Delirium by Lauren Oliver [Review]

Delirium is a dystopian that fails at being a dystopian. Despite this, and despite its slow start, it manages to be a rather sweet romantic tale with a tragic sting in its tail.

First off, the premise. Love is a disease, amor deliria nervosa, and is banned both socially and physically by means of a cure and legislation. Without even opening Delirium, I scoffed. Where could this sudden fear of love spring from in today's society and how could this fear get so big that love is actually forcibly stripped from humanity? As far as dystopians go, Delirium stood on shaky ground from the off-set.

The second issue Delirium suffers from with regard to a dystopian tone is that the world functions absolutely perfectly. Sure, people can't love or choose who they marry, where they work or live, and sure, there are a few niggling details showing an unstable world (very few cars, rationed electricity), but overall the world functions. It gets by, people aren't suffering (so long as they don't fall in love or sympathize with those in love) and actually, when Lena (our MC) talks about her life, the citizens of Portland come across as rather privileged.

They celebrate national holidays all Americans will recognize, they have ice cream parlors, hang out at the beach and park, have the same freedom as most teenagers (if you ignore the looming threat of the regulators). In fact, there seems to be no sense of danger hanging over Portland, no signs of a broken society, no hallmarks of a dystopian world. For a world without love, it gets by quite nicely with very little threats.

Granted, these are small details, but as they fall under the larger umbrella of world-building, they showcase how poorly thought out the premise was. Why is love, a feature that is more often associated with redemption than cruelty, taken away? How are there very few repercussions of a loveless world, especially when indifference (which all the cured adults have in abundance) can cause psychological and emotional damage? Removing love doesn't remove cruelty and the threat of being locked away in the Crypts, or executed, wouldn't keep everyone in line. This world makes little sense.

So no, removing love (or amor deliria nervosa) would not solve a whole country's problems and you can't convince me otherwise.

Delirium also suffers from a slow start. It is a dystopian romance and since the dystopian element is poorly executed, it needs romantic aspect really needs to sing in order to appeal to a wider audience. And yet it takes a long time for a romance and, consequentially, a plot to show up.

The first third of Delirium is dull and drab. It follows Lena Haloway as she counts down the days to her eighteenth birthday, the day she can undergo the cure. The narrative sticks with Lena as she goes through every day motions. Too much time is spent familiarizing the reader with this dystopian Portland and not enough time is spent laying down the foundations to the overarching plot. You could honestly skim the first few chapters and lose nothing from the overall story. There is very little driving Delirium forward, except perhaps Lena's best friend, Hana, acting out.

With regards to Lena as a main character, she starts out as the most wishy washy character known to YA literature. She is meek, with the low self-esteem inherent to most female leads in YA novels. She constantly puts herself down and lives in fear of contracting amor deliria nervosa, quite right too, when you examine her family history. The fearful side of Lena, though irritating, is a perfectly natural response to things that happened to her in the past, and a key element to the story later down the line, yet it swallows Lena whole so that she appears to have no personality.

In contrast, Hana is alive with vitality and curiosity, buzzing with rebellion and gutsy to boot. It says a lot about your lead when the reader is left wishing they were following the story of the side character rather than the actual narrator.

That said, I managed to connect with Lena whenever she spoke about her mother. The love she feels for her mother (the love she doesn't realise is there) makes her awaken and come alive. Lena really shines in those moments and when her love interest, Alex, is introduced properly, Lena makes great strides towards being this person all of the time. Yes, she starts off poorly characterized, but this means her growth (however small) is more pronounced. By the end of Delirium, Lena is towering, courageous and fierce, and her transition marks the shift of Delirium from drab to punchy.

The second half of Delirium is where all the action lays, and how it earned a three star rating from me. The romance that blossoms between Lena and Alex is sweet. Alex instigates change in Lena's heart, showing her the kind of person she could be in a world where love is not outlawed. He broadens her mind and together they make a great couple. As Delirium follows them, its pace quickens and becomes punchier. Events begin to occur, one after the other, like dominoes toppling and a threat finally emerges.

It takes too long for a goal to present itself in Delirium, but once it does, the whole tone of the story changes. The second half is definitely more enjoyable, especially if you ignore the fact it is meant to be built on a dystopian foundation and focus on the romance. Delirium offers a few twists towards its final chapters (one that is emotionally powerful, if not a little ridiculous) and becomes utterly compelling.

All in all, Delirium proved itself to be an entertaining, enjoyable read. If you ignore the fact its dystopian elements are far-fetched and poorly presented, you will get more out of the romance thread. Just remember not to take it too seriously.

3/5 stars