I just love the Dystopian genre and Delirium fits the bill perfectly. PERFECTLY. It is overflowing with imagery, mixes the old and the new, and leaves you perhaps questioning your entire belief system, maybe even your existence. Delirium takes place in the not-so-distant future, where government oppression is in full swing. Scientists have found a "cure" for Love, because it's believed Love, aka amor deliria nervosa, is the root cause for every bad thing that has happened in our past. Wars have been waged, religions have been created, or destroyed, hearts broken, all in the name of Love. In Delirium, citizens exist in a fog after their 18th birthday, cured of Love, the deliria, to maintain structure, peace and harmony. The government, seemingly omniscient, chooses when you will have the procedure, what you will study in college, whom you will marry and even how many children you will have. They are the puppeteers and their citizens the puppets. And because parents are normally cured, their children grow up without love and affection, something I think I would find lonely. The only uncureds are the children, whom are taught not to show too much affection, laugh, or cry. Schools are segregated by gender. This is the ultimate control: a world without love means you've got no one to resist you because no one feels passionate enough to even try. The government successfully cures Love and through that, Hate, but they do not cure indifference, the scariest of them all. No, in fact the breed it. But no dystopian story is complete without a faction of resistors, those who oppose the government's agenda. While Delirium has resistors, more than we even know about, the story doesn't tell much of them, at least in this first book. Delirium is told from the 1st-person, through the eyes of Lena, an orphan citizen living with her aunt, uncle and cousins. We get to see her struggles to fit in, her fervent belief in the cure and the effects of the "disease" as she meets someone who allows her true self to shine through. Seemingly a puppet, her belief is shaken to the core and suddenly, that thin veil is lifted from her eyes. She finally sees, she finally feels. She finally Loves. As if she's Loved her whole life and didn't realize it until now.Lauren Oliver writes it perfectly...I simply cannot find any criticisms. I Loved this book and I cannot wait to read the next one.
