Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Published: January 1st 2011
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
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Caution: May contain spoilers

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“It affects your mind so that you cannot think clearly, or make rational decisions about our own well-being.”

“The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.”

What if love were a disease? Lauren Oliver has taken that idea and developed a world that believes that it is. In this world love (otherwise known as “amor deliria nervosa”) is the cause of everything bad. Once they discovered this, they developed and perfected a “cure” to be given so that all can “be happy and safe forever”. Yet not everyone is safe from love since the cure cannot be performed unless you’re 18. It hasn’t been made safe for anyone younger. So until then, there’s a chance they may catch the “deliria”. To keep everyone who has been cured and those who haven’t from catching the disease or spreading it, everything is watched closely by the government to ensure the safety of their people. The “uncured” youth go to separate schools, and so on.

Enter Lena Haloway, 95 days away from getting cured. She’s been looking forward to this for a long time. She’s been preparing for the day she turns 18, preparing for her planned future. Then she meets Alex, and everything changes. In those final days before the procedure, she begins to learn about the other side of the spectrum. It causes her to question the reasonableness of the regulations around her, the ones she grew up trusting and believing in. She’s torn between the two worlds: the one she’s always known, the one where love is gone forever, and the one outside the fence, the one where love is embraced.

This book was enthralling. Lauren Oliver has an amazing voice. You know those books that keep you up at night, the ones that you cannot stop thinking about for weeks? This is one of them. Lena’s story is gripping and it stays with you for awhile.

Delirium is book one of a trilogy. The second book will be released next February. I’m marking my calendar.

My Rating:

Exceptional: Stay up until at least 1 AM

See also my reviews for  Hana  and  Pandemonium, also by Lauren Oliver.