Delirium (Delirium Trilogy, #1)

by Lauren Oliver

What if love were a disease? There was a time when love was the most important thing in the world. People would go to the end of the earth to find it. They would tell lies for it. Even kill for it. Then, at last, they found the cure. Now, everything is different. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Haloway 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 then, with only ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable

• ISBN10: 1444736051
• ISBN13: 9781444736052
• Publish Date: 4 August 2011 (first published 1 February 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 24 August 2012
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
• Format: Paperback (A-Format (178x111 mm))
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rinn]

Also posted on my book blog, Rinn Reads.

This one was quite hard to rate and review. It's been pretty popular amongst my Goodreads friends - more so than I imagined in fact. And whilst I enjoyed it, helped along by Oliver's fluid writing style, it was just so predictable.


Maybe this isn't going to be so much a review as a commentary on the state of YA fiction. Lena is a 'plain', average girl in this dystopian world. So from the get go, she's already a sort of Mary Sue - in fact I don't remember any description of her appearance apart from her eyes being muddy brown. And of course, her best friend is a super beautiful blonde goddess. As soon as the fact that Lena was terrified of the idea of love was introduced, I knew she would end up falling for someone. And as soon as Alex made his first appearance in the lab, it was obviously going to be him.

There were so many predictable elements to the story that crop up far too often in YA fiction. Of course, this being a book where the main theme is love (even though love is illegal), I suppose it was hard to avoid some of the typical YA features since they more often than not involve romance.


But it has to be said, that Oliver also manages to throw in a few not so predictable elements, particularly in the last third of so of the book. I was not expecting that ending, so kudos to her for that!

One thing that was definitely lacking was the reasoning behind why people were so scared of the 'disease'. Why was there all this sudden paranoia over the side effects? When did people decide that love was a disease and not just a natural state? Perhaps this is expanded on in the next book but it really would have been good in this one.

The whole idea with love being a disease was an interesting one though. The book had a definite 'Big Brother' feel to it, with citizens frequently being monitored, anyone suspected of being in love taken away to be 'cured' or locked up.

Whilst I enjoyed this book overall, I won't go out of my way to read the second book but if I spot it in the library I'll probably check it out.

[ladygrey]

Delirium is well written. It's an interesting premise that I think is explored pretty realistically. The plot wasn't entirely surprising but [authr:Lauren Oliver] did a good job world-building.

I just can't get excited about it because I really didn't connect to the characters or become immersed in this world. And that wasn't a flaw on Oliver's part. The world was too pedestrian for me. Lots of other people would call it realistic. I don't like pedestrian reality; I like beauty and magic or wonder in the midst of reality. And other people would point out that she does have elements of beauty. I noticed. There were certain sentences that were descriptive in a simply, pretty way. But I wasn't struck by them and I didn't love them and there wasn't a single one of them I felt the desire to pull out and keep as a quote.

I also didn't connect with the characters. They were developed well enough but I never engaged with them, really. I have my suspicions as to way and they're completely about me and not about the writing. But I didn't.

So, it's not that this is a bad book, by any means. It just wasn't a good book for me. I can see why other people would really love it.

[Jyc]

★★★★★ // a very interesting dystopia, and a promising start to a trilogy.

[Chelsea]

I was pretty happy after reading this book. I really liked the concept and the world that the author created. The whole idea that love is a disease is a really good idea for a dystopia book, something I've never seen before anyways. I was really excited to read about that kind of world.
I was a little disappointed with the main character. She just kind of say around waiting for everyone else to do things instead of doing it herself. I was willing to ignore all the things I didn't like about her though because the plot was so good. The other characters weren't too bad with was good because I couldn't deal with another bad character. I'm pretty happy with how this book turned out.

[Angie]

Delirium is one of those books that was getting a lot of attention, grabbed my interest, but I kept putting it off. Now I must say if you have this one on your to-read, do it now! Do not wait! It will be well worth your time. I know there's a lot of Dystopian novels out there that promise a unique premise, and I definitely think that this one delivers.

This world is kind of scary in how believable it is. Not that I think our government would decide to come up with a "cure" for love. But love does cause people to do crazy things sometimes, so of course it can be twisted around and calle a disease. Falling in love is scary, but not for the reasons that the Book of Shhh feeds the citizens.`It's easy to buy into the concept of love being a disease that leads to so many problems, and our heroine, Lena, is like the poster child.

