Amor-Trilogie 1: Delirium

The concept behind this book was so interesting, so original, and so huge. In the hands of the wrong author, it could have been a complete flop. But somehow, Lauren Oliver has crept into the realm of my favorite authors, and this book held up to it's promise and more.Every last character in this book is perfectly created. Lena's journey is incredible.This book was so good, I can't even properly review it, because my review will be insubstantial to how great the book was.

I LOVED Oliver's first novel, Before I Fall. I devoured it in one sitting, unable to put it down. Unfortunately, compared to that, her second novel leaves a bit to be desired. Yet another YA dystopian novel, Delirium is set in Portland, MAINE (I spent half the book on the wrong coast) in the near future. Love has been declared a disease, and everyone in the society is "cured" of it by the time they are 18. In essence, everyone is lobotomized. Some of the descriptions are quite terrifying - when you think of love, it's usually the romantic kind, but even the love between parent and child is erased in this world. Heartbreaking. For the most part, the story progresses as you'd expect. Oliver's writing is lovely, but there were few surprises, and I would have liked to know more about why this world exists as it does. It is the first volume of a trilogy, so perhaps we should be a bit forgiving; maybe there will be more and better world-building in the volumes to come. I also didn't think the romance between Lena and Alex was very...well, romantic. Why exactly should she love him? He's convenient and forbidden, and we're told they have chemistry...I didn't really see it. The blurb on the book boasts "romance as true as Romeo and Juliet," which was not delivered, in my opinion. But I like Oliver's writing, and the idea of this novel was very interesting, so I'll read the rest of the trilogy. I just don't think this book will stick with me quite like Before I Fall has done.

When I first heard about this book, I immediately wanted to read it. I love dystopian stories. I’m too tired about vampires and werewolves… well; if they are really good books I read and love them too. But Delirium looked so different and so good!My first impression when I started reading it was good, even though it remembered me Matched by Ally Condie (A LOT). I mean it’s almost the same thing. The girl lives in a dystopian word, really different from ours. You can’t take your own decisions, you only can do what “They” say you to do. They look for your perfect match in both books, and “they” are always watching you. The girl falls in love with the wrong guy, and in the case of the Delirium, falling for somebody is prohibited. So is a forbidden love. And is when she realizes that the word where she lives is not so good like she thought. I’m not criticizing any of both books, I’m just saying what I saw when I read them. There are a lot of similarities, but of course, it’s not the same story, and there are not the same characters. And I think both stories will continue on different directions.However, I really enjoyed Delirium, and if you liked Matched, you should give it a try, although we always will end doing comparisons.BTW... The cover is really nice!

A bit like "Divergent" and a bit like "Matched", but what makes this novel stand out are the characters. I really enjoyed Lena (she reminds me of myself except I can't run!) and Alex, and especially Hana - I thought they were all quite real. Very excited to read the next instalment.

From beginning to end, this book captivated me, didn't let me out of its clutches, and I enjoyed the entire ride, even when the ending left me with a numb hollow feeling of seeing something more bitter than sweet but still very powerful.Stories about love being identifies as a disease are not new, but this one was done so wonderfully that I barely paid attention to the fact that this idea has been done a dozen times before. The story had a surprising twist to the old idea, though; where most stories that take that idea only focus on the elimination of romantic or sexual love, Delirium went whole hog and even had familial love be outlawed and viewed as an expression of disease. From marital partners being assigned by government agencies to parents not conforting a crying child, all expressions of affection are viewed as shameful and wrong, sick and twisted and detrimental to humanity as a whole.It was chilling to see, especially when done so subtly and deeply as to pervade every piece of the book's society -- one which, I might add, is very close to our own, evidently set in the not-too-distant future. This book makes it clear that this is the sort of thing that could very well happen if anyone ever discovered a surefire way to eliminate love. That society is just as obsessed with love as our own, only from the opposite end of the spectrum.Lauren Oliver style is smooth, evenly-paced, and she has a real knack for capturing some of the less-easily-defined aspects of emotion and thought, some of the more obstract expressions of things that we think and feel in life but can't always put words to in the moment. She can pull off being shocking, sweet, heart-poundingly scary, heartbreak... I fell into the main character and her way of thinking and speaking with great ease, something which isn't always easy to accomplish when I'm reading a book intended for an audience a decade younger than me.I heartily recommend this book, to fans of YA novels, speculative fiction, and those who enjoy a good heartbreaking love story. This is definitely a book I can say that I feel privileged to have read. If you have the chance, don't let the opportunity to read it pass you by!

