Review "Delirium"

Delirium - Lauren Oliver

Title: delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Publisher: HarperCollins

books following: pandemonium, requiem

Buy? here*

Content:

"Love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure, in Lauren Oliver's stunning second novel, DELIRIUM. Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She will be evaluated by the government, which will choose her husband for her. But then she meets Alex, a boy from the Wilds who is living under the government's radar, and she falls in love, threatening both their lives.

In this world, affection is prohibited. Touching and hugging are suspicious behaviors, even among family members. But despite government obtrusiveness, people find ways to connect and to be together. Hana finds like-minded people through embedded links on websites. And after meeting Alex, Lena understands that an emotional connection to another person is something she's always been missing--and now it's something she won't live without."

My Review:

Lena is a 17 year old, unimposing and well-behaved girl. She lives with her aunt and little cousine, because her parents died when she was a little kid. In the world, created by Lauren Oliver, Love has been declared a dangerous disease and you have to be cured at the age of 18. What Lena thinks about the cure?

Here’s a quote:

„Ninety-five days, and then I’ll be safe.

I wonder whether the procedure will hurt.

I want to get it over with.

It’s hard to be patient.

It’s hard not to be afraid while I’m still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn’t touched me yet.

Still, I worry.

They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness.

The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.“

Can you imagine not to love or be loved? Not your boyfriend/girlfriend, your parents, your siblings, not even your friends? Lena is convinced, that love is a bad thing, this is what she learned from the „book of shh“ (kind of a bible), what society teaches everywhere: no caresses in public, boys and girls are seperated. But there are people, who struggled with the cure. Some of them died during the procedure, some are now psychosomatic, some are still infected and some escaped. These ones are called „the Invalids“ and live in the Wilds outside the barrier. On the day of Lenas evaluation the Invalids attack the government. A strange guard waves at her and Lena goes home, confused and thoughtful. After this incident and the assistance of her rebellious best friend Hana, she begins to question this whole system.

I loved the theme of this trilogy and the description of this dystopian world. However I thought that Lena isn’t a fascinating protagonist at first sight, but I promise she will develop in the following two books.

Of course (like every other start of a trilogy) Delirium ends with a humongous cliffhanger.

I can really recommend reading Delirium, but if you have to decide whether to read Divergent or Delirium (which are often compared to each other) I’d prefer Divergent!

4/5 points for Delirium by Lauren Oliver!

Xoxo Maike

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