Lena was a completely refreshing character. It seems like in general the heroine of Dystopian novels are at least suspicious of the government that they live in, if not total rebels. Lena is 100% good girl. She honestly believes that getting the "cure" is the only way to live. No music, dancing, dreaming, flirting with boys, are the only way to protect herself from the same fate as her mother. Lena is horrified when her best friend is involved with the above activities. She can't wait to turn 18 and be free from the possibility of contracting deliria. At least until one night when she decides to prove to Hana that she can live a little and ends up meeting an uncured boy.

Meeting Alex shatters the bubble that Lena has been living in. He introduces to an array of brand new feelings and sensations, and soon Lena realizes that maybe love isn't what the government says it is. Of course, they want to run away together to avoid the cure, but it's not that simple. I was on the edge of my seat through the final third of Delirium. I knew something was going to go wrong, but I didn't know what form it would take. The ending is a major cliffhanger, so I need to get my hands on Pandemonium ASAP!

I would say that Delirium is one of my favorite Dystopians so far. It's unique and I was engaged from the very beginning. The world is disturbing, yet believable, and I think the author did an amazing job explaining it. There's little excerpts from various texts that the government issues that will just make you go "what?!" Those were definitely a nice touch. I wholly recommend this to all YA Dystopian fans.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[nightingalereads]

I remember, back when it first came out, that the ending of this book broke my heart.

[mbtc]

I really give this book a 3.5 stars. I liked it, but didn't love it. The beginning was slow to me, but I enjoyed the book more when it picked up in the second half. I'm never a fan of romanticism of Romeo and Juliet, so I wasn't a big fan of that pat. Also was not a fan at all of the ending, although I did somewhat expect it.

[jeannamichel]

Love is a disease. When one is old enough, you are cured and paired up with a match that will decide what field you will go into and who you will marry. That’s how it has always been for Lena and she can’t wait to get cured. But then she meets Alex. This gorgeous boy, who has thoughts of his own, doesn’t seem to be from around here. Alex shows her how to live before she gives up feeling. However, Lena gets caught up in her emotions and starts to question that that one thing she wants to get cured from, she may have already been infected.

Lauren Oliver is best known (well, before this novel) for her book, Before I Fall. I’ve never read it but it got such good reviews that I had to read this one. This book, Delirium, has such a fascinating idea behind it that it would have been weird for me not to want to read it. Love is a disease. That whole concept is so original and mind-blowing that I had to see what this book was about. Well, I did, I read the entire thing. Oliver had such a wonderful voice that it was hard not to love her writing. She speaks through the page, which really captures her characters’ dialogue.

Oliver’s characters were interesting. As much as I did not like Lena so much in the beginning with her crazy views on how the society functioned (which I am sure is just me complaining about how the dystopian world that Oliver created was simply so amazing, yet so creepy that I didn’t like the main character because she believed that the society worked), I found her a stronger character than I gave her credit for toward the end of the novel. Alex was adorable and I couldn’t help wanting to know more about his background. Hana started out as a cliché but worked her way through so many surprises that she seemed like the most relatable character of them all. The relationship between Alex and Lena floored me; in a society where love is a disease and any feature showing love is a rebellious act to the government, this relationship held this forbidden aspect over their heads the entire time and I loved that. How they acted with one another was perfect; Oliver created a realistic relationship between her characters that I am able to see a forever with these two. But, now, maybe not so much with the ending. (Spoiler: I don’t mean that one of the characters did something to the other, I mean one of them might be dead.)

The real problem of the book: the plot. Oliver’s idea of having love as an infection was thought-provoking. However, the idea didn’t move if the plot refused to, which is exactly what happened until I hit some page in the 200s. Every chapter I willed it to move a litter farther, trying to get deeper into the story. Every chapter, Lena would talk about the same thing: love is a disease, and how she can’t wait to get cured. I realize that Oliver was setting up her dystopian landscape but did it have to take so long?

Overall, Delirium had great potential to be something awesome, with fantastic characters and a mind-blowing idea, but the plot turned that amazing energy into a lethargic river that only flowed after the 200-page mark.

[Ashley]

More reviews at booknook - Young Adult book reviews

I don't know why the heck I put off reading this book as long as I did. It's been on my desk for like a month and I guess I was intimidated by the size of it (nearly 450 pages!) and the hype. I didn't want to be disappointed. Well I'm super happy to say that I wasn't! This book is totally worth the hype!

When the story starts out, Lena is basically one of society's clones. She believes love—the deliria— is a disease. She can't wait to get the cure. She's excited and eager. She believes that the government and random house raids are all there for her protection. She's totally wrong.