I loved the premise behind this book. Love is now seen as a horrible disease of which causes people to become sick, delusional, and violent. Fortunately, or so they think, everyone is given the cure to love around the time they turn 18. This book follows Lena as she nears her 18th birthday, the date in which she is scheduled to receive the cure. After spending years looking forward to getting the cure the closer she gets to her eighteenth birthday the more she dreads receiving the cure. She dreads it because she has finally found the one thing that is forbidden, love.I am slowly but surely becoming a fan of the dystopian genre. While this was a dystopian book it seemed to me to be mostly a love story. I loved the relationship between Alex and Lena. Whenever Lena was around Alex she would grow as a person and that really enhanced the story. It surprised me that I really enjoyed the ending. It made me sad, but I felt like it was a great way for this book to end. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

In this disturbing dystopian, the entire society believes that love is a disease and the cause of downfall to past generations. When each person turns 18, a procedure is performed on the brain that basically takes away the ability to love. It's a terrifying scenario, especially looking at it from a mother's point of view---you're not even allowed to love your children. I think my heart broke several times throughout this book---mostly when the main character, Lena is talking about her own mother. That is what is so fascinating about all of these dystopian tales coming out...they present such a twisted distorted world and force you to imagine what it would be like to live without the most basic things that we take for granted every day, like love, reading and writing and music, freedom of choice, a mother's love.When we first meet Lena, she is about to turn eighteen and actually can't wait to have her procedure done. More than anything, this comes from fear---anyone who knows Lena has heard the story of her past...that her mother was unable to be cured by the procedure and ended up catching the "disease" and taking her own life. She fears daily that this is something that runs in her blood. It was interesting to see this character change, the way falling in love empowers her. I loved all three main characters in this story, Lena, Hana, and Alex. As much as it was about Lena falling in love with Alex, it was also about her love for her best friend, her mother, her little cousin, her sister...it was very powerful in showing how different the world would be without love in all it's forms.While admittedly, the beginning dragged a little for me, about 100 pages in I was completely smitten with this story and couldn't put it down until the very end. And the END...OH, the end. Lauren Oliver. I will say this about her: the woman knows how to deliver an ending. In Before I Fall, the ending was pure orchestrated perfection. In Delirium, the story's conclusion literally explodes off the page leaving the reader feeling completely spent. All you can do at that point is close the book and say "Wow." I was almost a little disappointed to find out after that there would be more to the story---not because I don't want it to go on, but because the ending is so powerful, intense,... beautifully and tragically perfect. This one could have stood on it's own---and with so many cliffhanger endings in YA these days that have you lost until the next installment, this was so refreshing.

A truly beautify love story in a world were love is a desease. Falling in love, trying to escape and making to the wilds were love and freedom is not forbiden.

Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall was my favorite book of 2010 and I was eagerly anticipating her new dystopian follow up. Since I’m such a fan of both Lauren Oliver and dystopian books I had high expectations Delirium. I’m happy to say Delirium did not disappoint, and impressed me just as much as her first book. I read this book originally several months ago and was pondering it for a while deciding what to say in a review. I was emotionally wrecked after reading it the first time. I decided to re-read it after publication to pull my thoughts together. I ended up listening to the audiobook format this time.Delirium is takes place in Portland Maine in a future world where love is considered a disease. The disease is identified as amor deliria nervosa and scientists perform brain surgery on all citizens when they turn eighteen to cure them of the disease. Just before the procedure the candidates must submit to an interview before they can be matched to their ideal husband/wife. The main character Lena is just about to turn eighteen, and is looking forward to her procedure. Both of her parents have died, and the cure for deliria did not work on her mother after 3 attempts. Lena’s best friend Hana is starting to rebel against the strict regulated books, music, and curfews they are expected to follow. Lena and Hana are at an after-curfew party when Lena meets up with Alex. They fall hard for each other but of course need to keep their relationship a secret. Unfortunately the clock is ticking on Lena’s procedure date.The writing is incredible in this book. Ms. Oliver has a way with words and the emotions of the characters leap off the page. The writing is lovely and descriptive throughout the novel. Another nice touch is the passages at the beginning of each chapter. There are quotes from different government approved books, including the “Book of Shhh,” an abbreviation for “The Safety, Health, and Happiness Handbook.” These quotes provide more of a glimpse of the dystopian world.The set up of the book was done well and showed Lena’s life prior to getting “infected” by Alex. In the beginning, Lena is on board with the government program to get matched and have the procedure. She did not want to end up un-cured like her mother, although she misses and remembers her fondly. The government restricts all kinds of activity that inspires love/deliria or laughter and bugs phone calls and conducts random raids to look for violations. It is interesting to see Lena’s opinion change as she becomes more intrigued with the lives of “resisters.”This book explores relationships very well, and one of the strongest bonds in the book is between the friends Lena and Hana. They are best friends and have all kinds of plans of things they want to do before their procedure is scheduled. They enjoy going running together particularly. Lena worries that her friendship with Hana won’t be the same after the procedure.The relationship between Alex and Lena is one of the most compelling aspects of the book. Their relationship is smoldering and passionate, and he opens her eyes to a different world. They have the odds stacked against them and it makes you want them to succeed as a couple that much more.The book really shines in the final third of the book, when the action leads to a gut-wrenching cliffhanger. I can’t wait to find out what happens next. The next book in the series cannot arrive soon enough.Regarding the audiobook – I enjoyed listening to the book in this format. Actress Sarah Drew reads the book. Grey’s Anatomy fans will know her as April. Since I listened to the book after I read it first, I had an opinion on what Lena’s voice would sound like. At first, the reader did not match up to my expectation of Lena’s voice. However, as I listened more to the story I felt the reader did a great job with conveying Lena’s emotions and with the voices of the other characters. The audiobook is just over 11.5 hours long.Delirium is the first book in a trilogy. This book sets up the dystopian world well, but there is room to fill in more details about how the world ended up this way in future books. The premise seems believable and possible, and I enjoyed the dystopian elements. I would consider this book to be more about love and relationships first, but with a dystopian setting. I would recommend Delirium to fans of Before I Fall, as well as fans of YA and dystopians. The writing is simply beautiful, with a well-crafted story that will haunt you.The next book in the trilogy is called Pandemonium, and it is due out in Feb. 2012.

