sitting (oh yea, and it's 400+ pages long), but once I was done with it I could not get it out of my head. I still think about it (and it's been a few weeks since I read it).
All in all, Delirium is riddled with engaging characters, heartbreaking emotional conflict, fast-paced action and a realism that is only enhanced by its dystopian setting. I cannot recommend this one enough. It will haunt you.
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LibraryThing member _Zoe_
Before I Fall by the same author was one of my top books last year, so I was pretty much resolved to read anything Oliver might produce. I also particularly like dystopias, so this seemed like a good fit. In the future world, people have concluded that love is a disease, and one that fortunately
The outcome of this story is pretty predictable; I was struck by the comment of one Amazon reviewer who said that you didn't need to read more than the back cover to know everything that was going to happen in the book. That's basically true, which is a bit disappointing in 400+ pages. I found the story pretty slow-moving, both because I wasn't particularly driven to find out what happened and I because I didn't see what was so great about the love interest. That might have been okay in a dystopia, though--I loved The Windup Girl for the world more than the characters--except that the underlying premise was also a bit of a let-down. Other people have said that the idea seemed a bit implausible, and I have to agree. I might have been willing to take a leap of faith except that at a fundamental level it just didn't make sense, because there comes a point in the story when we see "cured" people committing unnecessary acts of violence and seemingly enjoying it. I could accept the premise that orderly society is harmed by strong emotions, but I can't understand why anyone would decide to cure the feeling of love while leaving in the tendency toward cruelty.
So, this one was a let-down overall. I will say, though, that Oliver can write a powerful ending; that managed to redeem the book for me and make it an average read rather than a disappointing one. I still wish she were moving on to something else rather than continuing this as a trilogy, but I guess dystopian trilogies are all the rage in YA these days. I'll probably continue to read it eventually.
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has a cure. People go through the procedure when they turn 18, and are then guaranteed a calm, peaceful life free from the ups and downs of emotion. Lena has always looked forward to this entrance into adult life, but then, just a few months before her procedure, she meets a boy....The outcome of this story is pretty predictable; I was struck by the comment of one Amazon reviewer who said that you didn't need to read more than the back cover to know everything that was going to happen in the book. That's basically true, which is a bit disappointing in 400+ pages. I found the story pretty slow-moving, both because I wasn't particularly driven to find out what happened and I because I didn't see what was so great about the love interest. That might have been okay in a dystopia, though--I loved The Windup Girl for the world more than the characters--except that the underlying premise was also a bit of a let-down. Other people have said that the idea seemed a bit implausible, and I have to agree. I might have been willing to take a leap of faith except that at a fundamental level it just didn't make sense, because there comes a point in the story when we see "cured" people committing unnecessary acts of violence and seemingly enjoying it. I could accept the premise that orderly society is harmed by strong emotions, but I can't understand why anyone would decide to cure the feeling of love while leaving in the tendency toward cruelty.
So, this one was a let-down overall. I will say, though, that Oliver can write a powerful ending; that managed to redeem the book for me and make it an average read rather than a disappointing one. I still wish she were moving on to something else rather than continuing this as a trilogy, but I guess dystopian trilogies are all the rage in YA these days. I'll probably continue to read it eventually.
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LibraryThing member norabelle414
Abandoned - tedious and unoriginal
LibraryThing member idroskicinia
When I first heard about this book, I immediately wanted to read it. I love dystopian stories. I’m too tired about vampires and werewolves… well; if they are really good books I read and love them too. But Delirium looked so different and so good!
My first impression when I started reading it
I’m not criticizing any of both books, I’m just saying what I saw when I read them. There are a lot of similarities, but of course, it’s not the same story, and there are not the same characters. And I think both stories will continue on different directions.
However, I really enjoyed Delirium, and if you liked Matched, you should give it a try, although we always will end doing comparisons.
BTW... The cover is really nice!
My first impression when I started reading it
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was good, even though it remembered me Matched by Ally Condie (A LOT). I mean it’s almost the same thing. The girl lives in a dystopian word, really different from ours. You can’t take your own decisions, you only can do what “They” say you to do. They look for your perfect match in both books, and “they” are always watching you. The girl falls in love with the wrong guy, and in the case of the Delirium, falling for somebody is prohibited. So is a forbidden love. And is when she realizes that the word where she lives is not so good like she thought. I’m not criticizing any of both books, I’m just saying what I saw when I read them. There are a lot of similarities, but of course, it’s not the same story, and there are not the same characters. And I think both stories will continue on different directions.
However, I really enjoyed Delirium, and if you liked Matched, you should give it a try, although we always will end doing comparisons.
BTW... The cover is really nice!
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LibraryThing member BeckyJG
Portland, Maine. The indeterminate future. It's been sixty-four years since love was identified as a disease, forty-three since a cure was developed. Now the cure is mandatory; all citizens must undergo the procedure (which sounds, from the sketchy descriptions, like a lobotomy of sorts) when they
Lena, just three months shy of her eighteenth birthday, longs for the cure. She's always felt different; her mother, who suffered the procedure three times but was never cured, threw herself from a bridge when Lena was a child. All Lena wants is to fit in, to be told what career she will have and who she will marry, to feel like everyone else...not to feel anything at all, really.
Then Lena meets a boy. Alex is a little older and a lot worldlier, with golden hair and rippling muscles. Oh yeah, he's smart and funny, too. They fall in love.
