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Delirium (Delirium, #1)

Lauren Oliver

Why we're reading this: LOVED listening to Sara Drew read it!
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Feb 15, 2016 Susan rated it really liked it

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Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2011: Lena Haloway is content in her safe, government-managed society. She feels (mostly) relaxed about the future in which her husband and career will be decided, and looks forward to turning 18, when she 19ll be cured of deliria, a.k.a. love. She tries not to think about her mother 19s suicide (her last words to Lena were a forbidden 1CI love you 1D) or the supposed 1CInvalid 1D community made up of the uncured just bey ...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Readinista rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, dystopian, 2012-ya-audiobooks

For I while I’ve wondered about why so many people loved Delirium. It didn’t particularly appeal to me and the description never sounded that interesting. I finally caved and had to see for myself what exactly everyone was talking about. Shortly into the book, I understood. It’s not the quite the story that’s amazing but it’s the writing. It’s beautiful and so remarkably well crafted that I can hear English teachers and librarians across the country giving thanks to Lauren Oliver for writing a y For I while I’ve wondered about why so many people loved Delirium. It didn’t particularly appeal to me and the description never sounded that interesting. I finally caved and had to see for myself what exactly everyone was talking about. Shortly into the book, I understood. It’s not the quite the story that’s amazing but it’s the writing. It’s beautiful and so remarkably well crafted that I can hear English teachers and librarians across the country giving thanks to Lauren Oliver for writing a young adult novel of this caliber. I seriously think the writing in this novel should be studied.

In a nutshell, love is illegal in Oliver’s dystopian society. Love, also known as delirium, is considered a disease and all citizens must undergo surgery to cure them for the delirium by the age of 18. Lena, the main character, is almost 18 and is looking forward to the day she is cured. The argument against love is that it is the cause of many of the worlds problems. “It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.” Rebels are imprisoned, killed, and beaten by the enforcers of the law. It’s hard to imagine our society ever banning love but Oliver makes her world is believable and surprisingly realistic. Even as I describe this book I don’t feel like I’m doing it much justice. I assure you there is more to Delirium than what I’ve described.

One of the things I enjoyed about Delirium was the way the author describes love. Yes it is a book about love, but Oliver clearly paints the positives and negative sides. She describes both sides so well that you root for the rebels and understand why love is banned and law is so forcefully upheld. For most of the book, Lena, is just discovering love. She is happy when she is with Alex, constantly smiling and laughing; and when she is away she feels the pain of missing him. Their secret love keeps them living in fear of being discovered. As Lena treads deeper into love, she begins to see the flaws in her society and how meaningless life is without love. People who have been cured seem to be without a soul and the society Lena once found comfort in, becomes a future she cannot bear without Alex.

Overall, I finally see what everyone is talking about it. It’s a wonderful yet painful love story. You could say the Delirium has taken over me and now that it’s over it hurts. Upon finishing Delirium, I immediately bought the second book in the series and 20 minutes later I listening to Pandemonium. It ends on such a cliffhanger that I couldn’t wait to find what happened next. ...more

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