Lauren Oliver

My Opinion: I just finished this book and all I can think is: Holy freaking cliffhanger, Batman!!! I kid you not! I haven't been this excited to start the third book in a trilogy in a long time because I HAVE to find out what happens next! I'll try to calm down a little bit and give you my thoughts on this most awesome book.

Lena has made it over the fence and into the Wilds, but unfortunately Alex didn't, and now Lena has to try to find her own way in an unknown and terrifying new world. show more Near death, she is found by a homesteader, Raven, one of a group of people who live and work together just to survive. There she begins to slowly rebuild her life and find a new purpose.

The chapters switch off between "then" (when she first got to the Wilds and the months following) and "now" (approximately six months after that). Both time periods are interesting and the "then" chapters help us to understand how the "now" chapters came about.

When you're reading a really good book, a story that you enter completely while reading it, and things are going well for the characters, you just know something bad has to happen to them to shake things up. You feel the dread building up inside of you, knowing it will happen but hoping it doesn't, but at the same time anticipation is building because you know when it does it will catapult the story into whole new exciting places, so that when it does happens you just have to cry out loud "Oh my God!" THAT's the moment when you know if the author is a good one or a great one. If you can't turn the pages fast enough at that point to find out where the story is taking you now, then it's a great author, and I can unequivocally state that Lauren Oliver is definitely one of the best!!

If you can't tell yet, I devoured this story in less than 24 hours because I didn't care what was going on around me (yeah, I have to apologize to my kids who kept annoyingly requesting things like food and drink, only to be told "Just 5 more minutes!" Of course, they are kind of used to that by now since this happens a lot with me when I find a really good book :D) and would give it 10 stars if I could! I highly recommend it to lovers of dystopian stories since this is one of the best I've read to date. Since I can't give it 10 stars, I give it a very, very enthusiastic 5 stars!! Now, I have to go bug everyone I know for a copy of Requiem so I can read it right away :D show less

Delirium has a fantastic dystopian premise. What if love was considered a disease that could be vaccinated for? What would life be like for people in a love-free society? The concept was so full of potential, but the story inevitably got bogged down in the romance.

Lena isn't eighteen and hasn't been cured yet. This makes her still susceptible to love. She meets a boy and falls in love, causing her to be considered infected and much like a criminal. The problem I have with the relationship is show more that it is so convenient. Minors aren't allowed to spend time with uncureds of the opposite sex, so Lena predictably falls in love with the first one she talks to. The relationship continues with both of them falling deeper in love to the point where they are willing to give up everything to be together. It's very romantic. And stupid. Especially since they've known each other for about two months.

Is the love story in Delirium realistic in the society of the book? Sure, but it's also unbelievably annoying. I'm usually all for rebelling against dystopian society, but the argument against love in Delirium is rather convincing. Love is messy. It can make you seriously ill and possibly homicidal or suicidal. Can you really fault a government for trying to find a solution. The cure seems to be working, society is benefiting, and no one is complaining. Lena was excited to receive the cure until a boy paid her the slightest bit of attention. She acts in the exact way the society warns people about, yet we're supposed to see them as the villains.

I was disappointed with Delirium. The concept was promising, the hype was huge and other reviewers seem to absolutely love it. Yet, I just could not fathom someone throwing away a good future in the name of love. Or, more accurately, in the name of infatuation and lust given the length and super sexy secret nature of the relationship. When I wish for the dystopian society to win, I know something has gone horribly wrong with a story. show less

Better than the first in a lot of ways, and a little bit worse in others.

But you can build a future out of anything. A scrap, a flicker. The desire to go forward, slowly, one foot at a time. You can build an airy city out of ruins.

I originally rated this 5 stars after finishing it, but upon reflection, it really was more of a 4 star read for me.

But it was still awesome!

Grief is like sinking, like being buried. I am in water the tawny color of kicked-up dirt. Every breath is full of choking.

show more

There is nothing to hold on to, no sides, no way to claw myself up. There is nothing to do but let go.

Let go. Feel the weight all around you, feel the squeezing of your lungs, the slow, low pressure. Let yourself go deeper. There is nothing but bottom. There is nothing but the taste of metal, and the echoes of old things, and days that look like darkness.

Honestly, this felt like a different series a little bit. Part of that was definitely the lack of chapter epigraphs (which I briefly mourned) and definitely the fact that the only character shared throughout was the Lena herself (and she made a bit point about that) and definitely the fact that the chapters alternated between past and present - "now" and "then".

This installment actually made me cry a lot. It was intense and hard-hitting with more tangible stakes and consequences. Raven was an excellent addition and the Invalid band she travels with were great, though Tack deserved a little more page time to really earn his place at the end.

While Alex in the first book was a bit of a stalker and Julian in this book was a voyeur, I actually genuinely liked him. He was sweet and complex, and I'm also just absolute trash for the trope when two people have to sleep in close quarters together when they aren't (yet) in a relationship. I don't know why, but it just sustains me like no other.

That said, I did not like the pacing or how the very ending was handled. It was a little bit of a deus ex machina and didn't feel entirely earned. Some elements of the entire novel felt a little too Divergent-ish.

This is what hatred is. It will feed you and at the same time turn you to rot.

show less

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver made me feel an array of emotions. Isn’t it amazing when books can do that? At first I was angry and annoyed with the main character, Sam Kingston. She seemed so much like the selfish and entitled brats that annoyed me when I was in high school. But, despite that I wouldn’t wish Sam Kingston’s fate on anyone– to live her last day on earth over and over again. As each day passed, Sam Kingston learns about herself, about her friends, and about the people show more she alienates. And, as each day passed, I found myself becoming more and more sympathetic to this girl I initially deemed shallow and mean. As each day passed, part of me started feeling angry and frustrated and sad about all of the obstacles Sam had to face– friends, family, the kids she alienated, love and heart-break, all of it! I just wanted Sam to find peace and happiness.

The tone of Before I Fall is very bittersweet. There were moments in the book that made me smile– like when Sam returns to her childhood secret spot, and she invites her little sister to tag along. It was an endearing moment, but considering the circumstances, I couldn’t help feeling sad. So sad, in fact, that Before I Fall will go down in my personal history as the second book ever to make me cry. (While the rest of my 6th grade class was weeping at the end of Where the Red Fern Grows, I was the only one with dry eyes. Even the boys cried! And, I didn’t even cry during any of the Harry Potter books.) And, Lauren Oliver’s writing was a perfect match for Sam Kingston’s story. It was beautiful and poetic (yet, Sam’s voice still seemed genuine), and that probably played a role in making my eyes tear up. show less