Although Delirium--the first installment in a trilogy (because don't YA dystopians always come in trilogies?)--starts off awkwardly and at first feels overly familiar, when author Lauren Oliver finds her pace she really takes off. Lena is a believable teen, whose agonies of personal awkwardness and not fitting in--which felt all-too-familiar to this erstwhile awkward teen--are compounded by living in a society in which feelings are literally cut out of one before she even truly reaches maturity. The reader is swept up by Lena's see-sawing emotions, and the revelation that hits at the climax of the book is as shocking and painful to us as it is to her.
Delirium ends on such a strong note that I wished Oliver's editor would have had her rework the first fifty pages or so a bit before sending it off to the printer. Either way, the cliffhanger ending left me gasping for breath and anticipating the next installment.
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reach the age of eighteen. The United States is isolated from the rest of the world (it's not clear whether the cure is being taken advantage of elsewhere) and the inhabited areas within the States are all surrounded by electrified fences, outside of which are wild areas, inhabited by the uncured, who are called invalids.Lena, just three months shy of her eighteenth birthday, longs for the cure. She's always felt different; her mother, who suffered the procedure three times but was never cured, threw herself from a bridge when Lena was a child. All Lena wants is to fit in, to be told what career she will have and who she will marry, to feel like everyone else...not to feel anything at all, really.
Then Lena meets a boy. Alex is a little older and a lot worldlier, with golden hair and rippling muscles. Oh yeah, he's smart and funny, too. They fall in love.
Although Delirium--the first installment in a trilogy (because don't YA dystopians always come in trilogies?)--starts off awkwardly and at first feels overly familiar, when author Lauren Oliver finds her pace she really takes off. Lena is a believable teen, whose agonies of personal awkwardness and not fitting in--which felt all-too-familiar to this erstwhile awkward teen--are compounded by living in a society in which feelings are literally cut out of one before she even truly reaches maturity. The reader is swept up by Lena's see-sawing emotions, and the revelation that hits at the climax of the book is as shocking and painful to us as it is to her.
Delirium ends on such a strong note that I wished Oliver's editor would have had her rework the first fifty pages or so a bit before sending it off to the printer. Either way, the cliffhanger ending left me gasping for breath and anticipating the next installment.
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LibraryThing member krau0098
This is another book I’ve had on my TBR pile for awhile. I originally didn’t read it right away because I was burnt out on YA dystopian books. I haven’t read a lot of dystopian lately and thought I would give it a shot. This ended up being a very predictable and typical YA dystopian novel. I
I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was okay. The narrator made the male voices sound a bit unrealistic and goofy. Additional she gives our heroine, Lena, a voice that is very breathless and urgent sounding throughout. At first it does help to make situations seem more urgent, but as the story progresses it just makes the heroine sound like she’s overreacting to everything. In short I wouldn’t recommend listening to this on audiobook.
This book is typical YA dystopian from the beginning to the end. Basically after a huge disaster (which we only know is called the Blitz) cities decide that humans have to undergo labadamies at the age of eighteen in order to make them not love or react with strong emotions. It’s a stretch as a premise I know.
Of course our heroine is a good little girl and is excited to get her “cure” until she meets a boy and falls in love with him (yawn). Now she doesn’t want to be cured but wants to escape with him...of course she has to get caught right before she’s going to escape and (of course) they move her procedure up. Okay I guess you could call that last sentence spoilers...but really you knew from page 1 what was going to happen here if you have ever read any YA dystopian books.
The story is slow, the heroine is cookie-cutter boring. The writing is okay; I felt like there was a lot of time spent with character dramatically over-analyzing their feelings..but whatever. I was just never emotionally involved with these characters so there’s that.
The book “ties up” basically in the middle of an action scene of sorts; which is to say it ends up on a giant cliffhanger with no resolutions (except if you’ve read other YA dystopian you can guess what will happen in book 2...I went and read a recap of book 2 just to see if I was right...I was).
Overall an incredibly typical young adult dystopian novels. It is decently written so if you want an overly dramatic and predictable dystopian read with a lot of teenage angst over love and feelings; this should fit the bill. I personally thought it was predictable, boring and generally inane. I wasn’t a fan and won’t continue reading the series.
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really wasn’t all that impressed; it was okay but not great.I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was okay. The narrator made the male voices sound a bit unrealistic and goofy. Additional she gives our heroine, Lena, a voice that is very breathless and urgent sounding throughout. At first it does help to make situations seem more urgent, but as the story progresses it just makes the heroine sound like she’s overreacting to everything. In short I wouldn’t recommend listening to this on audiobook.
This book is typical YA dystopian from the beginning to the end. Basically after a huge disaster (which we only know is called the Blitz) cities decide that humans have to undergo labadamies at the age of eighteen in order to make them not love or react with strong emotions. It’s a stretch as a premise I know.
Of course our heroine is a good little girl and is excited to get her “cure” until she meets a boy and falls in love with him (yawn). Now she doesn’t want to be cured but wants to escape with him...of course she has to get caught right before she’s going to escape and (of course) they move her procedure up. Okay I guess you could call that last sentence spoilers...but really you knew from page 1 what was going to happen here if you have ever read any YA dystopian books.
The story is slow, the heroine is cookie-cutter boring. The writing is okay; I felt like there was a lot of time spent with character dramatically over-analyzing their feelings..but whatever. I was just never emotionally involved with these characters so there’s that.
The book “ties up” basically in the middle of an action scene of sorts; which is to say it ends up on a giant cliffhanger with no resolutions (except if you’ve read other YA dystopian you can guess what will happen in book 2...I went and read a recap of book 2 just to see if I was right...I was).