I was intrigued from the very first page of Deliruim. The idea of love being considered a disease (amor deliria nervosa) is just fascinating—especially when you examine the symptoms of love because they are actually pretty similar to certain diseases (distraction, racing heart, preoccupation). What a brilliant concept to write about!Even though I loved the concept, Delirium did not truly captivate me until the second half of the novel. Delirium is primarily a character driven novel, which is synonymous with slow in the beginning. While I do love character driven novels, I always find myself trudging through them in the beginning. You need to be attached to the characters in order to enjoy this type of novel, and that attachment typically takes several chapters to develop. The plot really starts to pick up in the second half of the story. Had I not loved Alex and Lena, I would not have enjoyed it nearly as much. However, since I absolutely love them, the novel was so intense! I was on edge every single moment. I needed to know what would happen—I could not tear myself away from the story. The world building was great, but the character development is where Lauren Oliver really shines.Delirium features a great set of characters, a fascinating world, and one of the best romances ever. Oliver proves that amor deliria nervosa is worth fighting for and that indifference is far worse than hate. The world building was amazing, the characters were even better, and oh my god the romance. Delirium is definitely a must read for fans of love stories and dystopia.

ery engaging dystopian fiction. Appropriate for middle school, but mature enough to keep high school students (and adults!) interested too. Reminded me of Along for the Ride and Never Let Me Go.

Wow!! The concept of this book blows my mind. Lauren Oliver's imagination is amazing! She used way to many analogies, she was always comparing one thing to another. But that being said I loved it!!! It was different and interesting and I was holding my breath for the last couple of pages. I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy!

I just don't know where to begin this review. Every time I try to think of a way to explain how this book made me feel I just come to a complete loss. Delirium was a novel that pulled me in so subtly I didn't realize it was happening, but once it did, it held on hard and fast and refused to let go.Delirium was a such an emotional read, you need to have a box of tissues beside you while you read it. Watching these two people fight for love, struggling to keep it secret, afraid what they're doing is wrong, was a powerful thing. It really made me realize how lucky I am to have love, to be free to show it, and enjoy it, and treasure it. Each of the characters in this book are so well developed that I completely lost myself in their story. They were all unique and a true pleasure to read. Their personalities came to life as I was reading and I felt like I was missing a friend when I was done with the book.Overall, this was a powerful read that has stuck with me for a long time after finishing it and I'm sure will stick with me for a long time to come. I cannot wait for the next book to see where Lauren Oliver will take this story. I'm sure it will be even more amazing then the first. This book left us with an ending that promises to make for a fabulous book 2

