Delirium (edition 2011)

Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Delirium is about a seventeen year old Lena Haloway who is about to undergo an operation to “cure” her from a contagious disease: amor deliria nervosa (love). She wants the operation, until she meets a mysterious boy named Alex and falls in love with him. She manages to sneak away from the watchful eyes of her protective aunt and explores a forbidden world with Alex. As the operation date draws closer, Alex also leads Lena to discover her mother may still be alive and in hiding. Faced with the truth, Lena must decide whether or not to go through with the operation. She must choose between love and living in the safe government-controlled environment in which she has been raised. ( )

Lena is about to turn 18 and undergo a procedure which will provide the cure to the disease "deliria," more commonly known as "love." She believes this is for the best - after all, the government is only trying to protect its citizens from contracting the disease. The uncured "Invalids" roam outside the safe borders of Portland. Lena's mother had the disease and it destroyed her.

But just 95 days before her cure, Lena meets Alex. He is charming, mysterious, and irresistable. He's also uncured, although the government doesn't know this. Lena starts to fall for Alex and behave recklessly, risking her life just to be with him. As her procedure draws ever closer, Lena slowly begins to realize the lies she has been fed about love by her government, and she desperately tries to find a way to avoid being "cured."

As much as I wanted to love this book, it was just okay for me. The premise of the book was difficult for me to accept because it wasn't fully explained. Why did the society end up this way? And what exactly happens during the procedure which "cures" love? I would have liked a little more world-building to fully understand the society that Lena was born into and how it came be that way. I did feel a strong connection between Alex and Lena, but it seemed more like an infatuation or attraction than love. I think what kept me going was the beautiful prose and its lyrical quality. I listened to the audiobook, and Sarah Drew's portrayal of Lena was engaging and emotionally intense. The story ended on an unsettling cliffhanger, so I will most likely be picking up the next book in the trilogy. While Delirium is not my favorite dystopian romance, it has beautiful writing with themes of forbidden romance and resistance of an all-controlling society. ( )

A fast-paced novel set in a futuristic world in which love is a disease - with a cure. Teenager Lena Haloway is eager to be cured; that is, until she meets Alex and experiences the disease of love for herself. Lena's journey into love reveals the lies her world is built on and she comes to the resolution that she must escape this world to avoid becoming a part of it. A fascinating concept and written to keep the pages turning. ( )

I am not one who usually reads romance novels, because they all seem so cliche. Delirium though has a good mix of romance and action, that keeps you on the edge of your seat making you hungry for more. I would recommend this book to anyone who could read this novel. ( )

"Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That’s what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side."

A dystopia, but not science fiction. A story about star-crossed lovers. So many elements from so many other books (see [b:The Giver|3636|The Giver (The Giver, #1)|Lois Lowry|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266448651s/3636.jpg|2543234]), but still amazing. Can't wait for the next one. ( )