Overall an incredibly typical young adult dystopian novels. It is decently written so if you want an overly dramatic and predictable dystopian read with a lot of teenage angst over love and feelings; this should fit the bill. I personally thought it was predictable, boring and generally inane. I wasn’t a fan and won’t continue reading the series.
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LibraryThing member strongpieces
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
When you read a lot of a certain genre, you start to suss out the familiar tropes and themes that crop up in every novel. In the latest crop of dystopian YA that's popped up since The Hunger Games, it's been easy: young girl in a dystopian future, a
The fact that the entire novel is based on a romance threw me off at first, but it's the development of it that really hooked me and kept me reading. Yes, it's because of a guy that Lena starts to wake up to everything around her, but the emotional growth she experiences as the book progresses is lovely to watch, something a lot of dystopian romance novels miss when trying to hit their plot points along the way.
I think I'm mostly just glad there isn't a damn love triangle.
When you read a lot of a certain genre, you start to suss out the familiar tropes and themes that crop up in every novel. In the latest crop of dystopian YA that's popped up since The Hunger Games, it's been easy: young girl in a dystopian future, a
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populace that's brainwashed somehow, girl looking forward to whatever landmark she's about to hit, boy shows up, romance and having her eyes opened to the horrors of the world around her ensue. Sometimes a good boy/bad boy triangle pops up. Sometimes, books like Delirium come along, and while it does deal in many of the familiar themes, it does so in a way that feels a little fresher, a little different from the rest of them.The fact that the entire novel is based on a romance threw me off at first, but it's the development of it that really hooked me and kept me reading. Yes, it's because of a guy that Lena starts to wake up to everything around her, but the emotional growth she experiences as the book progresses is lovely to watch, something a lot of dystopian romance novels miss when trying to hit their plot points along the way.
I think I'm mostly just glad there isn't a damn love triangle.
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LibraryThing member jinkay
In Delirium, love is considered a grave mental disease... and they have a cure. Lena Holoway has always wanted to receive the cure so she doesn’t become infected with amor deliria nervosa. She just wants to be normal and happy and doesn’t want to experience what her mother, who was never cured,
The main issue I have with Delirium is that the whole dystopic premise is based on the concept of love as a disease - this is plausible, sure - all the symptoms listed can happen to anyone. But there had to have been some big event for them to come to the conclusion that love is the root of all bad things and this was not explained in the book. I have a hard time imagining love ultimately resulting to something so cataclysmic that the government would want it eradicated completely with the punishment of death to those who resist the “cure”. I mean, if they had to remove an emotion, why love? Why not hate - symptoms: vision turning red, dark thoughts, violent impulses and outbursts? But I digress. I just don't buy it and maybe this is one of the reasons why I didn't love the book as much.
Anyway, I kept reading, swept my questions aside and begrudgingly accepted Lena’s world for what it is. Delirium starts out slow and maintains this pace almost all throughout the novel. There were exciting moments but often the build-up was just too much that I’m indifferent by the time it gets to the "good parts”. I thought Lena and Alex’s romance was believable and I liked the back story concerning "the governor" before the two of them met. I was intrigued by Lena’s mom's story and it was a bit disappointing that it wasn't fleshed out more. Maybe in a sequel, no? My favorite parts were the chapter intros which were absolutely brilliant… the provided insight – some entertaining, some clinical, some horrifying – to the world that Delirium introduced.
All that being said, I think Delirium is a solid, thought-provoking and enjoyable read. Hoping there’ll be a sequel.
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had gone through. But a few months before she's set to get the treatment, she falls in love. The main issue I have with Delirium is that the whole dystopic premise is based on the concept of love as a disease - this is plausible, sure - all the symptoms listed can happen to anyone. But there had to have been some big event for them to come to the conclusion that love is the root of all bad things and this was not explained in the book. I have a hard time imagining love ultimately resulting to something so cataclysmic that the government would want it eradicated completely with the punishment of death to those who resist the “cure”. I mean, if they had to remove an emotion, why love? Why not hate - symptoms: vision turning red, dark thoughts, violent impulses and outbursts? But I digress. I just don't buy it and maybe this is one of the reasons why I didn't love the book as much.
Anyway, I kept reading, swept my questions aside and begrudgingly accepted Lena’s world for what it is. Delirium starts out slow and maintains this pace almost all throughout the novel. There were exciting moments but often the build-up was just too much that I’m indifferent by the time it gets to the "good parts”. I thought Lena and Alex’s romance was believable and I liked the back story concerning "the governor" before the two of them met. I was intrigued by Lena’s mom's story and it was a bit disappointing that it wasn't fleshed out more. Maybe in a sequel, no? My favorite parts were the chapter intros which were absolutely brilliant… the provided insight – some entertaining, some clinical, some horrifying – to the world that Delirium introduced.
All that being said, I think Delirium is a solid, thought-provoking and enjoyable read. Hoping there’ll be a sequel.
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LibraryThing member fueledbycoffee
This was a real roller coaster of a ride. Lauren Oliver has an incredibly lovely writing style. So many passages of surprisingly tangible descriptions, painting a story of shyness, ignorance, anxiety, loss, forbidden love, and drama.