“Oh my jeebus.” This was essentially the phrase that echoed throughout my head while reading Delirium. I am SUCH a huge fan of dystopians and with so many coming out lately, there are lots and lots for me to read. But Delirium? Was good on epic levels. Seriously.I looveeeeed Delirium. I loved Lena and Alex and Hana. Seriously, almost all of the characters in Delirium probably made it to my top favourite literary characters ever. They all had such varying personalities and they all progressed and grew up throughout the course of just ONE of the books in this trilogy, which is what characters should do, and I just fell in love with them.Lena, especially. I love how she was raised so strictly to believe that love was a disease, and she even had past events to back up her beliefs, rather than just being told. She’s seen the harm love can cause people. But she grows and she learns and she experiences and it’s just…great.And – hello! What a genius idea for a book, by the way. Love being a disease? Being treated for it at the age of 18, thereby rendering it harmless? It’s like every other dystopian book in that, at a certain age, everyone conforms to the same idea, same system, etc, except in Delirium, Lauren Oliver used love as the central focus point. Freaking brilliant.The writing in Delirium is just…I don’t have any words for how well Lauren Oliver was able to describe each character, each thought, each conversation, the beach, the evaluation room…I just thought the writing was absolutely phenomenal.Seriously, pick up Delirium. It’s an absolutely fantastic dystopian by an absolutely fantastic writer. The storyline, the characters, the writing – it all just combines into one awesome book that sucks you in and you won’t want to put it down. I’m so glad it’s a trilogy, because I am really, really looking forward to reading more by Lauren Oliver.

Delirium takes place in Portland, Maine in a near-future dystopian United States. For some reason or another, love has been declared an infectious but curable disease. The cure for love sounds similar to a lobotomy. Part of the brain is surgically altered and all those pesky feelings are taken care of, for good. Because of the disease, boys and girls are strictly segregated until after they have had the procedure and become known as “cureds.” The procedure happens at age 18 (mysteriously, there are more problems and risks if the cure is given to anyone under 18), right around the same time as “matches” are made. Depending on who you are and what your status is in society, you get assigned to a university or college, and upon graduation marry your match and begin your career.But there are problems with the cure, and not everyone wants to be cured of love. The main protagonist’s mother was one such individual, and chose suicide instead. This decision has had a lasting effect on her daughter, Lena, short for Magdalena. At the start of the novel, Lena can’t wait to have her procedure, be matched, and get on with her life. She is very much a product of government control (those regulators only raid homes, beat the crap out of people and arrest whoever is suspected of anything really, only do all of this for society’s protection) and swallows love as a curable disease hook, line, and sinker. Yet a chance encounter with a supposedly cured boy, Alex, is the catalyst that predictably changes everything. As summer and Lena and Alex’s relationship progress, Lena moves further and further away from her old self, her best friend, and everything she has been taught to believe. Very soon, Lena will have to make a choice that (que dramatic voice) will forever alter her future.I bought this on my Kindle Fire the same day I got it, on Christmas, because it was on sale along with a slew of other popular YA books. I really didn’t know anything about it other than that it was a bestseller and that book two in the trilogy was coming soon. I am just wading into the YA genre, learning the ropes, as it were, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m surprised to say that I liked it (regardless of the sarcastic overtones in the summary) and am looking forward to book two, Pandemonium, which is due out February 28th. I found Lena to be, in general, a sympathetic character, and the supporting cast was fleshed out just enough to allow the reader to sympathize with them as well, for the most part. Hana’s motivations for co-ed partying were never really given and neither were Alex’s motivations for coming to Portland. I would have liked to know more, and if I had I might have cared about them more, especially Alex. He can really just be summed up as a troubled, but gorgeous and perfect male love interest (I would have been just as happy with the book if the love interest turned out to be Hana; could have made things much more interesting). Lena is neither as whiny nor as helpless as many other teen “heroines” seem to be (including Clara of Unearthly, which will be reviewed here soon), but not quite Katniss material. She’s got potential though, and that’s part of the reason I’m looking forward to Pandemonium. I’d much rather have a bunch of wanna-be Katniss characters who eventually kick ass than a bunch of wanna-be Bellas, who just want to get married and have kids with their creepy stalker-boyfriends. I’m also glad that, as of yet, Oliver hasn’t gone the typical love-triangle route. It’s A+L 4ever, so far, and I hope it stays that way.As far as the world-building and writing goes, I can’t complain too much. Oliver’s prose is clear, Lena’s voice and motivations are believable and the near-future dystopia is fairly believable. However, I’m not sure how kids can party with loud music and alcohol on the edges of town and generally get away with it in a completely panoptic city. There’s even obvious monitoring of cell phone conversations (the characters can actually hear static and noise every time the government decides to listen in). It seems rather convenient that the party only gets broken up when Oliver needs it to for plot purposes. I do wish that there was more social commentary going on here, as there’s rich ground for it, and that’s one of the main purposes of the dystopian genre/setting. As a society we are so inundated with the concept of love that it has practically become one of the defining traits of our species. Love is part of what it means to be human, right? So how the hell is it possible for society to do a complete 180 and decide that love is a disease that’s curable? Love is an industry, an institution, an essential part of human interaction. How do we get from that to Oliver’s world? What’s the criticism she’s going for here? Is there any? (See additional notes below for more thoughts on this.)(This criticism specifically, is due in part to an essay I recently taught to my college freshman. It’s an excerpt from Laura Kipnis’s book Love’s Labours: A Polemic. Great reading, and I highly recommend it.)On the whole, the plotting and pacing seemed pretty tight, and the characters and their motivations are believable. With a novel like this, that’s enough to make it good, but not great light reading. I give this 3.7 stars out of five and will be back for the sequel.Additional Notes:I’ve got two main but general complaints. First, it seems that no one is willing to deal with the destruction of society as we know it and set all of their dystopias after what ever it is that breaks society apart has happened. I’m getting annoyed by this, not only in YA fiction, but in all dystopic fiction I’ve come across recently (including, and especially, The Road). I want to see what happens, see the event. And I want an actual explanation for why the world in the story is the way it is. Can no one do this? Is no one willing or capable of offering an explanation for these messed up little worlds? Mysterious diseases abound in these dystopias, and frankly, I want to be treated with a measure of intelligence as a reader. Some one, please, explain it to us. Additionally, social criticism is an integral part of the dystopian novel, and as a dystopian novel, this book falls quite short for the lack of it, as discussed above.The second complaint deals with the YA genre specifically. For the teen girls and boys in these novels, whatever member of the opposite sex they go for is the one. Cosmic stars align and the love interest is always described as perfect, gorgeous (with variations of adverbs such as “impossibly” or “undeniably” in front of them). I was a teen once (recently enough that I remember HS). I dated boys, had first kisses and make-out sessions (since that’s all these characters seem to do, and none of them, not a single one, was as magical, cosmic, or perfect as they are described in these books. Reading girls go on for sometimes pages of how wonderful or unimaginably perfect the boy is is getting very annoying. I’m beginning to wonder if these books are just romance novels dressed up as something else and are setting up a generation of girls for extreme disappointment as well as priming them to become perfect consumers of society’s currently accepted ideal of love. However, I must declare that I don’t read romance novels; perhaps if I did, I would be more used to this. If anyone has good recommendations for Teen/YA books that avoid this pitfall, I’m all ears. As I said, I’m new to the genre and don’t want to judge the whole bunch based on just a few. Feel free to leave recommendations in the comments, they will be most welcome (I’ve already read the Hunger Games trilogy and it pretty much sets the bar for me).

