Yes. I know. Maine
before Kentucky or Louisiana? What is this chick doing? I was third on the
wait list for Delirium and then it magically
arrived for me earlier than expected. There is still a wait list for it, so I
had to read it very quickly. Don’t worry, I will finish the other two. Unfortunately,
I do have other books requiring my attention before I can even start those. But
for now, onto Maine!
Synopsis via goodreads. Ninety-five
days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want
to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while
I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn’t touched me yet. Still, I worry.
They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of
all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.
My own synopsis: Lena (short for
Magdalena) lives in a world where lovesick is not just metaphorical; it’s a physical
ailment. The government of the United States has declared love a disease and
blames it on the current, desolate situation. Scientists; however, have
developed “the cure” which will render humans over the age of 18 docile and
detached from the disease’s influence. No more crazy romance and no more pain. Children
are raised to believe that Love is contagious and lethal. Lena is close to 17
and is ready for “the cure.” That is until she meets Alex who then shows her a
different way…yadda, yadda, yadda. Come on people. You knew where this was
going.
Oh YA dystopia. We meet again. This is the fifth one I have read this
summer. In my personal layman opinion, the allure of the dystopian novel is the
world that the author creates for the reader. A world in which, as the reader,
we feel could exist or even currently exists in some respect. The corrupt
government manipulating its people to become mindless drones all in the name of
peace is prominent in these plots. It also feels rather relevant to our
situation now-in-days. In dystopia, not only do we fall in love with a setting
like Panem (Hunger Games), but we
also fall in love with a hero/heroine. The problem that I, Ryn the Librarian, have
with Delirium is my inability to
connect with the world Oliver created.
The book felt formulaic. Girl lives in dystopia. Girl falls in love
with the “wrong” boy. Girl learns that world isn’t what it seems. Girl
reluctantly has to save the public from this dystopia. Pretty much like any other YA series out there
right now.
The other problem that I simply could not get past, was the concept of
love as an ACTUAL disease needing a cure. Love is already used pretty
poetically and thematic in books. The fact that Oliver is using love in the physical
sense is bold, but in the end felt too silly and cheesy for me to enjoy. On the
one hand, this fictional society felt like an exaggeration/commentary of
prudish societies of the past and I found I could like it. On the other hand, I
had difficulties getting through the premise of Love as a disease and it needed
to be cured. This was the exact same problem I had with the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. Yep,
I never finished Uglies because there
are some concepts that Ryn the Librarian just can’t get through.
I have to remember that this book is not for me or my age demographic,
it is for teens. If this were 1998-2005, I probably would have eaten this
series up in a heartbeat. As an adult; however, I spent most of the book either
snickering at the overdramatic declarations of love or rolling my eyes at the
stages of amor deliria nervosa (the
medical term for the love disease). I read portions out loud to my husband and
we both roared with laughter. Again, Delirium is not for late twenty-somethings.
Also, I have to remember that formulaic works for a lot of readers. If
you find a series or author that you love, you want to read similar titles. The
public loved Hunger Games, so now
there are tons of Hunger Games-esque
series. It was the same thing with Twilight
and even Harry Potter before that. I know
I have tried many different genres for myself and I know what I like in my
books. It does tend to look similar over time.
If I had to rate this book out of 5 stars, I would say 3.5 to 4. There
were aspects I liked about this book, but I could not suspend disbelief long
enough to enjoy it. No matter how I feel, teens love this series. If you are a
YA Librarian, you better get it for your collection. Just remember that doesn’t
mean you have to read it.
33 more books to go!
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