You can read many reviews abt this story...my thoughts are
The ending had to be my favorite bit of writing. Poetic, indeed. Im looking forward to reading more but not excited to wait for bk#3. (as I've finished bk #2 in this series today). Blergh. How I loathe waiting... ;)
You can read many reviews abt this story...my thoughts are
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broader overall. Oliver's government making sheeple through scare tactics and propaganda. How ignorance is not bliss. How foreign to me, regarding love as something to fight against. Further, how many times in my own country's history has society fought ideas or veins of thought to then see a complete reversal 20, 30, 60, 100 years later. The ending had to be my favorite bit of writing. Poetic, indeed. Im looking forward to reading more but not excited to wait for bk#3. (as I've finished bk #2 in this series today). Blergh. How I loathe waiting... ;)
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LibraryThing member JamesterCK
My opinion: Wow, what a refreshing book. By that I mean it was just a really original idea, fast paced and interesting. We meet Lena who is several months shy of her operation to cure her from the worst disease known to man: amor delirium nervosa. See, in this alternate reality love is looked upon
I really enjoyed this book; the story was great and original and the characters were well developed. I liked how it wasn't set really far in the future, just an alternate reality of present day. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a forced operation like this, when after you wouldn't really feel much of anything at all. That would be horrible. It's easy to assume at the start (and from reading the synopsis) that Lena is eventually going to fall in love and not want to go through with it, but the lengths she goes through to be with Alex are impressive. Especially from someone like Lena that seems so meek and timid, just wanting to follow the rules. She really goes for what she wants in the end. I think the most intense part of the book (besides the end of course) would be when she goes to try and warn her best friend Hana, who is at an illegal party, that raiders are coming to search for people breaking the law. I felt fear for her, not knowing how she was going to survive. This book is lighthearted in some parts, heartbreaking in others. All I have to say is bravo on this book, Lauren Oliver. Very well done. I am so looking forward to reading Before I Fall, I hear it is an awesome book as well! Make sure you have some kleenex ready boys and girls, because trust me you will need it by the end of this one!
My rating: 4/5 stars
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as a disease that can destroy people, make them crazy; so the scientists devise an operation that can prevent people from falling in love (basically cutting out part of their brain so they can't really feel much of any emotion anymore). Lena is so relieved to be close to getting this procedure done, because her mom committed suicide due to lost love. At the back of her mind though, Lena wonders if the procedure will even work on her, since her mom was unable to be cured. The procedure is only done when someone turns 18 due to safety reasons and prior to that the person has to have an evaluation to set them up with career choices and a future mate. Chaos erupts when Lena goes for her evaluation and after that things change drastically. She meets Alex, a 19 year old guy that she assumes is already cured; however he's not, and soon she finds herself doing the one thing she swore she would never do: fall in love I really enjoyed this book; the story was great and original and the characters were well developed. I liked how it wasn't set really far in the future, just an alternate reality of present day. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a forced operation like this, when after you wouldn't really feel much of anything at all. That would be horrible. It's easy to assume at the start (and from reading the synopsis) that Lena is eventually going to fall in love and not want to go through with it, but the lengths she goes through to be with Alex are impressive. Especially from someone like Lena that seems so meek and timid, just wanting to follow the rules. She really goes for what she wants in the end. I think the most intense part of the book (besides the end of course) would be when she goes to try and warn her best friend Hana, who is at an illegal party, that raiders are coming to search for people breaking the law. I felt fear for her, not knowing how she was going to survive. This book is lighthearted in some parts, heartbreaking in others. All I have to say is bravo on this book, Lauren Oliver. Very well done. I am so looking forward to reading Before I Fall, I hear it is an awesome book as well! Make sure you have some kleenex ready boys and girls, because trust me you will need it by the end of this one!
My rating: 4/5 stars
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LibraryThing member skaohee
So before I give my review of this book, I'll tell you how it ended for me. I was sitting on my bed reading the last few pages saying outloud "No..no..no.." and then cried.
Well, now that you know what you're in for - let me tell you why I loved this book.
The concept of the book is a great one. A
Much like some other dystopic novels I've read this year, the world that Lena lives in chooses her life partner for her. And while I'm sure he's a nice guy, he's not "the one". Lena doesn't even like him that much. I'm very happy that Ms. Oliver didn't make a love triangle in this book. It was clear from the moment that she met Alex that he had feelings for her and that she reciprocated those feelings. She fell in love and I fell in love with both of them. (A boy who recites poetry? Yes, please. Swoon-worthy for sure.) The connection between them was so real - taking something as simple as hanging out at an old abandoned house and making it seem so important. (Because when you think about love and relationships, isn't it the everyday little things that are the most cherished?)
On to the ending - I cried. and cried. and cried. I almost threw my Nook because I was so emotional. Only after I finished reading, did I find out that this is in fact the first in a trilogy. Because let me tell you something, if that was the way the book had ended for good..well..Lauren Oliver, you would have been receiving some choice words from me.
I've got a long To-Read list for Em and I've been begging her and begging her to pick this one up. I also informed her that she also needs to be in the right state of mind when going into this book. It is not the kind of book you want to read as a 'pick-me-up', as I felt emotionally raw after reading the last page.
So kudos to you Lauren, this was the first book that made me cry.
Well, now that you know what you're in for - let me tell you why I loved this book.