Perhaps the best description of the physical sensation of falling in love that I've ever read. What a great book.

Decreased appetite, weight loss, lack of concentration, mood swings: all symptoms of amor deliria nervosa. Luckily, there's a cure, administered to all citizens as soon after their 18th birthdays as possible. Lena is looking forward to having the Cure, to getting her match, to having her life's choices settled. But just months before she's to get her cure--on the day of her evaluation, when she'll give the panel the information they need to make those decisions for her--she meets the person who will infect her. It's an infection as old as time, and deadly dangerous: Lena has fallen in love.

Another dystopia in which the government makes all choices (see also: The Giver, Matched) and offers a surgical fix to "dangerous" thoughts and emotions (see also: Uglies), while offering the perfect, we'll-always-be-together romance of teenagers (see also: the not-dystopian Shiver, which maybe I see parallels to because I think it's the same narrator on the audio book? It's read in the same tone and cadence, anyway.).

Not surprised to see this is the first in a series. The romance, as well as several other plot twists, are fairly predictable; that won't stop the high school girls from clamoring for this one. I'd have liked to see more of the world-building and get a fuller picture besides EVIL REGULATORS and EMOTIONLESS CURED ADULTS, but the thrust of the book is really more the love story than the dystopia, so it's probably not fair to judge it against that bar. 3 stars as dystopia; 4 as romance.

A Dystopian type romance that caught me off guard, and reeled me in. Lauren Oliver does an amazing job with her character descriptions and story lines with a smooth flow from the begging to end of the story. We meet Lena, who seems like the happy person, till her friend tells her a few simple words, things slowly sink in and you see Lena let go of the way life should be as told to her all her life and learns of what life really is. She falls in love, and learns of all the ups and downs that come with it.A fantastic story that will captivate you and make you feel what she goes through each and every moment, learning who Lena is and what makes her tick... not to mention having Lena learn who she is herself and how much stronger she really is than shes portrayed. I would certainly recommend this to you, and look forward to getting a copy for my own bookshelf.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver was alright. I'm not going to say it was the best book evarrr but it wasn't the worst either.The story takes place in an undisclosed future where the US government has found a cure for LOVE! They call the love "disease" Delirum and while there isn't much of an explanation of what the cure is exactly, it seems to be some sort of incision.Since love was banned there hasn't been any war or hate because you can't hate something unless you love something else. The government dictates your life mate, the number of children you have, where you will live and where you will work because after the cure you don't seem to care about that stuff anymore.Lena, almost 18 and closing in on cure day, meets a 19 year old boy named Alex who she originally thought was cured but then finds out he isn't! He introduces her to the world beyond the walls she was caged into her whole life.. blah blah blah.This same situation has been repeated so many times it's getting a bit annoying. For once I would like the heroine of one of these stories to not vow to give up her entire life to be with this one guy she meets? It's a terrible message for young girls reading these stories. Where are the Lyra Belacquas and Katniss Everdeens in these stories?Anyway, while I do have issues with this book, the concept is pretty interesting and the story ends on a major cliff hanger that makes me want to pick up the next book in the series Pandemonium which is set to be released on March 6th.Should you read it? Yea, give it a go.

This is another book I’ve had on my TBR pile for awhile. I originally didn’t read it right away because I was burnt out on YA dystopian books. I haven’t read a lot of dystopian lately and thought I would give it a shot. This ended up being a very predictable and typical YA dystopian novel. I really wasn’t all that impressed; it was okay but not great.I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was okay. The narrator made the male voices sound a bit unrealistic and goofy. Additional she gives our heroine, Lena, a voice that is very breathless and urgent sounding throughout. At first it does help to make situations seem more urgent, but as the story progresses it just makes the heroine sound like she’s overreacting to everything. In short I wouldn’t recommend listening to this on audiobook.This book is typical YA dystopian from the beginning to the end. Basically after a huge disaster (which we only know is called the Blitz) cities decide that humans have to undergo labadamies at the age of eighteen in order to make them not love or react with strong emotions. It’s a stretch as a premise I know.Of course our heroine is a good little girl and is excited to get her “cure” until she meets a boy and falls in love with him (yawn). Now she doesn’t want to be cured but wants to escape with him...of course she has to get caught right before she’s going to escape and (of course) they move her procedure up. Okay I guess you could call that last sentence spoilers...but really you knew from page 1 what was going to happen here if you have ever read any YA dystopian books.The story is slow, the heroine is cookie-cutter boring. The writing is okay; I felt like there was a lot of time spent with character dramatically over-analyzing their feelings..but whatever. I was just never emotionally involved with these characters so there’s that.The book “ties up” basically in the middle of an action scene of sorts; which is to say it ends up on a giant cliffhanger with no resolutions (except if you’ve read other YA dystopian you can guess what will happen in book 2...I went and read a recap of book 2 just to see if I was right...I was).Overall an incredibly typical young adult dystopian novels. It is decently written so if you want an overly dramatic and predictable dystopian read with a lot of teenage angst over love and feelings; this should fit the bill. I personally thought it was predictable, boring and generally inane. I wasn’t a fan and won’t continue reading the series.

