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Delirium (Delirium #1) by Lauren Oliver

"Love is a disease, the deadliest of them all.  Unfortunately for Lena,"Amor Delirium Nervosa" runs in her blood. It drove her mother to suicide and Lena's terrified that she'll somehow fall victim to it as well. She's a good, law abiding citizen and simply lives her life. As fate would have it, with her procedure mere months away, she sees a boy, their eyes meet and the rest is history. Though it had a good, dystopian, The Giver vibe, Lena's painfully melodramatic naivete and Oliver's paragraph long descriptions were tedious." 

⭐️⭐️

Pros: The idea that love is a disease, "Amor Delirium Nervosa" was unique, a good hook/Oliver's truly built a world of her own with society twisted on its side, pure dystopia/Parts of the ending were surprising, which I appreciated. 

Cons: Lena is painfully, obnoxiously oblivious/I almost DNFed with Lena's reaction to Alex's big reveal because it just seemed very unbalanced. Lena shared a dark part of herself with him, so he was just returning the favor. I guess I'm too jaded for YA now 🤣/Oliver's descriptions spanned paragraphs and by the end I simply skimmed. 

Full Review: 

Love, "Amor Delirium Nervosa" is the most deadly of all diseases and Lena has lived her whole life believing that. She thinks it drove her mother to suicide, she watched as it tore her sister emotionally insane, with its mood swings and hysteia. It's the morning of Lena's Evaluation, unquivocally the most important day of her life and she's nervous. This test will decide who she'll be matched with before her Procedure. Who she'll spend the rest of her quiet, docile life with. Her Pair. Lena wants nothing more than peace and an escape from the fear of love, so, she's eager and ready for her Evaluation.  

Unfortunately, she doesn't do well under pressure and finds herself blurting out the first things that come to mind, some of which are definitely wrong answers. Luckily, she's "rescued" from her botched Evaluation with the timely stampede of a herd of Cows. 

It's a protest, staged by the "Invalids", those who have refused to have the Prcedure that would cure them of the disease of love. As Lena looks up to her would be rescuer she sees a boy with hair the color of fallen, autumn leaves and a smile thtat leaves her breathless. Their eyes meet and the rest is history. 

I probably should have stopped there but Oliver intrigued me with her intricate history of this dystopian Portland, Maine she'd created.  Passages from "The Book of Shh" and how she took works in our own world and turned them just a bit sideways.

I think, in the end, that's what kept me going but even after awhile, Lena's melodramatic shrieking and yearnings and paragraph long descriptions of YA "angst" almost overwhelmed it all. Halfway through I considered DNFing it because I just couldn't stand Lena anymore. Her naivete was truly painful. I appreciated the world that Oliver built but it wasn't enough to hook me to the series.  

Ended Here. 

Just before Lena (FMC) best friend, Hana goes in for her evaluation, she whispers that you can’t be truly happy unless you’ve been unhappy. 

Planting the seed. 

Lena is just about to bomb her evaluation when a herd of cattle stampedes through the room and she’s saved from failing the evaluation by a boy from the Wilds. People who love off the grid and refuse to get the cure. 

Enter the forbidden love interest. 

Oh of course it turns out that Alex is an invalid. He’s been a mole in the resistance for years. Lena is horrified and you know runs home but then she learns that Hannah is going to a rave and that night there’s a raid on the street and so Lena is like I have to rescue Hannah. 

She goes to the house and the raid happens like everyone’s attacked. Of course Alex is there and save her and they share a passionate kiss and even though she’s been bitten by a dog, he walks her home so I’m wondering how she’s gonna explain this one away.

I’m enjoying the story but it’s kind of like how oblivious can someone be like seriously.

I think the book lost my interest when she met with Alex on the beach and like verbally vomited out her story about her mother committing suicide so then when they swim out to the buoys and Alex admits that he’s an invalid like he’s not fixed and Lena is all like OMG and runs away, It just felt odd. It felt like when Rick killed Shane in TWD and Laurie is all like oh my God you killed Shane even though in the previous episode, she had just been like he needs to be killed. 

Hana finds out about Alex but she helps cover for Lena. Together they form a little team and cover for each other. It’s not until Lena agrees to cross the border into the Wilds that she starts to wonder if perhaps Love isn’t a do ease after all. Perhaps she’s been lied to her whole life. She’s just starting ask this 60% if the way through the book. Like, come on now. I think Lena’s painful obliviousness and naivety were unbearable. 

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