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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
slow-paced
a good idea and now one of my fav.
The writing is really good and i'm very exited to read the second book :)
The writing is really good and i'm very exited to read the second book :)
Pretty prose. But too many info dumps, slow moving plot, and too many scenes stuck inside the MC's head ruined it for me. Would have worked better as a novella or short story. I usually read a book in a day or two---Delirium took me a full week to read, and even then I had to force myself to finish it. Sad, I was really looking forward to this!
Full Review to Come!
Full Review to Come!
This was an interesting read. I was impressed from the first moment with the concept of this novel and very much intrigued by the idea of love as a disease.
It started off really well, the world was creatively introduced and kept me flipping pages and Lauren Oliver has a really good way of weaving in elements of the world we live in at present into her distopian setting. I felt the fear this world evoked. The oppressive nature of the authorities and all that they control. The government has such a tight hold over the people, going as far as evaluating each teen to then be able to pick their major in university, the number of children they should some day have and their future husband. I was angry and terrified at the same time while reading because this world someone felt so real - as if 50 years into the future love really could be seen as a disease.
Where this book started to fall flat for me was in the relationship between Lena and Alex. I really enjoyed them at first and wanted to explore their growing bond and yet as I got farther into the novel I felt like the stakes weren't as high as they needed to be. I grew more and more disinterested with their relationship and felt like I didn't really know either of them. Alex's character, while intriguing, is also very much a mystery. I don't know if this was on purpose or just a flaw in the writing but I felt distanced from him someone. I also felt this way about Lena - who while strong in one sense is also very weak. I wanted to care more about their relationship and I wanted to feel the same fear and danger of their circumstances as I thought they should be feeling in the book but it never really happened.
By then end the book felt predictable.
I think that the author should have spent a lot more time building this romance so the readers really would have to question whether their love was a disease or the love that we (the readers) know exists. I think this really would have helped the execution of what was such a unique take on such a human emotion.
I give this book 3.5/4 stars for the unique concept, and the work Oliver put into developing the story and its reality. She added little touches, like developing a new scientific take on religion, a guidebook to the deliria - the book of Shhh, and many more touches to successfully paint the picture of this distopian and often depressing setting.
It started off really well, the world was creatively introduced and kept me flipping pages and Lauren Oliver has a really good way of weaving in elements of the world we live in at present into her distopian setting. I felt the fear this world evoked. The oppressive nature of the authorities and all that they control. The government has such a tight hold over the people, going as far as evaluating each teen to then be able to pick their major in university, the number of children they should some day have and their future husband. I was angry and terrified at the same time while reading because this world someone felt so real - as if 50 years into the future love really could be seen as a disease.
Where this book started to fall flat for me was in the relationship between Lena and Alex. I really enjoyed them at first and wanted to explore their growing bond and yet as I got farther into the novel I felt like the stakes weren't as high as they needed to be. I grew more and more disinterested with their relationship and felt like I didn't really know either of them. Alex's character, while intriguing, is also very much a mystery. I don't know if this was on purpose or just a flaw in the writing but I felt distanced from him someone. I also felt this way about Lena - who while strong in one sense is also very weak. I wanted to care more about their relationship and I wanted to feel the same fear and danger of their circumstances as I thought they should be feeling in the book but it never really happened.
By then end the book felt predictable.
I think that the author should have spent a lot more time building this romance so the readers really would have to question whether their love was a disease or the love that we (the readers) know exists. I think this really would have helped the execution of what was such a unique take on such a human emotion.
I give this book 3.5/4 stars for the unique concept, and the work Oliver put into developing the story and its reality. She added little touches, like developing a new scientific take on religion, a guidebook to the deliria - the book of Shhh, and many more touches to successfully paint the picture of this distopian and often depressing setting.
I wanted to give this book a 4, because I know students love a good dystopian romance. However, it's just okay. It did leave me wondering what’s going to happen. It’s like The Giver, Matched and a tiny bit of Red Queen mixed together. However, it comes with a suicide trigger warning attached and I would recommend it for 13 yo and up.
I was going to give this 4 stars but every time I think about it I smile like an idiot and gah THE FEELS.
Delirium is a classic YA-dystopian novel, except in this society, love is the disease that the government is eradicating in order to maintain control. How does the government eradicate love? By giving all citizens partial lobotomies when they turn eighteen, of course. Mmm, where can we sign up, right?