The concept of the book is a great one. A
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world where love is a disease that people can be cured of? Sometimes, people wish that they could stop loving people but a life totally devoid of ALL love? Having a feeling of indifference towards your parents, your siblings, your best friends? This is not a world that I would want to live in. And in this book, some people don't. They live outside of the fence in the wilderness. So, take your pick - comfortable life with no love or scrapping it out in the wilderness knowing what love feels like. I choose the latter.Much like some other dystopic novels I've read this year, the world that Lena lives in chooses her life partner for her. And while I'm sure he's a nice guy, he's not "the one". Lena doesn't even like him that much. I'm very happy that Ms. Oliver didn't make a love triangle in this book. It was clear from the moment that she met Alex that he had feelings for her and that she reciprocated those feelings. She fell in love and I fell in love with both of them. (A boy who recites poetry? Yes, please. Swoon-worthy for sure.) The connection between them was so real - taking something as simple as hanging out at an old abandoned house and making it seem so important. (Because when you think about love and relationships, isn't it the everyday little things that are the most cherished?)
On to the ending - I cried. and cried. and cried. I almost threw my Nook because I was so emotional. Only after I finished reading, did I find out that this is in fact the first in a trilogy. Because let me tell you something, if that was the way the book had ended for good..well..Lauren Oliver, you would have been receiving some choice words from me.
I've got a long To-Read list for Em and I've been begging her and begging her to pick this one up. I also informed her that she also needs to be in the right state of mind when going into this book. It is not the kind of book you want to read as a 'pick-me-up', as I felt emotionally raw after reading the last page.
So kudos to you Lauren, this was the first book that made me cry.
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LibraryThing member librarybrandy
Decreased appetite, weight loss, lack of concentration, mood swings: all symptoms of amor deliria nervosa. Luckily, there's a cure, administered to all citizens as soon after their 18th birthdays as possible. Lena is looking forward to having the Cure, to getting her match, to having her life's
Another dystopia in which the government makes all choices (see also: The Giver, Matched) and offers a surgical fix to "dangerous" thoughts and emotions (see also: Uglies), while offering the perfect, we'll-always-be-together romance of teenagers (see also: the not-dystopian Shiver, which maybe I see parallels to because I think it's the same narrator on the audio book? It's read in the same tone and cadence, anyway.).
Not surprised to see this is the first in a series. The romance, as well as several other plot twists, are fairly predictable; that won't stop the high school girls from clamoring for this one. I'd have liked to see more of the world-building and get a fuller picture besides EVIL REGULATORS and EMOTIONLESS CURED ADULTS, but the thrust of the book is really more the love story than the dystopia, so it's probably not fair to judge it against that bar. 3 stars as dystopia; 4 as romance.
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choices settled. But just months before she's to get her cure--on the day of her evaluation, when she'll give the panel the information they need to make those decisions for her--she meets the person who will infect her. It's an infection as old as time, and deadly dangerous: Lena has fallen in love.Another dystopia in which the government makes all choices (see also: The Giver, Matched) and offers a surgical fix to "dangerous" thoughts and emotions (see also: Uglies), while offering the perfect, we'll-always-be-together romance of teenagers (see also: the not-dystopian Shiver, which maybe I see parallels to because I think it's the same narrator on the audio book? It's read in the same tone and cadence, anyway.).
Not surprised to see this is the first in a series. The romance, as well as several other plot twists, are fairly predictable; that won't stop the high school girls from clamoring for this one. I'd have liked to see more of the world-building and get a fuller picture besides EVIL REGULATORS and EMOTIONLESS CURED ADULTS, but the thrust of the book is really more the love story than the dystopia, so it's probably not fair to judge it against that bar. 3 stars as dystopia; 4 as romance.
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LibraryThing member Becky_Jean
2.5 stars
I generally love dystopias, but since Hunger Games the trend really seems to have caught fire (no pun intended), resulting in some pretty half-assed additions to genre. There are worse ones out there than Delirium, but this by no means stood out to me as an example of what good YA
The premise sounds like the brainstorming of a middle-school creative writing class: in a futuristic setting, love is outlawed, and everyone becomes a brainwashed zombie on their 18th birthday. Naturally, our protagonist Lena is one of the few to understand True Love, and must fend off the Forces of Evil in order to be with her Soul Mate, Alex.
To be honest, I never really felt like this premise made a lot of sense to start with. The book appears to equate "love" and "passion", which aren't really the same things at all. Outlawing passion would make sense in a twisted sort of way, since it can cover a lot of ground: jealousy, hatred, fury, etc. However, the book constantly refers to "love" as amor deliria nervosa, to the point where the word love itself is outlawed. I felt like, had the author tried harder, we might have actually sympathized on some level with those who wanted the procedure. Who doesn't want to stop feeling things like guilt, shame, and misery? Yet the book never goes this far, because we are EXPECTED to agree with Lena. To experience any kind of conflict outside of the one preventing Lena from being with Alex is apparently beside the point.
Of course, as more or less functional human beings, we understand that to experience the good parts in life, we also have to experience the bad. Strangely enough, though, Delirium never actually reaches this message, and just sort of loses steam. The ending of the novel is pretty much summed up in one (pretty patronizing) line:
I'd rather die my way than live yours.
Which was a bit of a letdown, really. I mean, teenagers have been saying this for ages, and it's not like anybody is against being in love with someone who loves you back. They're against all of the negatives that comes with it: the jealousy, the anger, and eventually, the heartbreak and devastation. Again, this is never broached in Delirium. Alex and Lena are the rebels in love, prepared to show the ignorant world the light. Or something.
I've heard the sequel is quite a bit better, which is mostly why I picked up this book. I DID like Ms. Oliver's writing style, which is one of the main reasons this book scraped by at 2.5 stars for me. Here's crossing my fingers that Pandemonium can tread some deeper waters.
