Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Published in 2011. 441 pages.


I love young adult dystopian fiction, and this one - by the author of another book I loved, Before I Fall - is terrific!

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love. [Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data]

Delirium is definitely not your "same old" - and, like all good science fiction, it provides some thoughtful commentary on current society and the human condition. Consider, for example, the implications of these passages:

A little shock pulses through me. In all the seventeen years and eleven months of my life I have never, not once, thought of it that way. I've been so used to thinking of what the borders are keeping out that I haven't considered that they're also penning us in. [pages 228-229]

The branches above us form a canopy that reminds me of the vaulted ceiling of St. Paul's Cathedral, where I used to sit in Sunday school to hear lectures about atoms and probabilities and God's order. [page 284]

They say the cure is about happiness, but I understand now that is isn't, and it never was. It's about fear: fear of pain, fear of hurt, fear, fear, fear - a blind animal existence, bumping between walls, shuffling between ever-narrowing hallways, terrified and dull and stupid. ... I know that life isn't life if you just float through it. I know that the whole point - the only point - is to find the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse to let them go. [page 383]

I also found Oliver's writing to be beautiful as well as entertaining. Here are two passages I particularly liked:

Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you - sometimes I swear that just for a second time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever. [page 153]

I feel like I'm playing some giant video game, or trying to solve a really complicated math equation. One girl is trying to avoid forty raiding parties of between fifteen to twenty people each, spread out across a radius of seven miles. If she has to make it 2.7 miles through the center, what is the probability she will wake up tomorrow morning in a jail cell? Please feel free to round pi to 3.14. [page 210]

Tricia of Library Queue called Delirium "fast-paced, thought-provoking, [with] a great romantic angle." "Alex looks just like Zac Efron to me!" she said. (Tricia's full review is here.)

Joy of Thoughts of Joy found the dialogue to be "very YA-like," which she didn't like. She also didn't like the statements or quotes at the beginning of each chapter - which is actually something I really liked, giving me insight into the world in which Lena lives. Joy concluded, "While I didn't find it to be stellar in writing or plot, I did enjoy reading it, and that's a good thing." (Her full review is here.)

Penelope of The Reading Fever gushed about Delirium - despite having three gripes - in her detailed review. In conclusion, she said, "Read this if ... you are a romantic at heart, you don't believe love is a disease, and you want to really feel what you read." (Her full review is here.)

A discussion guide can be downloaded here. The sequel Pandemonium has an expected publication date of March 2012. Delirium has been optioned for a film by Fox 2000.

I highly recommend this one! (By the way, up next in the YA dystopian genre for me is Elana Johnson's Possession.)

2011.47

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

Published in 2008. 248 pages.


This 2011 Beehive Award nominee is a very compelling read! I basically read it in less than 24 hours.

Eli's father has feared a nuclear holocaust for years. Now it has finally come, and Eli and his family now must live in the protective compound that his father had built.

I feel like I know the characters of this post-apocalyptic-dystopian novel, and I was sobbing toward the end of the book. I highly recommend it to middle school students - both boys and girls - and to adults who enjoy this genre. I'm eager to read Bodeen's 2010 young adult sci-fi novel The Gardener.

Having completed this book, I qualify for
Level 2 of YA-D2!

From the peanut gallery: My 14-year-old book-loving daughter said, "Interesting and suspenseful. But it was kinda' disappointing because it wasn't what I expected it to be."

2010.79

The Declaration by Gemma Malley

Published in 2007. 301 pages.


My book-loving 14-year-old daughter had to read two dystopian novels over the summer for her freshman language arts class. Of the dozen titles on the list (which included Uglies, The Giver, and The Hunger Games), there were only three that she hadn't already read: Brave New World, 1984, and The Declaration. I recommended that she pick one of the two classics (both of which I read in high school or college) and then also read the young adult novel. That's what she did.

When I picked up The Declaration from the library for her, I read the first few pages and I was sucked right into the story. It took me a while to get back to the book, but I'm sure glad I did!

Surplus Anna committed an unforgivable crime.
She was born.

The year is 2140, and longevity drugs provide a fountain of youth for those who sign the Declaration and agree to not have children. Children, like Anna, born outside the Declaration are a worthless burden who must pay back society for their very existence. But when Anna meets Peter, who tells her that nobody should be considered a surplus, she starts to wonder what is true, what is right - and what she should do about it.

I love this passage:

Surplus meant unnecessary. Not required.

You couldn't be a Surplus if you were needed by someone else. You couldn't be a Surplus if you were loved.

This is my first book for YA-D2 and also on my Fall into Reading list. I'm eager to read the sequels to The Declaration: The Resistance and The Legacy.

From the peanut gallery: Because my daughter was required to keep a response journal during her reading to examine common themes, characters, plot elements, and quotes and then write a three- to five-page essay comparing the two novels, I think she was "burned out" on both books by the time school started at the end of August. Last night when I asked her what she thought of The Declaration, she told me that it is "not the most exciting book, but easier to read than Brave New World." In looking over her response journal, though, I see some good insights into what it means to be human, the power of love, and the value of family.

2010.69

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Published in 2005. 425 pages.


First Line: The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.

Why I Chose This Book: My daughter Jelly Bean had read this young adult novel and recommended it to me, so when I saw it on Faith's List in the "Something About Me" Challenge, I jumped at the chance to "have to" read it. More recently I put Scott Westerfeld on my preliminary list for the Unread Authors Challenge, so reading this book counts "double."

What I Thought of This Book: This was a great read! Compelling and quick-moving, I had fun with this tale of a dystopian society. At the same time, I appreciated so much its message about beauty and body image - a particularly good topic for teens to think about.

For More Information: Scott Westerfeld's website is here. I particularly enjoyed the transcript of an interview he did about Uglies (find it here).

What Is Next: Uglies is the first in a trilogy - and it ends with a cliff hanger - so I've definitely got to read books two and three, Pretties and Specials. Jelly Bean also tells me that her favorite of Westerfeld's books is the Midnighters trilogy - so I'm going to have to put those on my to-be-read list as well.

FYI: As soon as I have time, I'll be posting about Uglies on both the Something About Me Challenge blog (click here) and the Unread Authors Challenge blog (click here) too.

2007.55