Book talk: Anyone who's caught it would be able to tell you: love is a kind of sickness. You catch it one day and suddenly you start behaving differently: you can't focus, your heart falters, your palms sweat. Books are full of people who have died from it. The only difference between our world and Lena's is that in hers they've found a cure. But if there was a cure to love, would you take it? Lena has looked forward to the day she has the procedure for years. She's longed for the day when her painful memories are dulled and she's safe from the dangers love presents. Until one day when she meets someone who changes her mind, by chaning her heart.
Rocks my socks: This book was perfect for me because the cynical part of me was able to indulge in the whole 'love is a disease' premise of the book while the other part of me (the one I usually try to ignore) was able to revel in the romance that inevitably develops. After all, how else is a girl to discover that her utopian society is far from it and find the strength to resist it? The world was fun as well and I enjoyed little world-building touches like the excerpts from government publications that start off the chapters.
Rocks in my socks: I enjoyed the novel because it catered to a highly irrational part of my mind. Objectively speaking, it's not particularly well-written and the premise isn't exactly original, especially with the dystopian glut in YA fiction right now. It's similar to the 'bubbly' minds of the Uglies series without the accompanying physical makeover. The end in particular felt like it was written for the eventual movie and the final action sequence felt like it came out of no where and stretched the limits of my suspension of disbelief.
Every book its reader: There's some action in the novel and the premise is interesting, but in the end it's a romance. It's a well done romance because I'm usually not a fan of the genre and I liked this book, but it's still a romance. Whereas with Hunger Games there's enough other stuff in it that kids who don't like romances still enjoy it, with Delirium it's so integral to the premise that anyone who doesn't like romances won't like this book. I'd give it to anyone looking for a romance with a science-fiction bent grades 6 and up.
Bonus Quotes:
"If pneumonia felt this good I’d stand out in the snow in the winter with bare feet and no coat on, or march into the hospital and kiss pneumonia patients."
"Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That’s what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side. Before and after--and during, a moment no bigger or longer than an edge."
"Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That’s what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side. Before and after--and during, a moment no bigger or longer than an edge."
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Buy it at your local independent book store or check it out from your local library
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