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 governments 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.
I read this book back in November and I started this blog post when I finished it but it has just been sitting there waiting for me to decide what to say. Then a couple days ago I tried going back to finish this and STILL wasn't sure what I wanted to say.
I wanted to LOVE this book like I loved Before I Fall. The writing was beautiful and amazing and the premise was intriguing and I really liked seeing Lena go good girl gone rebel. Then there's the "but." There always is, isn't there?
Then earlier this morning I logged onto Twitter and as I was catching up on my feed, I saw Carolina Valdez Miller's link to her Bookanista's Review of Delirium. When I started reading it all I wanted to do was shout "YES, THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I FELT!" So instead of sitting here struggling to find the perfect words to describe what I thought, I'll just link you to her blog because she says it much more eloquently and coherently than I probably could.
Have you read Delirium? Is there a book that you've read recently that you liked but it wasn't quite what you expected?
Dang, I'm super flattered!! Thank you so much. This was honestly a really tough book to review. I knew it was good, I knew it was something that tugged at me, even partway through, but I was struggling to understand why I couldn't pull my thoughts together on it. And then I realized I was going into it all wrong, that the way it was being marketed (and sometimes even reviewed) had led me to believe it would be this fast-paced, typical sort of dystopian. Before I Fall isn't easy to classify either (magical realism? Paranormal?), but you sort of knew what to expect. Delirium is clearly a dystopian, but it doesn't have all the elements of a dystopian--yet it's still a beautiful book. I wonder if Oliver would have been able to sell this as her first book, to be honest. Until a novelist establishes herself, publishers seem to want books that are more easily categorized (and thus more easily marketed).
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the mention! :D
It really was. Seeing it in all it's shinyness in the store the other day reminded me I hadn't reviewed it and while I was standing there looking at it, I STILL couldn't come up with more than "I liked it..but I didn't, but I really did." Let's face it, that would NOT have been the best review lol.
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head when you started talking about how it was marketed. I was totally expecting a fast-paced, bear arms and fight for the right to love kind of book and when I finished reading it I honestly felt like there was something wrong with me because I didn't absolutely LOVE it.
However, this book HAS stayed with me. I read it what? 4 months ago? and I'm still thinking on it and trying to figure out how I feel about it and that's something.