I didn’t have high hopes for Delirium. The first descriptions of Lena Haloway, the main character, emphasize how absolutely ordinary she is—she’s not pretty, not ugly, not smart, not dumb, not particularly funny… ”Oh no,” I thought, “Not another Bella Swan.”
I’m happy to admit that I was completely and utterly wrong about Lena, and about Delirium as a whole. Where Bella begins as a blank slate and never really develops (Twilight fans, feel free to direct hate mail to graceb@thelibrary.org), Lena’s ordinariness at the beginning of the book serves as a contrast to the dramatic changes she experiences over the course of this powerful teen novel.
In an unspecified dystopian future, love is classified as a curable disease. The world is safer and better now that amor deliria nervosa has been eliminated. Well, almost eliminated. Some people still get infected, and there are rumors that outside the electrified fences, whole populations of uncured Invalids live in the forest. But Lena can’t wait to get the cure when she turns 18 and to finally be safe from the fatal disease with its terrifying symptoms of sweaty palms, delusional thinking, obsession, and finally, death. Until she meets Alex, that is…
I won’t spoil the plot for you here. For me, what elevated the book from the level of an interesting story to a satisfying novel were the carefully imagined details. The descriptions of love as a progressive disease are hilarious, clever, and macabre. Oliver has taken care to imagine the everyday experience of a society where no one dares to utter the word “love.” One of the best moments in the book occurs when a character reads Elizabeth Barret Browning’s famous Sonnet 43 aloud. I’d always thought of it as a cheesy poem, but I almost teared up on seeing those old familiar lines. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways./ I love thee to the depth and breadth and height/ My soul can reach…/ I love thee to the level of everyday’s/ most quiet need…”
In a YA field saturated with sappy depictions of forbidden love, Delirium stands out. Lauren Oliver has captured the overwhelming feelings of first love by making it as shocking for the reader as it is for the characters. This is a YA novel I’d recommend to even the most jaded adults.
Click on the cover or here to reserve a copy of the book.
Book review by Grace.
Posts
