Delirium: 1/3 (DELIRIUM TRILOGY)

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And last it is not as exciting as the Uglies Series by Scott Westerfeld, which offers a setting that does not differ so much from „Delirium“: Authorities dealt with the human faults that led to a global catastrophe by turning everybody over 15 into pretty, rather dumb and peaceful people, who mind their jobs, meet their kids now and then and are content with partying and working. Like Lena Tally looks forward to her transformation - in her case from ugly to pretty - , to her move into the pretties’ dormitory ... until her best friend starts to install doubts into her mind. And ... whoosh ... the reader is drawn into a breathless thrill-ride that lasts three volumes and makes countless unexpected turns. The most flagrant one was the time left until Lena's cure which skips all around. When it's down to just seventeen days, her aunt says it's several weeks away. Seventeen days is two and a half weeks, not several. Small things, I know, but it interrupted the flow of a story which was already dragging and not flowing well.

All that being said, this is a fantastic series beginner. It's just one of those beginners that's good for its potential, not for its actual content. Pandemonium and Requiem are, again, not bad. They're just not great. Pandemonium is a gritty and a fun ride, with a good character arc for Lena. I know many reviewers hate Requiem's ending, but I thought the open ending fit. It was extremely interesting and at the same time intimidating to read and to picture this system. The author’s writing style is one the most powerful tools, as it facilitates the readers to imagine and to be an inseparable part of the “amor deliria nervosa” world. Her descriptions are so realistic and so stunning that the story absorbs completely the mind and the emotions of the audience, making it impossible to put this book down. When I started rereading this, I was surprised by the fact that there was so much I have forgotten about its story. It was as if my brain blotted out all the exciting details so I could fully enjoy it again. The truth is I have enjoyed it more this time. One point that I cannot overlook, is the beginning of each chapter. Oliver gives us some history about the world that she brings into life through some made-up historical, religious facts. Those facts add to the story some reasoning and comprehension, as they make it more easy to understand all the struggle of our main characters to feel what they try, so desperately, to suppress.Delirium is about a girl name Lena who lives in a future where love is considered a disease. At 18 everyone under goes surgery to remove the ability to love. However, a few months before her surgery and birthday, she meets Alex and falls in love. Obviously, this complicates things. I know I'm late. Like, really late. So many people have already read this and given an overall very good rating. There are some books written that touch you deeply. Stories that work their way stealthily into your heart, and imbeds itself securely there, and refusing to disperse, leaving you utterly breathless and completely captivated with wondrous awe. Delirium did this for me. There are not many books that can speak to you the way Delirium does. Books that tug at your heartstrings, and make you believe in the impossible. Books that can express what love really is: an all consuming, brilliantly captivating, wrenchingly heartbreaking power that takes control over you. Love that turns your world around, shows you things you never saw before, makes everything brighter and more amazing than you ever thought they could be. I noticed a lot of similarities with The Declaration but I preferred that book so much more. I probably will still read book 2 as I want to see where the storyline goes and how everything pans out. But overall, nothing mind blowing.

That’s my limit. That’s when I start get­ting frus­trated and annoyed. And it’s not because an author tried some­thing new, okay? Lau­ren Oliver is AMAZING. She is a great author who is eru­dite and ver­bose and inter­est­ing to lis­ten to. I’ve seen her speak live and frankly to an audi­ence and her abil­ity to relate to them and express her­self is fantastic.And while we're on the subject of unneccessary, I know that Lena is five foot, two. I got that the first time I was told and it didn't need repetition. It was not in need of repetition. Or to put it a little differently while still giving you the same information again: it didn't need repeating.

More importantly, Oliver's writing was flawless. She vividly described each scene, allowing readers to visualise each event as it occurred. Through her writing, Oliver also evokes a vast array of emotions from her readers. When Lena is enraged, readers are fuming. When she breaks down, crying hysterically, readers are right there, sobbing along with her. Her feelings of love, betrayal, and loss transcend all boundaries, lodging themselves in the hearts of readers around the world. The main pro­tag­o­nist says the word “love” twice. Once in con­ver­sa­tion and the sec­ond time men­tally. Love is a con­cept that’s stig­ma­tized to such an extreme degree that even the whis­pered word “sym­pa­thizer” is ver­boten. Yet the main pro­tag­o­nist SAYS it to her aunt – that she LOVES chil­dren. It just doesn’t make sense. And she’s wan­der­ing around with Alex and mak­ing out with him in pub­lic like the con­se­quence for that is a slap on the wrist. Look, she lives in a highly auto­cratic world where even a hint of the dis­ease will land you in prison – and she makes out with her boyfriend in the mid­dle of pub­lic places. I advise the still undecided to read either The Giver, the Uglies or both and to watch Equilibrium. The chapter headings with quotes from The Book of SHHH, nursery rhymes, playground chants, Comprehensive Compilation of Dangerous Words and Ideas, government pamphlets, schoolbooks and others are simply brilliant and add to the story in subtle ways. Amor Deliria Nervosa sounds like what doctors might call love if they wanted to classify it as a disease. There are lots of little tidbits like this that are clever and creative and make me wish for more from this book. Personally, the most dreadful moment that made me conceive the author’s massage wholly, was the parents’ behaviour towards their children. To put it differently, they were cold and apathetic like robots or even worse. This moment send chills through all my body for the frightful and unbearable thought, that maybe the world that Oliver describes, is not as imaginary as it may seem.

In this dystopian world love has been deemed a deadly disease called delirium or amor deliria nervosa. It is mandatory the cure for love, which everyone must receive upon turning 18. The idea behind the cure is to eliminate intense emotions and romantic feelings to achieve a more stable and safe society. I found Delirium to be a mixture of The Hunger Games and Matched. The premise of Delirium is that this particular dystopian society sees love (or amor deliria nervosa) as a disease that needs to be cured by an operation on the brain. Lena, our protagonist, is nearly 18 years old (the age requirement for having the operation) and is nervous yet excited about her upcoming “procedure” - until she meets Alex. Last, but not least, the motorcycle. While I do love me some hero riding in on a white horse or, in place of that, a shiny motorcycle, there needs to be at least a bit of dialogue on how this happened. How about, "Where did you get this?" shouted over the sound of the engine with, "Stole it!" as a reply. At least give me this much or earlier in the book tell me he has a motorcyle. This came out of nowhere, almost a deus ex machina or, in this case, deus ex motorcycle.