I generally love dystopias, but since Hunger Games the trend really seems to have caught fire (no pun intended), resulting in some pretty half-assed additions to genre. There are worse ones out there than Delirium, but this by no means stood out to me as an example of what good YA
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dystopian lit is capable of.The premise sounds like the brainstorming of a middle-school creative writing class: in a futuristic setting, love is outlawed, and everyone becomes a brainwashed zombie on their 18th birthday. Naturally, our protagonist Lena is one of the few to understand True Love, and must fend off the Forces of Evil in order to be with her Soul Mate, Alex.
To be honest, I never really felt like this premise made a lot of sense to start with. The book appears to equate "love" and "passion", which aren't really the same things at all. Outlawing passion would make sense in a twisted sort of way, since it can cover a lot of ground: jealousy, hatred, fury, etc. However, the book constantly refers to "love" as amor deliria nervosa, to the point where the word love itself is outlawed. I felt like, had the author tried harder, we might have actually sympathized on some level with those who wanted the procedure. Who doesn't want to stop feeling things like guilt, shame, and misery? Yet the book never goes this far, because we are EXPECTED to agree with Lena. To experience any kind of conflict outside of the one preventing Lena from being with Alex is apparently beside the point.
Of course, as more or less functional human beings, we understand that to experience the good parts in life, we also have to experience the bad. Strangely enough, though, Delirium never actually reaches this message, and just sort of loses steam. The ending of the novel is pretty much summed up in one (pretty patronizing) line:
I'd rather die my way than live yours.
Which was a bit of a letdown, really. I mean, teenagers have been saying this for ages, and it's not like anybody is against being in love with someone who loves you back. They're against all of the negatives that comes with it: the jealousy, the anger, and eventually, the heartbreak and devastation. Again, this is never broached in Delirium. Alex and Lena are the rebels in love, prepared to show the ignorant world the light. Or something.
I've heard the sequel is quite a bit better, which is mostly why I picked up this book. I DID like Ms. Oliver's writing style, which is one of the main reasons this book scraped by at 2.5 stars for me. Here's crossing my fingers that Pandemonium can tread some deeper waters.
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LibraryThing member erincathryn
See this review and more like it on my blog: Written Permission
Delirium by Lauren Oliver is a dystopian young adult book following Lena Holoway as she prepares to receive the cure for love on her eighteenth birthday. Of course, the plot sets her up to fall madly in love before receiving the cure,
This was the book that prompted me to write my blog post about character appearances. Because Lena is always described as being plain, average, etc. Oliver drives it into our brains at every chance she gets that she is just an average girl. Her best friend is prettier. Alex is, of course, insanely attractive, leaving Lena to wonder what he sees in her. This is a plight in young adult books and is only serving to feed young girls' insecurities. "I am not pretty, so why does he like me?" Ugh.
For the first 200 pages of Delirium, nothing really happens. There is an incident with some cows, but other than that, the book was boring to me. Lena and Hana talk a lot... about the procedure, about life, etc. They run. It is like following a pair of normal teenage girls in a bit of a different world, but there is nothing exciting there. I will say that the last hundred pages or so picked up considerably, with things happening in fairly quick succession. The ending was pretty well written, and if I wasn't so disenchanted with the rest of Delirium, the ending alone might have been enough to save it.
The worldbuilding is severely lacking. Some of my friends who have reviewed this book thought that was a good thing, but I personally didn't. I need worldbuilding. I needed to know more about why they decided love was a disease, etc. It is all just kind of sketched out and instead of leaving me wanting more, it left me dissatisfied.
The characters in Delirium are all pretty one-dimensional, as you would expect teenagers to be. But they lacked sparkle, and something to make me go "Yeah, I want to read about you!"
I shelved this book as romance, and I am looking at it and second guessing myself. It is dystopian for sure, and borderline romance. But it follows the typical young adult path of not allowing the characters to actually take time falling in love. They just... are. To me, there is no romance in that.
Bottom Line: Another disappointing young adult book for me. I hate leaving a series unfinished, but I definitely won't be rushing out to pick up book two in this one any time soon.
Delirium by Lauren Oliver is a dystopian young adult book following Lena Holoway as she prepares to receive the cure for love on her eighteenth birthday. Of course, the plot sets her up to fall madly in love before receiving the cure,
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and it doesn't disappoint. Predictable young adult plotting strikes again.This was the book that prompted me to write my blog post about character appearances. Because Lena is always described as being plain, average, etc. Oliver drives it into our brains at every chance she gets that she is just an average girl. Her best friend is prettier. Alex is, of course, insanely attractive, leaving Lena to wonder what he sees in her. This is a plight in young adult books and is only serving to feed young girls' insecurities. "I am not pretty, so why does he like me?" Ugh.
For the first 200 pages of Delirium, nothing really happens. There is an incident with some cows, but other than that, the book was boring to me. Lena and Hana talk a lot... about the procedure, about life, etc. They run. It is like following a pair of normal teenage girls in a bit of a different world, but there is nothing exciting there. I will say that the last hundred pages or so picked up considerably, with things happening in fairly quick succession. The ending was pretty well written, and if I wasn't so disenchanted with the rest of Delirium, the ending alone might have been enough to save it.
The worldbuilding is severely lacking. Some of my friends who have reviewed this book thought that was a good thing, but I personally didn't. I need worldbuilding. I needed to know more about why they decided love was a disease, etc. It is all just kind of sketched out and instead of leaving me wanting more, it left me dissatisfied.
The characters in Delirium are all pretty one-dimensional, as you would expect teenagers to be. But they lacked sparkle, and something to make me go "Yeah, I want to read about you!"
I shelved this book as romance, and I am looking at it and second guessing myself. It is dystopian for sure, and borderline romance. But it follows the typical young adult path of not allowing the characters to actually take time falling in love. They just... are. To me, there is no romance in that.
Bottom Line: Another disappointing young adult book for me. I hate leaving a series unfinished, but I definitely won't be rushing out to pick up book two in this one any time soon.
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LibraryThing member pollywannabook
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy
The hook for DELIRIUM is brilliant. Amor Deliria Nervosa. Every single man, woman, and child lives in fear of contracting this deadly disease. Every aspect of society has been restructured around this idea. The government’s authority and control is total
"It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since the scientists perfected a cure. Everyone else in my family has had the procedure already. My older sister, Rachel, has been disease-free for nine years now. She's been safe from love for so long, she says she can't even remember its symptoms. I'm scheduled to have my procedure in exactly ninety-five days, on September 3rd. My birthday."- Opening from DELIRIUM
We experience this world through the eyes of seventeen year old Lena. Her fear and nervousness about the procedure are only trumped by her eagerness to be cured before the disease inevitably infects her the way it did her mother. She observes her neighbors home vandalized because they are suspected of being sympathizers to rumored ‘Invalids’ who reject the cure, the detached parents who never bond with their children and appear not to care when their child is hurt right in front of them, the sister who was dragged screaming from a secret boyfriend to the clinic to be ‘cured’ and return later serene and calm with the telltale triangular scar behind her ear.
The most horrifying thing about this society is that no one fights back. Even Lena who witnesses some of the atrocities firsthand has been so indoctrinated by the government that she accepts this is the only way to stay safe. She does not come easily to the other side, and it’s that painful, heartbreaking, utterly real journey that has so engrained DELIRIUM into my mind.
This amazing story doesn’t end in DELIRIUM. This is the first in a planned trilogy. The ending, while not a true ending, is complete and satisfying in a bittersweet way. Completely unexpected, but in hindsight completely perfect too. If you liked the world of THE HUNGER GAMES, you’ll want to read DELIRIUM. Lena starts out as sort of an anti-Katniss, but by the end, she was a true fighter. I loved this book so much I already went out and pre-ordered a copy for my sister. Take my advice and buy two copies from the get-go. You won’t be disappointed.
Sexual Content: Kissing. References to sex.
The hook for DELIRIUM is brilliant. Amor Deliria Nervosa. Every single man, woman, and child lives in fear of contracting this deadly disease. Every aspect of society has been restructured around this idea. The government’s authority and control is total
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including gender segregation, media censorship, and brainwashing indoctrination. Basically the US is under a kind of Sharia Law."It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since the scientists perfected a cure. Everyone else in my family has had the procedure already. My older sister, Rachel, has been disease-free for nine years now. She's been safe from love for so long, she says she can't even remember its symptoms. I'm scheduled to have my procedure in exactly ninety-five days, on September 3rd. My birthday."- Opening from DELIRIUM
We experience this world through the eyes of seventeen year old Lena. Her fear and nervousness about the procedure are only trumped by her eagerness to be cured before the disease inevitably infects her the way it did her mother. She observes her neighbors home vandalized because they are suspected of being sympathizers to rumored ‘Invalids’ who reject the cure, the detached parents who never bond with their children and appear not to care when their child is hurt right in front of them, the sister who was dragged screaming from a secret boyfriend to the clinic to be ‘cured’ and return later serene and calm with the telltale triangular scar behind her ear.
The most horrifying thing about this society is that no one fights back. Even Lena who witnesses some of the atrocities firsthand has been so indoctrinated by the government that she accepts this is the only way to stay safe. She does not come easily to the other side, and it’s that painful, heartbreaking, utterly real journey that has so engrained DELIRIUM into my mind.
This amazing story doesn’t end in DELIRIUM. This is the first in a planned trilogy. The ending, while not a true ending, is complete and satisfying in a bittersweet way. Completely unexpected, but in hindsight completely perfect too. If you liked the world of THE HUNGER GAMES, you’ll want to read DELIRIUM. Lena starts out as sort of an anti-Katniss, but by the end, she was a true fighter. I loved this book so much I already went out and pre-ordered a copy for my sister. Take my advice and buy two copies from the get-go. You won’t be disappointed.
Sexual Content: Kissing. References to sex.
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LibraryThing member BellaFoxx
In the society Lena Haloway lives in Love is a disease. A disease the government has a cure for, and everyone has to get the cure when they turn 18. Lena is counting the days. In her mind Love causes everything bad that has happened to her. Then 95 days before she is to be cured, she falls in
This is the story of how Lena met Alex and fell in love and discovered she doesn’t want to be cured, she makes plans to escape, she has to fight against her family. She also discovers she has been lied to.
This book seemed to be to have the same general plotline as “Pretties”, a world where everyone upon reaching a certain age has to conform to everyone else. I liked the Pretties series better, but this is also an enjoyable read. This book is written from Lena’s perspective, as she falls in love, discovers the truth. There is a lot of ‘teenage angst’ in this book, but not so much that I got sick of it. The ending of the book sets it up to continue, which I know it does, this is the first in a series.
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love.This is the story of how Lena met Alex and fell in love and discovered she doesn’t want to be cured, she makes plans to escape, she has to fight against her family. She also discovers she has been lied to.