Normally I get frustrated when there's a naive "buy into what society tells you" kind of girl in a book. While I didn't love it in Delirium, at least I understood it. Lena didn't know any better. She grew up being taught that love is a horrible life-ruining thing that needs to be cured. I couldn't really blame her for believing what she was taught. And she does slowly start to come out of her shell and actually see the real world around her, and start dipping her toes into the world of love!

I loved how even though Delirium is a futuristic dystopian book, there were so many parts that felt exactly like life today. I mean they still had school, graduation, sleepovers, and other than the whole deliria thing society felt pretty similar. I could totally relate to Lena and her best friend. They did everything together and supported each other, but there were also times when they started finding differences between themselves and drifting apart. It felt like a very realistic relationship!

And ohmygod the romance. OH MY GOD! It's forbidden, it's awesome, it's sexy, there's kissing, and then there's more kissing, and late-night-beach outings, and oh my god THE KISSING!!!! I absolutely loved Alex and Lena. Their relationship was so pure and so... I don't know. SQUEE!! I like how there were no stupid petty arguments. At one point I thought I saw one coming on, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it not turn into an argument at all. I hate it in books when the girl is doing something with a different guy that looks bad from the outside, but really there's a perfectly reasonable explanation. But then the other main male just gets pissed off and doesn't listen to her explanation so it all gets blown out of proportion and it's just stupid and petty. There was none of that in Delirium! Alex was totally reasonable and understanding and awesome! And I loved how he was always open, honest, and patient with Lena. Their relationsihp was just so yummy!!!

I enjoyed the first 350 pages, but it was really the last 100 that had me screaming for absolute joy and loving this book with every fiber of my being! Towards the end things get totally intensified and the plot is like OH MY GOD and the surprises are like HOLY CRAP and the love is like KISS ME NOW.

I loved how I was never able to guess the ending. There were so many endings that would have made sense that I could never pinpoint what it was going to be. Would Lena get the cure but somehow be resistent to it like her mom was? Would Lena try to take down the government? Would she run away? Would she go into hiding? And how would Alex tie in? Would the ending be happy or sad? I had no idea! And I loved how there were a few things that hit me out of nowhere. Maybe in hindsight they totally make sense and might even be kind of obvious, but in the moment I totally didn't even consider them so it was full of surprises!

[clementine]

My thoughts on this book can be summed up with an emphatic hmmmm. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, and I feel like a lot of that has to do with the billing of the book as dystopian. It certainly is set in a less than ideal world in the somewhat near future, but the world is a backdrop to the romance.

Normally I'm not a fan of romance in dystopia, as anybody who reads my reviews will know. With a very small handful of notable exceptions, I find the romantic subplots in YA dystopian to be unnecessary, irritating, and forced. However, I'm okay with it in Delirium, as it's the whole point of the story - Lena's descent into the "disease" of amor deliria nervosa, commonly known as love.

But that's why I consider this book a dystopian romance, focus on the romance, rather than straight dystopian - and why I think it should be marketed that way. For a lover of dystopian - I mean, actual, pure dystopian - it was a bit disappointing that the structure of society wasn't entirely explored, and that the focus was, of course, Lena's relationship with Alex.

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it; as teen romances go, this is one of the best I've read. Lauren Oliver is really an talented writer, with the ability to describe anything in such beautiful, vivid terms. I actually liked the characters pretty well, although Alex was definitely a bit too perfect for my liking. There are a lot of reviews on here that are pretty harsh towards Lena, but I liked her - there was a lot of development there. I agree that Hana was an awesome character, but I think she would have been a less interesting heroine because there would have been much less development. Lena's also a nice change from the archetypal sassy, snappy dystopian heroine, which sometimes feels a bit unnatural, like everybody's trying to write their own Katniss Everdeen. Lena's timidity was refreshing to me, and I find it interesting, sad, and very telling that a lot of people think that makes her a weak character.

So, really my biggest criticisms are the character of Alex (although I will admit that, despite being too perfect, he was much more likeable than most dystopian male romantic interests, who are just awful) and the fact that the world wasn't developed quite as much as I'd have liked it to be. Don't get me wrong, it was described beautifully, but I think if you're going to call this book dystopian you need less of the romance and more of the dystopian.

I'll definitely read the next one, though, as I did enjoy Delirium and I have a feeling from the way things were left that there will be more worldbuilding in Pandemonium.