Delirium

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Delirium Trilogy #1

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 governments 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. 

Lena cannot wait for the day that she is finally cured. She lives every day in fear of the amor deliria nervosa, or the disease of love, afraid that she will be consumed by it. She knows that once she finally gets the cure, she can live without the fear of pain, and that she will never have to worry about its devastating effects again. However, that all changes when she meets a boy who is not all that he seems. Lena finds herself drawn to him, and quickly does the one thing she has feared all her life; she falls in love. In a society that would persecute her for this in a heart beat, she scrambles to reconcile her head and heart, but her head is losing the battle. She learns firsthand the all consuming effects of love and its ability to control her every decision, but she must hide her new condition at all costs, or she will lose what she has come to cherish the most; the ability to love.

I can see where the government got the idea that love was a disease, as love will irrevocably change a person. Love makes people do crazy things, as well as having the power to completely destroy someone. However, in their quest to remove the negative effects, they also lose the good. In order to truly enjoy something and appreciate it, you also must know the pain of loss. What is the point of living if you can't experience the good and the bad? Without emotions, people may as well just be mindless shells, no more than animals that can talk, which I guess is the point in the end, as it is all about oppression and control.

Lena's journey is one heck of an eye opener as she slowly realizes everything she has been told is a lie meant to keep the people oppressed and completely obedient. It is a slow process, but this is very realistic considering what has been drilled into her head for her entire life. I enjoyed seeing her slowly opening up to Alex, and accepting the "deliria". Once she finally gives in, it is like a floodgate opened, and she realizes that the loss of this love will do exactly as they said; it would destroy her. However, she also realizes something else, something not in their books and teachings. That love would also save her.

When I finished this book I had two thoughts in my head, "Wow that was phenomenal" and "That ending should be considered cruel and unusual punishment." Now you might think that might ruin the book, but even though the wait for the next one will be agonizing, the ending as is, brought the book from really good to absolutely amazing. This may only be the author's second book, but you would never be able to guess it from the impeccable quality of her writing. I've always enjoyed dystopian novels, and I'm happy to say that this book more than measures up to the rest of the genre. This is definitely one of those books that will suck you right in and leave you absolutely breathless in the end. Absolutely brilliant!

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Delirium

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