Review : Delirium
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Pages : 441
Genre : YA, Dystopia
Series : Delirium, Book 1
My Rating : 
What it’s about :
When Lena turns 18, she’ll receive the most precious gift a girl her age could wish for : her cure for the deliria or, as we know it, a cure for love.
In Lena’s society, love is perceived as the most dangerous disease. Fortunately, scientists have found a cure that allows the population to live disease-free once they’re old enough to receive it. Having lost her mother when she was young because of the deliria, Lena counts the days until she can finally become normal and stop being afraid.
That is, until something unexpected comes in her life, forcing her to question everything she has known until now.
My Thoughts :
My experience of Delirium was really similar to the one I had when reading Divergent. Not only because of their similar dystopian setting, or because they are both YA fiction. What reminded me of Divergent was how much I enjoyed the story while also being left unsatisfied by the setting. I had fun reading it and went through the numerous pages in what felt like a blink, but in the end, I was left with many question marks.
If I compare Delirium to its most similar cousin Matched, I’d say Delirium had for me a more compelling story, writing and characters. This is in big part due to Lauren Oliver’s writing, which I found superior and pulled me in right from the start. Delirium was definitely a page turner, without being all action and adventure, and I warmed up to Lena quickly, even though I would have wished her to be a bit more confrontational in certain situations (at the same time, I also loved her slow transformation from “sheep” to “rebel”, so even though I wished it, it probably makes more sense that she wasn’t more confrontational).
Of course, in a world were love is a sickness, the center of the story is, indeed, a love story. I liked Alex enough and they had a cute story. But surprisingly, I enjoyed Lena’s friendship with Hana even more. Having read her previous novel, Before I Fall, I would say it is one of Oliver’s talents, to write friendships that are really true to life, even in a setting so different from ours. The bond between the two girls was complex and strong, and I’m really curious to see whether the author will explore more of this in her next novels.
This being said, I do wish there had been more details on the “disease” and the “cure”. How, and why, does a scientist come up with such an idea? How does the government convince its population that this is a great idea? How does the cure work, exactly? In a society so tightly controlled, how is it possible for Lena to ride around on her bike past curfew so easily? If teens are so “fragile” to falling in love, why aren’t they raised in some kind of boarding school with more surveillance? These are some of the questions that popped in while I was reading. I was still enjoying the story, but not as much as I could have with more information on the world-building. I was really glad though, to read in the interview at the end of the book, that Delirium is set not in our future, but in some kind of alternate-reality-present. It makes the whole thing more believable, because then I can imagine the past was also somewhat different and lead to different decisions.
Also, what an ending! It’s the kind of ending that leaves you stunned, then flipping frantically through the last few pages, hoping to know just a little more. Alas, the last pages included an interview with the author and an excerpt from the next novel, Pandemonium, which didn’t answer my most crucial questions about this terrific ending. It looks like I’ll have to wait until next year!
So, to conclude, I had a lot of fun reading Delirium and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to fans of the genre – especially to readers for whom world-building is less crucial, and readers who enjoy forbidden romances! 🙂
Series Reading Order :
- Delirium
- Pandemonium (coming 2012)
- Requiem (coming 2013)
I really loved Before I Fall, and have been anxious to get my hands on a copy of this one too. It seems that there will be a lot of unanswered questions when I get to the end, so I am thinking that I might wait until the next book comes out before I get to it. That way I won’t have to walk away unsatisfied! Great review, by the way. You gave me a lot to think about and consider!
I don’t know if the questions regarding the setting will be answered in the next books, but the ending really leaves you with a big “What!?!?” moment, so I would definitely wait for book 2 to be out (or out soon) before reading this one! 🙂
This actually sounds like it would make a good book club pick since you had so many unanswered questions.
I hadn’t thought of it this way, but you’re right! I can imagine endless discussions on those questions!
I was sadly disappointed by this one. I expected it to be fabulous but had a hard time with the writing and found the world-building really unbelievable. Only the ending really interested me, and in the six months since I’ve read it, even that has lost its interest. I doubt I’ll read the sequel. 🙁
I’m sorry to hear that Amanda! I found myself entertained and I loved the writing, but really, there were so many questions about the world-building, I couldn’t take it seriously. I’ll be reading the next one, but it didn’t raise my passion like, say, The Hunger Games did!
This is a different cover for this book… I haven’t seen anyone else use it in their reviews. I probably will read this at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet.