Delirium Trilogy

Intrigued by her previous novel Before I Fall, (see blog post for more details) I opted to try reading Lauren Oliver's Delirium trilogy.  I read the summary and was like - jeesh I don't know about this.  The premise is society has turned into a dystopia on the idea that love, medically referred to as amor deliria nervosa is a disease.  That love is what created everyone's problems.  Love creates irrational actions and causes hurt feelings for those that had love and also for those that didn't.  The solution for this disease, once you reach 18 you'd undergo a procedure to become cured.  There is a resistance, people who have succumbed to deliria are willing to fight to the death to maintain it.  Even if they are "sick" and therefore don't know any better, they are dealt with harshly. 

At this point is anyone else wondering why in the heck I would read this?  The plot sounds so juvenille (even if it is for young adults) and unrealistic.  Well let me tell you, I too doubted, but I'll always give a book a chance.  And soon I found myself sucked in.  Yea the action keeps it intriguing, but the innocence of the characters and the development of love between them (you probably saw that coming a mile away) is what kept me spell bound.

Of course there is some predictability to the plots of the 3 books, wouldn't be very good if you were rooting for the protagonists and kept being let down.  But there is definitely some unexpected surprises thrown in.  Boy do I want to tell you, but I won't ruin it.  That'd be cruel.  All I gotta say is I'm glad that with each book ending I had the next one ready to go.

So even if you think finding a cure for love is a little outlandish, there is definite truth behind the functionality of the dystopia she created.  The author talks about texts that have been altered or banned to promote the idea that love is a sickness.  But of course the moral of the story, besides the importance of freedom and choice, is that although love or lack there of can cause unhappiness, it also is the best part of life. 

So maybe you're a skeptic like me, but I would give these books a 3.5 star out of 5.  Although intended for young adults, it brought me back to the stirrings of love.  What it feels like to have a crush, to get excited by that single touch or look, and be completely over the moon crazy.  These are stories of young love, the love you get through friendship.  And the love that makes your heart soar, can't stop smiling, you'd do anything to make them happy kind of love.  And that's something we all can appreciate.