Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Delirium  

by Lauren Oliver

Published: February 2011

Publisher: HarperTeen

Available: Amazon

Blurb:

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

Review:

I loved the concept behind this book. The idea of love being a sickness that ultimately causes ones death and needs to be cured was one I just loved. There was a part of me that wondered just how an entire society could suddenly make such a shift in thought about love, and it did feel like that background wasn't developed enough, but Oliver did make up for that in showing how the society continually enforces that views of deliria being fatal. Throughout that book there are excerpts from the literature and texts that the citizens are exposed to. Propaganda that the governing forces indoctrinate the people with. It made things more believable.


Lena was an interesting enough character. At first she seemed a bit dull, and predictable but as the story grew and her inner struggles built she really took shape. By the end I wanted to just give her a final push in the direction I wanted her to take. The friendship she had with Hana was perfect, the way that they view each other and the effects the cure has on their relationship felt real. Alex's appearance was a bit predictable and his not being cured very obvious. But he was a great character. He had such a different view of the world from Lena, and Hana and the rest of the cured. There was enough likability and genuineness to him that he didn't feel like a forced love interest, but rather an important character to the story.


The only issue I had with Delirium was that there was a sense of been there, done that to the plot. If you've read Matched by Ally Condi, then this might almost seem a rip off. I don't think it is and by the end I didn't feel that way, but there were some similarities that occasionally had me shaking my head. If you can get past the slight similarities then it's a great read.