This book seemed to be to have the same general plotline as “Pretties”, a world where everyone upon reaching a certain age has to conform to everyone else. I liked the Pretties series better, but this is also an enjoyable read. This book is written from Lena’s perspective, as she falls in love, discovers the truth. There is a lot of ‘teenage angst’ in this book, but not so much that I got sick of it. The ending of the book sets it up to continue, which I know it does, this is the first in a series.
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LibraryThing member lillybear
If loving this books makes me sick, then I don't want to be well! I've got a serious case of amor deliria nervosa for Lauren Oliver's latest masterpiece. The writing is poignant and lovely, the characters are well-developed, and the futuristic world she has created is one that I am so excited to
One of the things that I really liked about this book is the tidbits at the beginning of the chapters, all crafted by Lauren Oliver herself. Poems, quotes, excerpts from the Book of Shhh. It showed how much background planning and research had gone into this book, all of the hard work and dedication. It made the entire thing seem just a little more real, and I think it added so much depth. Well done, that.
I loved the characters in this book, too. They were all just so relatable. The relationships are flawed and imperfect, but in the best possible way. It's not all roses and kittens, and it's Oliver's willingness to portray the darker sides of this that adds so much depth and beauty to the story. Lena, the protagonist, struggles with her self-esteem and the secrets of her family's past. Her progression and growth as a character is fascinating to watch. At the beginning of the novel, Lena is perfectly complacent and content, even eager, to have the surgery that will forever cure her of love. By the end, she's willing to risk her life to avoid it. Her foil can be found in her best friend, Hana, who is subversive, headstrong, and unwilling to let the government dictate every aspect of her life. Hana is the catalyst through which Lena begins to discover another world, a world of love and choice. Alex, Lena's love interest and my new literary crush, has some pretty big secrets of his own. I enjoyed watching Lena and Alex grow together and become something bigger and more lasting than the sums of their parts.
I loved the book's exploration into the conflicted relationship between good and bad, right and wrong, beauty and grotesqueness. There is a balance there, a juxtaposition. You can't have darkness without light. You can't have one without the other, just as Hana tells Lena on the day of their first Evaluation Day: "You can't really be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes." (Page 23) Just wonderful. The book was so well-written and beautifully crafted. I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading in the dystopian or YA genres. I seriously cannot sing its praises enough!
CONCLUSION:
A beautifully written, haunting read with lush romance and heartfelt characters. You'll be begging for a sequel!
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continue exploring. Oliver has crafted a world where love is a forbidden, shameful thing, where passion is viewed as a horrendous defect to be corrected and stamped out, not cultivated and shared. The entire culture is so scared of being hurt that they've blocked themselves off to the possibility of ever being truly happy. It's frightening, but it makes for one hell of a read! Delirium is one of those books that keeps you up at night thinking, turning it all over in your head, processing and forever wondering. It stays with you long after you've finished reading.One of the things that I really liked about this book is the tidbits at the beginning of the chapters, all crafted by Lauren Oliver herself. Poems, quotes, excerpts from the Book of Shhh. It showed how much background planning and research had gone into this book, all of the hard work and dedication. It made the entire thing seem just a little more real, and I think it added so much depth. Well done, that.
I loved the characters in this book, too. They were all just so relatable. The relationships are flawed and imperfect, but in the best possible way. It's not all roses and kittens, and it's Oliver's willingness to portray the darker sides of this that adds so much depth and beauty to the story. Lena, the protagonist, struggles with her self-esteem and the secrets of her family's past. Her progression and growth as a character is fascinating to watch. At the beginning of the novel, Lena is perfectly complacent and content, even eager, to have the surgery that will forever cure her of love. By the end, she's willing to risk her life to avoid it. Her foil can be found in her best friend, Hana, who is subversive, headstrong, and unwilling to let the government dictate every aspect of her life. Hana is the catalyst through which Lena begins to discover another world, a world of love and choice. Alex, Lena's love interest and my new literary crush, has some pretty big secrets of his own. I enjoyed watching Lena and Alex grow together and become something bigger and more lasting than the sums of their parts.
I loved the book's exploration into the conflicted relationship between good and bad, right and wrong, beauty and grotesqueness. There is a balance there, a juxtaposition. You can't have darkness without light. You can't have one without the other, just as Hana tells Lena on the day of their first Evaluation Day: "You can't really be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes." (Page 23) Just wonderful. The book was so well-written and beautifully crafted. I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading in the dystopian or YA genres. I seriously cannot sing its praises enough!
CONCLUSION:
A beautifully written, haunting read with lush romance and heartfelt characters. You'll be begging for a sequel!
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LibraryThing member TayteH
Four stars. I loved it, and hated it. Love makes the world work. But, it's a little slow in the middle. It truly talks about their secret meetings and growing love in the middle. When Lena finds out her mom is alive, I got really interested. I just wish she could have taken the necklace with her. I
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can't wait for book 2. Show Less
LibraryThing member emleemay
2 / 5
Dystopian fiction, particularly the young adult kind, is plummeting downhill at 100 mile-an-hour.
Awards
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2013)
Gateway Readers Award (Nominee — 2014)
Colorado Blue Spruce Award (Nominee — 2015)
Buxtehuder Bulle (2011)
Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (Winner — 2012)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2012)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Teens (Fiction — 2011)
Tome Society It List (2014)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011-02-01
Physical description
416 p.; 5.08 inches
ISBN
9780340980934