Delirium (Delirium, #1) in And So It Begins Reading Challenge

Jun 09, 2010 Nicole rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian, signed-by-the-author

3.5 stars

I guess I was expecting more. It was good, but definitely not even close to the best dystopian novels I've read so far. I loved Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall, and maybe the fact that this was nothing like that made me not get as into it.

I felt myself skipping a lot of words. Some of her musings were unnecessary and didn't enlighten me in the least. And metaphors galore! I get that you're trying to paint a vivid image, but at some point you have to understand that we get it.

I did like it ...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Paula Phillips rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Amor deliria nervosa. The disease of love , In a world sixty years into the future. It has been acknowledged that love is the root of all evil and a disease that we can all do without. All residents at the age of 18 must undertake an evaluation and be cured with an injection from this thing called Love. Once injected , you will be matched with your perfect partner whom after college you shall marry and have children. It is driven into the brains of all who live in this world from an early age th ...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Zey rated it liked it · review of another edition

It has been months since I finished reading Delirium, I wanted to write a review about this book right after that heartbreaking ending, but decided not to because I was so overwhelmed with my murderous feelings, my review would have instead became a death threat to Lauren Oliver. No kidding.

You might think I hate Lauren just because not so many months ago, I was planning to hunt her just to give her a big slap on the face, but you're wrong. I LOVE her! I think she's one of the most brilliant, cr It has been months since I finished reading Delirium, I wanted to write a review about this book right after that heartbreaking ending, but decided not to because I was so overwhelmed with my murderous feelings, my review would have instead became a death threat to Lauren Oliver. No kidding.

You might think I hate Lauren just because not so many months ago, I was planning to hunt her just to give her a big slap on the face, but you're wrong. I LOVE her! I think she's one of the most brilliant, creative, and talented authors today. There's no denying it, Lauren Oliver can write, and she's damn good at it. She writes in an almost poetic way, the words are lyrical, it's beautiful and heartwarming. The tone of Delirium reminds me of Audrey Niffeneger's The time traveler's wife. I noticed the two authors have the same writing style.

In Delirium, Oliver wrote about a world in which love is considered as a deadly disease, and worst, illegal. Everyone must undergo a procedure that will "cure" them at the age of eighteen. After the cure, they will be free from love, forever. Horrifying, right? But not to Lena, the main protagonist of the story. She couldn't wait to be cured and get rid of the disease.. Well, that was before she met Alex, and fell in love with him.

I love this book, I really do. I've read about other negative reviews, saying that the world Oliver created is not believable and impossible to happen in real life. I agree, but I think, that's the genius about this book. Although at the back of my mind, I knew our society will never ever evolve into what Lena's society has become, the book managed to let me forget about reality and immersed to the world of Lena. I think the quotes, songs and excerpts from the Book of Shhh at the beginning of each chapter helped a lot in terms of world building.

Now with the characters, I love how each of them is essential to the story, even the minor characters have depth and uniqueness in them.

Let's start with Lena. I must admit I despised her at the beginning of the story. She was whiny, selfish and insecure. But as the story progressed, she slowly crept into my heart and I found myself relating to her. I give my commendation to Lauren Oliver for Lena's character development. The change in Lena did not just happens in a flick of a finger, or in a blink of an eye. Her character developed slowly, gradually and believably... And unlike what others are saying, it's not just because she found a man, it's because she discovered what love really is all about.

Speaking of man, Alex, oh, Alex. You do know how much I love you right? Alex, my gorgeous, sweet Alex. *swoon.
I'm so glad Lauren Oliver did not make you like those abusive, asshole and good for nothing love interests which seem to be so popular in YA books today.
Come on! if I am going to break all the rules for a guy, he better be worth it! And Alex is so so worth it! Is it obvious that I am head over heels inlove with Alex? No? Well, I'm telling you, I am!
But I also have a problem with him... It's just that I feel like he's kind of abstract, the way Lauren Oliver wrote about him feels like he's not a real person. I can't put it into words, but there's something missing with Alex's characterization. So there goes my one star.

And then there's Hannah, also one of my favorite characters in the book, (that was before Oliver srewed her up in her Novella), She's Lena's bestfriend. Between the two of them, Hannah is the prettier, wealthier, more fun and more rebellious girl. So you really can't blame Lena for being an insecure biatch at the beginning.
And then there's sweet little, Grace, which I think deserves to be in the next books due to the fact that she's stronger and wiser than almost all the characters combined.

It's obvious that I love this book so you might be wondering why I only gave it 3 stars. Well, the answer is because I find the pacing of this book excruciatingly slow. It feels like Lauren Oliver wanted to prove to us how good she is at writing by describing every single thing/place/weather/emotion in a dramatic way in every f*cking page. Sure, it's nice and creative, but eventually, I grew tired of the words and just wanted to see some action. I felt like shouting: "I know you're a good writer, Lauren Oliver, so please stop showing off and proceed with the story, damn you!!!"

But over all, this series is very promising and is worth the dime spent on it. It is touching, thought-provoking and a real page turner. Though I must warn you that the ending will surely make you cry for weeks (or maybe, it's just me because I'm a sucker for tragic endings).

Ahhh.. That ending! The reason why I wanted to punch Lauren Oliver in the gut! How could she be so cruel? Didn't she know I went into a one week depression just because she killed one of my favorite character? I felt so pathetic, mourning for the death of a FICTIONAL character! But then, I've moved on so I guess, we're friends again. :) ...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Ezmirelda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, arc, books-i-own, 2011, dystopian

http://parafantasy.blogspot.com/2011/...

I would have given these book 4 stars if the ending didn’t leave me so utterly confused. There’s usually at least one small thread of hope left after you read a dystopian novel but for this book I saw none at all. It may be just me but I think that defeats the purpose of a dystopian novel.

But overall the book was amazing! This is the type of dystopian novel where the person living in the dystopian world begins to see the corruption of their seemingly perf ...more

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Mar 17, 2011 CrystalBookSnob rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-favorite-reads, reviewd

Lena lives in a world where people believe that love is a disease. They believe that it is responsible for crime, poverty, psychosis and any other crazy thing that you can think of. This dystopian society is strictly limited to only the essentials: working, creating more children with an approved match and raising those children to live the same kind of life. No one travels, no one reads classic literature anymore (torture!) and no one even has friends really. Life seems quite dull after the cur ...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Heather James rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I was lucky enough to be sent this amazing book for free by the publisher, and I am so pleased that I got the chance to read it. The idea is unique and gripping from beginning to end. I loved the characters and the way the plot unraveled and the cliff hanger ending had me downloading book 2 for my Kindle immediately.

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