I really like the relationship between Lena and Hana. Instead of painting them as extremist caricatures (The Rebel and The Rule Follower, for instance), each girl has elements of both in her personality. I found that a refreshing change. On the other hand, Alex felt very sketchily drawn. I didn't get a grasp of who he was, why he fell for Lena, and why she fell for him. I get young love, and infatuation, and first love, but I just didn't get why it happened for these two.
The plot followed a pretty classic structure. When I got about a quarter of the way through and nothing much really happened, I predicted that the first plot point would arrive at about 33% in. I was right. The second third chugged along, wasn't particularly interesting, but then the final third picked up in both speed and interest.
This alone will keep me reading this series.
I really like the relationship between Lena and Hana. Instead of painting them as extremist caricatures (The Rebel and The Rule Follower, for instance), each girl has elements of both in her personality. I found that a refreshing change. On the other hand, Alex felt very sketchily drawn. I didn't get a grasp of who he was, why he fell for Lena, and why she fell for him. I get young love, and infatuation, and first love, but I just didn't get why it happened for these two.
The plot followed a pretty classic structure. When I got about a quarter of the way through and nothing much really happened, I predicted that the first plot point would arrive at about 33% in. I was right. The second third chugged along, wasn't particularly interesting, but then the final third picked up in both speed and interest.
Spoiler
I give mad props to Lauren Oliver for having the guts to kill off her catalyst right before the end of Book 1. And for giving Lena a legitimate reason to keep going despite losing her first - and only? - love.
WOW!! Blown away……
This book was absolutely wonderful. I was more or less mesmerized by the words of Oliver.
Delirium takes place in a different present, dystopian Portland. The government has deemed LOVE a disease. Amor Deleria Nervosa, a sickness that is contracted and more or less ruins your life (in the eyes of the law), makes you hysterical and irrational…which when you think of young love, it’s not that far off, right? Lena is almost 18 therefore almost ready to have her procedure to be “cured”, or in other words lobotomized so she can no longer feel love, and everything that goes along with that emotion. Thereafter she can be “paired” with a partner and begin her life as a healthy adult citizen. That’s the plan until she meets Alex. A young man seemingly cured, but as Lena gets to know him, things start to unfold, and the veil is lifted from her eyes, reveling a truth she never really expected. She has known “invalids” to be a derogatory word for resisters, for the sick, for those uncured, who don’t want to be cured…who can’t be cured. She is learning otherwise. She is being shown that beyond the walls, there are the Wilds, and all the things in between are not sick, they are beautiful, and full of a life she didn’t know could exist. She is learning and being shown that what she has known to be true and right her whole life…may not be so. She is learning that the “cure” she was once eager for, may now be a sentence far worse than death. To go through life, and not FEEL, what she has been shown she can feel. To finally be able to see this hidden beauty in the world, and then be forced to give it all up. She discovers, more truths, more secrets uncovered and is finally faced with the ultimate decision.
This story was so interesting, and though it is all about LOVE, I was able to relate and almost laugh thinking back to my boy crazy teenage years. More than that, what REALLY sucked me in was Oliver’s words. She writes beautifully and vividly, in a way that made it such a joy to read, like colors swirling off the page. It is by far one of the best books I have read in a long while. For those negative reviews, harping on this being a juvenile story solely based on nothing but love, have to look deeper, and just enjoy the story. Yes, it is about love, and fear, and hurt, but it is not just a boy meets girl love story, it’s something much more…intricate and really beautiful. I think it says a lot about humanity and society.
“Finally, the cold and the despair turn merciful, dropping down on my mind like a dark veil, and a miracle of miracles, I sleep.”
“I know that life isn’t life if you just float through it. I know that the whole point-the only point-is to find the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse to let them go.”
“The air is warm but the wind is edged with an autumn smell of cold and smoke.”
“Hate isn’t the most dangerous thing, he said. Indifference is.”
Of course, cliff hanger! I Won’t give it away but I am so have the next book [b:Pandemonium|9593911|Pandemonium (Delirium, #2)|Lauren Oliver|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1310371414s/9593911.jpg|14480923] to keep going.
Took me a while to read this one.. Which is no reflection of the book. Just been busy.. Loved this book and can't wait to read the rest of the series!