What if love were a disease? Would you
want to be cured?
Delirium by Lauren Oliver is set
in a future America in a society where love is considered a disease.
The government has developed a cure (essentially a lobotomy) which
stops people being able to feel love. The cure is compulsory when
people reach the age of 18.
Our heroine, Lena is looking forward to
her procedure. She is counting down the days, in fact. Lena believes
in the system, and thoroughly supports the idea of being cured. That
is, until she meets Alex and everything changes.
Delirium was a beautifully
written book and I really enjoyed it. I thought Lena was a great
character and I enjoyed spending time with her. I liked that she
seemed to actually have a decent head on her shoulders and didn't
rush off into stupid decisions. The book's pacing was good and I
never felt bored as I waited to see what was going to happen next.
I did have a few questions about the
premise of the book. I wanted to know how it worked with familial
love. Boys and girls are separated until they are “cured” so that
they don't fall in love, and this being a dystopia, anyone who isn't
straight is not welcome in the society; but I wanted to know how
people felt about love towards their family? It's said in the book
that parents don't love their children, because of the cure, but what
about siblings under the age of 18? Cousins? What about a child's
love for their parents? I don't think it's enough of a question to
stop me from enjoying the book, not by a long shot, but I'd love to
know what people think about how forms of love other than romantic
love exist (or not) in this world.
Delirium is part one of a
trilogy. I have read all three books now and I can recommend this
series completely!
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