Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

 

  Think for a moment of the very first person who stirred your heart. Your first crush, the first man or woman that you longed to kiss. Now imagine that those feelings are illegal. At the start of this book we learn that it has been 64 years since the president and the Consortium decided love was a disease.  It stands to reason that a cure would be discovered. The cure is the basis of harmony in this futuristic Portland Maine. Lena is well aware of the side affects of deliria. She witnessed them in her youth with her mother who after four failed cures killed herself. It resurfaced again in her sister whose desperate passion caused the cure to be administered to her early. Lena is counting the days until her cure. She lives with her Aunt and family, she has even changed her last name to avoid recognition of her family heritage she spends her days studying and her nights worrying if her fate will be the same as her Mother's The day she has waited for finally comes, she is to evaluated and her future career and husband decided for her. All this hinges on he answers to the councils questions. She starts out strong but feels her self possessed by a strange lethargy and she begins to answer questions wrong. From the look on the council members faces she feels doomed but then the unimaginable happens in this tightly controlled society Her interrogation is interrupted by an stampede of animals storming her examination room a prank by the Invalids, a group of humans who live outside the fence. Lena also notices a young man laughing at her predicament. Later she and  her best friend Hana meet this young man and Lena's life is changed forever.  This is a wonderful book. Oliver has created a well defined and unique world. I was immediately drawn into Lena's dilemma. At first she thinks she is safe since Alec is a "Cured" boy. Things are not as they seem though for Alec has a secret that will shake the foundations of Lena's world. This first book in a series has wonderful potential. Every Chapter begins with excerpts from the History books from various  times before deliria was diagnosed. Lauren has a very rich and clearly defined world. It's oppressiveness leaps off the page and the way this society twists previously popular literature and even the Bible into cautionary and propaganda stories adds to the atmosphere of the novel. The book moves at a moderate pace and really reflects Lena's growth as she begins to take risks and decide upon her future. Lauren has created a rich and complex world. There are now easy decisions for Lena, their are so many directions this series can take . My only complaint with this novel is the ending. I felt like this book was a buildup for what is to come for future books. I found myself really connected to Lena. Her choices are brave but may come at a disastrous cost, a wonderful start to a new series but I just wish it had a more complete ending. Still a great book! Thanks for Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book