Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: Harper Teen
Released: February 1, 2011
Pages: 441
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Romance
Source: Bookshelf
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn't understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she'll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.
But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.
Every girl grows up waiting until the moment when she falls in love for the first time. For some, it's the first time one lays eyes upon him from across the room. For others, it takes years to develop that sense of loyalty. Our dreams explode with the possibilities and our pillows are stained with our tears. Imagine waking up one day to never being capable of those feelings ever again. For some who have dealt with the grief of losing a loved one, that might be the ideal way to live out their lives. But for the rest of us who cling on to our heartstrings, that seems like a terrible loss of emotions.
Lena has grown to accept that love is a disease that must be treated before it attacks. Schools taught that life with love is disastrous and cruel, no way for a reasonable adult to live. Take out love and you have a world of order where no one risks anything for such a feeling.
It is an interesting idea that love can be cured and I was pleased with how well Oliver thought the deliria through in detail. So many authors have incredible ideas, and then throw the book to shambles when it is not thought out well enough to believe in the possibilities. The problem I had, was the repetitiveness of the explanations. It seemed to drown out the excitement of the storyline and I got lost...and bored...with the book. The beginning was fast-paced, the ending marvelous, the middle slow, slow, slow.
I did like how well the "cured" characters were portrayed: harsh, unyielding to emotions, distant. I really did not want the cure after seeing the relationships between parent and child. It made me sick thinking that was the "normal way". I had a hard time reading it because I see it so often in my students' eyes. The desire for love from their families.
In all, I would recommend this as a quick read. I don't know that I will read the other two books in the series. To those of you who have read the sequels, what do you think?
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