"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."
Imagine a time, not too long from now, when the fine people of America through scientific research discover that love, passionate emotion, romance, is the root of all evil. Come on, haven't you thought that once or twice in your lifetime, when your heart has been broken and you're on your third pint of Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream? What, was that just me? Oh, ok, I digress...
Amor deleria nervosa... or love, true love.
It is a disease, eradicated by the government of the United States, upon your 18th birthday, you have the "procedure" and then you live blandly ever after. Not only have they eradicated the scourge of love, but there is a nifty little handbook to live by, the Book of Shhh (Safety Health and Happiness Handbook). Delirium is sprinkled at the beginning of each chapter with a passage or quotation from this book, these words giving an interesting view into how something like this could become real.
It all begins, in Portland, Maine, as Lena (Magdalena) is having her evaluation to determine her educational and marital path. Cows break in, mayhem ensues, and then she sees Alex, he is your typical bad boy YA hunk, who is layered of course. Lena finds out he's cured, so he's safe, and damn he's dreamy. The book takes you through their relationship on a very visceral level, twists, turns and surprises, definitely not formulaic.
This book could easily be written off as another YA book, riding on the dystopian coat tails of the Hunger Games, but in doing so you would miss an engaging and enchanting opportunity. Lauren Oliver crafts a layered tale and it keeps you turning pages, or pressing that little arrow button, with little regard to anything else going on in your life.
Lena lives with her aunt and uncle, her mother, an Invalid, committed suicide as several attempts at "curing" her proved unsuccessful. Lena's older sister Rachel is cured, and lives a seemingly contented life, but Lena remembers her mom and her reckless abandon and love for life. Which way is a truer path? Is she destined to be cured or is she a sympathizer? Or do either of those labels really matter.
Although the start is slow the book quickly grabs you and holds you to the bitter end and then leaves you longing for the sequel, Pandemonium.
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