Review- Delirium

Title: Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Publisher: HarperTeen

Rating: 4/5

Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads

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 it's 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.

My thoughts:

Lena lives in a world where people believe that love is a disease. They believe that it is responsible for crime, poverty, psychosis and any other crazy thing that you can think of. This dystopian society is strictly limited to only the essentials: working, creating more children with an approved match and raising those children to live the same kind of life. No one travels, no one reads classic literature anymore (torture!) and no one even has friends really. Life seems quite dull after the cure is administered. The "cure" is apparently this procedure that takes out the part of the brain that processes emotions and feelings. Sometimes even personalities are altered in the process. Mothers aren't even supposed to show too much affection towards their children.

I really enjoyed this book (then again, I enjoy most dystopian novels). I couldn't even imagine living in a world where everything is chosen and laid out for you. Especially not being able to freely travel between states and/or cities as I choose. What I thought was most interesting was the fact that the main character could not wait to enter into a zombie-like state (not the blood thirsty type) and live the rest of her life without any excitement!

I also noticed a lot of parallels between Delirium and Romeo and Juliet. Starcrossed lovers, breaking the rules to be together and the sacrifices they made for one another.

Lena really comes into her true self and questions everything that she has been taught to be true. She learns that her society is afraid of love because it is something that they don't understand and most have not experienced because they were given the cure before they had the chance. By the end, she relies on her own instincts and realizes there's more out there than a just a perfectly laid out life.

Delirium is excellent! It's beautifully written and very much believable. I don't know it this is the first in a series or not, but the end definitely left me wanting to know more!