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A review by obsidian_blue
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
1.0
I can honestly say that this was one of the most painful reads for me this year.
To recap this novel is part of the USA by the book that I am participating in this summer. I really loved the first novel that I read as part of USA by the book but this one was awful.
This is a YA novel that takes place in a fictional future where love has been outlawed. Apparently it has been found that love can lead to all kinds of diseases such as being bi-polar and heart disease.
All citizens have to undergo the Cure which will make them incapable of love. The main character of this novel is Lena who is happy that she will be undergoing the Cure. She sees love as a dangerous thing that led to her mother's death. While about to undergo treatment an incident causes Lena's cure to be delayed which leads her to meet the mysterious Alex and find out what love can lead to.
I gave this novel one star because as I said above, it was awful. The only reason why I gave it one star were that the chapters were short.
First, I can't even get behind the science that would say that love is bad and can lead to as many diseases as the novel claims. Maybe if there was more information provided by the author in this novel that can show why love is such a horrible thing and why anyone in the world would go along with a supposed cure that would turn your emotions off.
Second, the world building in this novel was shallow at best. One reason that I like dystopian novels is that an author can make up an entirely new world. It's cool to read someone else' words and get to know what strange world have they created. One of the many reasons why I loved the novel Dune so much.
With regards to Delirium, there is no real sense of the world the author has created. This novel takes place in Portland, Maine and there is some references to other cities, but that's about it. I hate it when an author does not describe a place and it ends up sounding like Everytown, Usa.
I could maybe understand how the Cure happened if we had any explanations of why this occurred and how a large population of people agreed to do such a thing for 64 years. Maybe if the timeline of the novel had been expanded, i.e. it has been a 100 years or 200 years since the first person underwent the Cure and it is a normal way of life now. But for some reason 64 years seemed to be such a short time-frame for people to willingly undergo the Cure and the science as mentioned above made no sense. I think Ms. Oliver lost a golden opportunity to invent other cities, places, perhaps a Great War which lead to people trying to stop human beings from killing one another.
I understood and got engrossed with the Hunger Games and how those events occurred and were let to continue because of the Capital and how the games were used to stop any potential uprisings. Maybe in the second and third books in this trilogy it will be explained further. I can honestly say that I have no plans to read either of those novels.
Third, the main character of Lena is freaking annoying. The way that she is written she is the drippiest character ever. It also doesn't help that the author uses such overwrought language throughout the whole novel. For example:
"Of course we aren't yet totally free from the deliria in the United States. Until the procedure has been perfected, until it has been made safe for the under-eighteens, we will never be totally protected. It still moves around us with invisible, sweeping tentacles, choking us."
I could put more quotes from the book in this review but I like to spare you all. The entire novel needed to be toned down. I have never seen so many adjectives or adverbs in my life in just one novel. All I wanted to do was scream, "just say it's yellow, quit saying it looks like a golden halo with dew sprinkled upon it. Just say yellow!" Quick aside, it's never good when I start yelling while reading a novel.
Fourth, the romance between Lena and Alex had me rolling my eyes. I had more chemistry with the guy at Starbucks who I buy coffee from everyday. If you want the readers to root for the main protagonist and a guy you have to believe they really are in love. I felt like Lena's feelings for Alex were shallow at best and Alex was written very one dimensional. He did not feel like a real person to me while reading. What almost killed me while reading was that of course when Lena falls in love with Alex the writing becomes even more painful to get through.
I do not recommend this novel.
To recap this novel is part of the USA by the book that I am participating in this summer. I really loved the first novel that I read as part of USA by the book but this one was awful.
This is a YA novel that takes place in a fictional future where love has been outlawed. Apparently it has been found that love can lead to all kinds of diseases such as being bi-polar and heart disease.
All citizens have to undergo the Cure which will make them incapable of love. The main character of this novel is Lena who is happy that she will be undergoing the Cure. She sees love as a dangerous thing that led to her mother's death. While about to undergo treatment an incident causes Lena's cure to be delayed which leads her to meet the mysterious Alex and find out what love can lead to.
I gave this novel one star because as I said above, it was awful. The only reason why I gave it one star were that the chapters were short.
First, I can't even get behind the science that would say that love is bad and can lead to as many diseases as the novel claims. Maybe if there was more information provided by the author in this novel that can show why love is such a horrible thing and why anyone in the world would go along with a supposed cure that would turn your emotions off.
Second, the world building in this novel was shallow at best. One reason that I like dystopian novels is that an author can make up an entirely new world. It's cool to read someone else' words and get to know what strange world have they created. One of the many reasons why I loved the novel Dune so much.
With regards to Delirium, there is no real sense of the world the author has created. This novel takes place in Portland, Maine and there is some references to other cities, but that's about it. I hate it when an author does not describe a place and it ends up sounding like Everytown, Usa.
I could maybe understand how the Cure happened if we had any explanations of why this occurred and how a large population of people agreed to do such a thing for 64 years. Maybe if the timeline of the novel had been expanded, i.e. it has been a 100 years or 200 years since the first person underwent the Cure and it is a normal way of life now. But for some reason 64 years seemed to be such a short time-frame for people to willingly undergo the Cure and the science as mentioned above made no sense. I think Ms. Oliver lost a golden opportunity to invent other cities, places, perhaps a Great War which lead to people trying to stop human beings from killing one another.
I understood and got engrossed with the Hunger Games and how those events occurred and were let to continue because of the Capital and how the games were used to stop any potential uprisings. Maybe in the second and third books in this trilogy it will be explained further. I can honestly say that I have no plans to read either of those novels.
Third, the main character of Lena is freaking annoying. The way that she is written she is the drippiest character ever. It also doesn't help that the author uses such overwrought language throughout the whole novel. For example:
"Of course we aren't yet totally free from the deliria in the United States. Until the procedure has been perfected, until it has been made safe for the under-eighteens, we will never be totally protected. It still moves around us with invisible, sweeping tentacles, choking us."
I could put more quotes from the book in this review but I like to spare you all. The entire novel needed to be toned down. I have never seen so many adjectives or adverbs in my life in just one novel. All I wanted to do was scream, "just say it's yellow, quit saying it looks like a golden halo with dew sprinkled upon it. Just say yellow!" Quick aside, it's never good when I start yelling while reading a novel.
Fourth, the romance between Lena and Alex had me rolling my eyes. I had more chemistry with the guy at Starbucks who I buy coffee from everyday. If you want the readers to root for the main protagonist and a guy you have to believe they really are in love. I felt like Lena's feelings for Alex were shallow at best and Alex was written very one dimensional. He did not feel like a real person to me while reading. What almost killed me while reading was that of course when Lena falls in love with Alex the writing becomes even more painful to get through.
I do not recommend this novel.