Ever wanted to wipe a guy from your mind because he shattered your heart so soundly?In Lena’s world, you can. However, like all small blessings, it comes with a catch, and it’s a biggie.Lena lives in a future United States where a group called the ‘Consortium’ has taken over. In true dystopian fashion, the government, not individuals, make all major life decisions for citizens, including place of post-secondary education, profession and spouse. Lauren Oliver creates a future U.S. with beautiful, descriptive language, and sometimes you get lost in the loveliness and the originality of the sentences, especially when she writes comparisons. That being said, I found it difficult to ‘sink into’ this novel at first. When we first meet Lena, she is about to turn 18 and full of anxiety about her future. Because of this, Lena is an extremely introspective character, and at times, I think I would have liked some more dialogue or action to break it up a bit, but then Oliver would come out with a completely amazing sentence that would make me reread it with pleasure. Lena's world is SUPER circumscribed, and this is where Oliver’s novel really differs from other dystopian reads for me: Lena’s world never feels safe, not even at first. Yes, she was told her world was safe, orderly and protected, but I never got that feeling. I was creeped out from the beginning by how regimented her life was: early curfews, absolutely no contact with boys who weren’t family or cured yet, and the constant reminders that if you are suspected of doing anything that smacks of civil disobedience, you will get a one-way to ticket to death or hell on earth. The government certainly has covered its tracks with the mother of all PR campaigns in Delirium; everything, from the Bible to national history to current events, has been rewritten. At times, it felt like something akin to Nazi Germany.Lena's insecurities as a young woman are poignant and familiar. However, she mentions them enough times to make me think of other contemporary characters who also are self-deprecating. She feels that doesn’t measure up in the looks department and is nothing very special. Here family also lacks in social status and her legal last name is a burden because of the shady past of her parents. Because of these things, she actually is grateful for the procedure and her government’s system – it ensures she’ll have a place in the community and have someone in her life, albeit one who is chosen for her, not by her. You get the feeling that Lena isn’t happy to get the procedure so she can dodge the love sickness, but so she can escape her memories and feelings about the past. She didn’t count on meeting Alex, who is a marvelous example of a loving, brave, and selfless guy (he’s my new lit crush). Alex has a few secrets of his own, and they both broaden Lena’s horizons and endanger her future at the same time. Oliver’s writing really shines at its best during the beautiful moments shared between Lena and Alex. I won’t spoil anything here, but let’s just say I said, “Ahhhhh,” and “ Awww,” several times. Outloud.I have to admit, I had a hard time wrapping my brain around the premise. Who wants to get rid of love? Sure, it’s really inconvenient at times, but capable of being a national threat? No. And then I realized the catch. Remember the old saying, “It’s a thin line between love and hate?” It’s a thin line between a lot of different emotions: love, hate, passion, anger, etc., and all these different feelings provoke strong actions. Take away the ability to feel those emotions, and what sort of person do you have? A damn boring one who won’t cause trouble. This isn’t spelled out in Delirium, but I have seen this comment in a few reviews and wanted to add in my two-cents. While I struggled to get into the first third, I couldn't stop reading the second half. Lena really develops in it and creates her own beautiful world within the one she has to live in. I hope we learn more about what circumstances the Consortium came to power under in book two, and gain more insight into what kind of world Lena is truly living in. I wish I had more background context for this book as I think it would have helped me get into it a bit earlier, but I will say that once I was hooked, I stayed that way. The world in Delirium is a refreshing, new dystopia we have not yet seen before with an original premise - a truly fascist, threatening government right from the start with a paranoid population in which a forbidden love flourishes and a young woman starts to find out what she is really made of. I think once we know more about the the reasons behind the premise and understand more about the world outside of Lena's immediate frame-of-reference, we will have a wholly satisfying trilogy in our hands.

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.

My heart pounded so louddd!!

I love you. Remember. They cannot take it.” Okay, so this book has pretty much left me speechless. I literally finished like, a few minutes ago and my mind is still seriously blown. Lena lives in a world where love is the enemy, where passion is anathema, where poetry and art have fallen by the wayside, and romantic tendencies must be put down at all costs. some seriously hardcore brainwashing helps guide young citizens through the complexities of these norms, while upon reaching their majority a more comprehensive (invasive, horrifying) solution is offered: a procedure, not so far removed from a lobotomy, that results in a total dulling of the emotions. Recipients of this procedure feel nothing. Love, happiness, anger are null. Lena does the unthinkable - she falls in love. Okay, so this book has pretty much left me speechless. I literally finished like, a few minutes ago and my mind is still seriously blown. And the cliffhanger? GOD, WHY?! I need to know what happens! I also absolutely loved the way that bible stories, Shakespeare and other literature were intertwined into the narrative - either left unaltered and banned by the government for its subversiveness or altered in order to conform to the dystopian ideologies.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. My one complaint with it, which may be due to the fact that I'm not the key demographic, is the protagonist's constant wonder, worry, and complete and total insecurity. Maybe I just don't remember what it's like to be seventeen. :)

What I loved about this book is the way the author captures that heart-fluttering, anxiety-ridden, can'tsleepcan'teatcan'tthink about anything but your first love. THAT, I remember.

Excellent read. Long, but easy.

I got an e-arc copy of this book and practically devoured it. It's a creepy, very well written dystopian novel where love is a disease, and science has the cure. Like so many dystopian novels, there's a love story and rebellion. Whole not entirely original, there are twists that catch you off guard and characters you cannot help but adore. Lena's change is well done and parts of the novel are reminiscent of Westerfeld's Uglies series (in good ways). The ending is horrifyingly sad, but satisfying and heart breaking.

