Delirium, Lauren Oliver

Delirium 

Lauren Oliver 

They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever. 

And I've always believed them.

Until now.

Now everything has changed.

Now, I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love.

Review and thoughts on Delirium

• It started off slow 
• I virtually stopped reading about a quarter of the way in, for some faster paced books with more kick in them
• It was poetic and lyrical
• I think that Lauren Oliver out of all other YA authors has the most beautiful writing, most beautiful style
• This book was incredibly different from Before I Fall--which is part of the reason I had a hard time reading it at first, as I did something I rarely do, compare an authors separate books.

Point One and Point Two

"It started off slow."

I think part of the reason I felt this book was slow because I kept comparing it to Lauren Oliver's first book, Before I Fall, though the two main characters are similar in some ways, Lean, the main character of Delirium is scared of everything, she is even more 'good-girl' than any other character in a book. Which made it a slow--dry read at first. At the beginning she seemed to the stereotypical good girl--recognized herself as plain, (didn't I read this book already?), thought she her friend was more beautiful than her, only truly felt beautiful when she had a boyfriend (which I can not even put into words how much I dislike that--and how wrong that is). It started off slow, as I said, I virtually, stopped reading it--I'd been reading it for a couple months, which to me is like three years for a regular person. But I picked it up again when I was able to focus on it better and was finished it in about two days.

Point three and four

"It was poetic and lyrical, Lauren Oliver's writing is beautiful."

I said that I think she may have the most beautiful writing out of all YA authors--Maggie Stiefvater is the only one I can see that would challenge that--(please share with me any others that you believe could rival this statement). Below I shall attempt to prove it to you. 

“Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That's what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side.” 

“I know that the whole point—the only point—is to find the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse to let them go.” 

Not only is her writing almost poetic, but it is powerful. 

Point Five

"It wasn't like Before I Fall, 

That isn't actually a bad thing--it was just different, being a reader of series, I'm used to mashing books together, I was expecting something along the lines of Before I fall, but was surprised by how different they are. Though the main characters do show some familiar characteristics, they are very different.

This book was quite a read--it was really good. It is very much a story of how Lena changes and grows, and eventually lets go of fear. I love that love is portrayed as both evil and miraculous in this book. How Lena's behavior after she's infected is exactly as the Book of Shhh describes. This really was an amazing book. I really liked it. I am so anxious to read the second, what happens after that ending! What happens to Hana!!?? What happens to Lena?

I need to get the next book in this series. ASAP.