Who: Lauren OliverWhat: Delirium
When: February 1st, 2011
Where: Harper Collins (Harperteen)
Why: Lauren Novel Love (and holy Jesus, THAT PLOT.)
How: Bought
Before scientists found the cure, people thought
love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria --
blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now.
Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all
citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked
forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without
pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.
But with ninety-five days
left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in
love.
Did anyone doubt I wasn't gonna love this? I mean, 1) it's by LAUREN freakin' OLIVER. 2)Romance AND Dystopian? Love. And 3) DAMN, I wish I had come up with this. And that doesn't happen often.
Lauren takes us into a world after war and Independence broke us apart. The government in turn, blame everything bad on something called amor deliria nervosa, which we all know as love. Everyone receives "the cure" when they turn eighteen, freeing them from the ability to love and letting them live happy, long lives. Lena can't wait to get this, until the circumstances make her challenge everything she's been taught in her city. Lauren weaves a deep and rich writing with a plot fast enough to make you never want to put it down.
Lena, for me, was an incredibly realistic character. Sometimes I wanted to hug her, and sometimes I wanted to shake her shoulders. But that's something I love in characters because really, what person do you know where you never want to give them a good smack to the head? She was kind and compelling. I found her journey to discovering not only herself, but the world around her, beautiful and, like all Lauren novels, heart-breaking.
Alex, oh Alex. God, did that boy care about her. They're amazing together really, and watching them interact made me smile. Her friend, Hana, seriously surprised me. I didn't think she'd play such a good part in the story, and even be that dimensional. But she was caring and made ideas of her own that really made the story flow. A lot of things happen because of Hana, and I like that some of her decisions were a lot of a catalyst for Lena.
And that ENDING? Why must every Lauren Novel make me cry? I cannot WAIT for the rest of the trilogy. This is a complete and definite must read, as is her debut novel, Before I Fall.
My rating? AWESOMESAUCE
Happy Reading!
-Harmony B.
