Book Review: Delirium

I'm definitely not embarrassed to tell you that I got totally swept up in the Hunger Games pandemonium of last year. I bought the books on my Kindle when they went on sale and absolutely devoured them, and have been pretty glum since I finished them. Yes, I have a HG-shaped hole in my heart. Cue Delirium, by Lauren Oliver.

I first discovered this book, after reading Danielle's post, where she mentioned some of her favorite dystopic novels, like A Wrinkle In Time (my absolute favorite childhood series) and The Handmaid's Tale. I downloaded the book onto my Kindle a while ago, but for some reason I never started reading it until this past Saturday when I was feeling really sick. Turns out, I had the flu, and subsequently I have spent the past three days lying in the bath and reading this book and the others in its trilogy. Ahhh bliss.

The story is set in the future in Portland, Maine, where everyone has been educated since birth to regard the feelings and symptoms of love as a disease (delirium). Lena, a seventeen year old girl, has spent her whole life dreading the disease and awaiting the "cure" which will happen on her eighteenth birthday, when she will no longer be in danger of falling in love. Right before her eighteenth birthday, however, she meets Alex and everything she thought she knew about love changes.

I liked this book for a whole variety of reasons. I thought the storyline was interesting and it certainly held my interest - to the point where I had to buy the other two books in the series straight away. I also loved her descriptions of first love, and the feelings associated with that, when everything is new and wonderful and beautiful. I would certainly recommend reading this book, especially if you catch this awful strain of the flu that is going around - it makes the time pass much more quickly!

- H