Lena’s mom and dad died when she was young, so Lena was raised by her aunt. Lena’s 18th birthday is coming up soon, and it will be such a relief to be able to have the surgery done – the cure! – to prevent the sickness “amor deliria nervosa” (aka love). Everyone gets the cure on their 18th birthday. She’ll be matched with someone to marry and her life will be perfect. But, before her birthday (and the surgery) arrives, she meets Alex…I really liked this. It seems an odd premise, but I went with it, and quite enjoyed it. I liked Lena’s best friend, Hana, and her young cousin(?), Grace, although a bit more interaction with Grace might have been nice. Maybe one of the upcoming books in the series will have more about her? I will definitely be continuing.

Amazon summary: 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’ll be cured of deliria, a.k.a. love. She tries not to think about her mother’s suicide (her last words to Lena were a forbidden “I love you”) or the supposed “Invalid” community made up of the uncured just beyond her Portland, Maine, border. There’s no real point—she believes her government knows how to best protect its people, and should do so at any cost. But 95 days before her cure, Lena meets Alex, a confident and mysterious young man who makes her heart flutter and her skin turn red-hot. As their romance blossoms, Lena begins to doubt the intentions of those in power, and fears that her world will turn gray should she submit to the procedure.

I had trouble suspending disbelief for most of this story. A future America where love is considered a disease and is cured - when you turn 18. So many things bugged me here - why was love considered a disease, why fit eh penalties are so harsh do teens break the rules so casually, how do babies and children receiving no affection from their parents become functioning adults at all?I've read many better distopias.But Oliver's writing is good, there were a few scenes, especially the swimming scenes, and the over all feeling of 'love in a dangerous time' that were nicely done. Pity the dangerous time was so silly.

It's been a number of years since I read I last read Scott Westerfield's "Uglies" series and over time I have obviously forgotten details here and there, but after reading "Delirium" I feel like a lot of what I forgot about the "Uglies" series is coming back to me. Now you may be thinking, "Huh? How in the world would that happen?" Well because "Delirium" is extremely similar to the "Uglies" series.Both stories revolve around a Dystopian world where the government is trying to control its people in crazy ways. In the "Uglies" trilogy when someone hits the age of 16 they become "pretty" through ridiculous amounts of plastic surgery and whatnot (and they unknowingly become somewhat dumber/ have their thinking dimmed down in order to keep them like sheep, unable to think for themselves/ unable to rebel against the government). In "Delirium" when someone hits the age of 18 they are "cured", a procedure which makes them unable to contract amor deliria nervosa, better known as love. Their government has entirely convinced then that love is the root of all evil, from love comes jealously, hate, and the likes of and such emotions lead to unrest, death, pretty much everything but the apocalypse (or who knows, they probably do think that love will led to the apocalypse).And then there is the characters. In the "Uglies" series Shay starts to question the world around her and brings to the attention of the main character Tally that all is not as what it appears to be. She begins to opens Tally's eyes up to a whole new world around her and encourages her to partake in illegal activities in which the both of them couple get in major trouble for. In "Delirium" Hana also starts to question the world around her and shows main character Lena that their life has so much more to offer them- like Shay, Hana encourages Lena to partake in illegal activities. Both Tally and Lena cannot wait until the day that they can have their procedures... That is, until they meet a boy...The boys...? Both boys are rebels, they live outside of the world that the government has created, they are "wild', "dangerous" and totally "off-limits". In "Uglies" David in born in the Smoke, the world outside of the government created world, from rebel parents- those who fled from the controlled world. He has is still an "ugly" as he never had the procedure to make him "pretty". Alex in "Delirium" was also born in the world outside of the government created one- the Wild, to parents who had fled from said government created world. He also has never underwent his procedure- the procedure to cure him from love. Both boys stand for everything that the governments hate and fear.When all is said and done, I do think that many people will enjoy "Delirium"- though I am sure that there are some hardcore "Uglies" fans out there who will be shaking their fists at Lauren yelling "You completely copied Scott's book!" Thankfully, I am not one of those people. I can read countless vampire/ werewolf/ witch/ whatever stories whose plot lines have been overplayed again and again and never get sick of them. I must say that overall I prefer the characters of "Delirium's" over "Uglies". I feel like Alex's personality was a gazillion more-there than David's was. And I couldn't stand Shay whatsoever in the "Uglies" trilogy (I'd say that if I had to pick one turn-off from that series, it'd be her), but I really liked Hana. I think that "Delirium" is a lot softer of a book and that those who love romance will love this book...