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risafeather 's review for:
Delirium
by Lauren Oliver
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.
