Book review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks (4 Aug 2011)
Source: Purchased
Available: Amazon


Publisher Synopsis:
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 suffocated by a lie.

There was a time when love was the most important thing in the world. People would go to the end of the earth to find it. They would tell lies for it. Even kill for it.

Then, at last, they found the cure.

I was first attracted to Delirium by the title and was compelled to buy it when I read the blurb. I was instantly struck by the concept of love being a disease, and even more so that it was a curable disease. There have certainly been times in my life when I wished that there was a cure for love sickness, but to live in a world which is completely devoid of any love is a very alien concept to me. The book is divided between those people who live in a loveless world and those who refuse to accept a life without love and choose instead to live in The Wild.
I absolutely loved Delirium. I was swept along by the fast-paced plot and complex characters. Lena is the main character in Delirium. She has accepted that when she turns eighteen years of age that she will be injected against love and will marry a man who has been chosen for her as a suitable match based on academic, social and psychological tests. Lena is almost looking forward to the safe, predictable world that lies ahead of her, until she meets Alex, a boy from the wilderness. They fall madly in love and their love story is very believable and touching.
Delirium is a beautifully written and evocative book. The cliffhanger at the end left me wanting more. I didn’t want the story to end and I was thrilled to discover that it is the first book in a trilogy. I look forward to reading more works by Lauren Oliver.