Required Reading: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Delirium is a dystopian novel set in Portland in the future after the United States has closed all of its borders.  Scientists have found a cure for a dreaded disease: amor deliria nervosa or love. Amor deliria nervosa has a number of unpleasant symptoms, but ultimately, it always ends in death. Thankfully, at eighteen, all US citizens are cured. Prior to the cure, each person is submitted to an evaluation and then given a list of five possible matches.  Those who score well can attend university; others go right to work.  Eventually, each person is married to one of the potential matches. Married couples are told how many children to have.  Portland, like all other cities, is surrounded by an electrified fence and guarded at all times so that the Invalids who live in the Wilds outside the cities cannot get in the cities. Really, all of the Wilds and the dangerous Invalids were destroyed in the Blitz, and the fences and guards are just an extra precaution. All citizens are required to carry identification that may be checked at any time. Uncureds have a curfew of 9 PM.  Regulators police the streets. Anyone caught out after curfew is subject to punishment.  Anyone suspected of being a sympathizer or rebel can be sent to the Crypts or executed.  The government holds random raids to check for sympathizers.  Only government approved music and reading is allowed.  Citizens are to mold their lives after the Safety, Health, and Happiness Handbook, or the Book of Shhh. All of these rules are for the protection of the people.  After the cure, there is no love and, therefore, no pain or regret.  Life is better.  One can be happy.

This is the world Lena is living in.  At seventeen and a senior in high school, Lena is preparing for her evaluations and eventual cure.  Lena knows in the danger of amor deliria nervosa.  It killed her mother who, after three attempts at the cure were unsuccessful, committed suicide.  Lena is terrified that she is like her mother and anxiously awaits the date of her cure.  She practices for her evaluation so that she can supply all of the correct answers and score well.  She is appalled by her best friend Hana's some what rebellious attitude about the evaluations and procedures.  Still, at the evaluation, some of Hana's practiced answers come out all wrong: she says her favorite color is gray and that Romeo and Juliet, a cautionary tale, is beautiful.  She knows that she is failing miserably at her evaluation, but she can't seem to stop herself.  As luck would have it, though, Lena's evaluation is interrupted by a stampede of cows, apparently arranged by a rebel groups of Invalids and sympathizers.  All of the evaluations will be repeated, and Lena will get a chance to redeem herself.

The only problem is that, after the stampede, everything has changed for Lena.  During the chaos, Lena caught sight of a handsome young man watching the bizarre incident and laughing.  Lena is immediately intrigued by this boy. At the same time, Lena's friend Hana is becoming involved in dangerous behavior, sneaking out after curfew to listen to forbidden music.  Lena, worried for her friend's safety, but also curious, attends one of the parties and meets the mystery boy. His name is Alex, and he is cured, but it isn't long before Lena clearly begins developing feelings for him.  Soon enough, the once frightened, obedient Lena is breaking all the rules to be with Alex.  As Lena travels down this dangerous path of rebellion, she begins to learn some truths that have long been hidden from her not only by the government, but by her own family as well.  Most importantly, though, she learns that Alex really isn't cured, nor is he a citizen of Portland.  Alex is an Invalid. His cure scars are faked, as is his identity.  The Wilds are real, as he shows Lena one night, and there are many more Invalids and sympathizers than the government would like anyone to know.  Quickly, everything Lena has been taught about the world she lives in begins to crumble, and she sees her world for what is really is: a prison.  As her cure moves ever closer, Lena decides to run away with Alex to the Wilds, but their plans go horribly wrong when they are caught by regulators before they can make their escape.  Alex escapes, but Lena is taken home where she will be kept hostage until her procedure.  In the end, Alex rescues her but ends up making the ultimate sacrifice for her safety and freedom and becoming a Christ-figure in the novel, a bringer of truth and salvation.

Delirium is my favorite of the required readings so far.  The story grabbed me from the start, but by the last half of the novel, I could not put it down.  I became quickly invested in Lena as a character and wanted desperately for she and Alex to make it.  I was also intrigued by other characters, such as Lena's best friend Hana and her cousin Grace. I found Hana's desire for rebellion and freedom contrasted to her ultimate acceptance of her fate and the cure intriguing as it symbolized the ultimate power of the society to control its citizens.  Grace's silent rebellion and amazing depth of understanding at a young age gave me, as it did Lena, a hope for the future.  The concept, too, like so many dystopian novels, is gripping in its believability.  How hard would it be for our world to turn into the world of Delirium?  Not nearly hard enough.  With the violence in our world today, wouldn't a cure for such pain and suffering really be  a blessing?  Sadly, it probably wouldn't take much to convince people of this lie.  A world with no war and very little violence and crime might be so tempting that giving up freedom wouldn't be too big a sacrifice. Because I became so invested in this world and its characters, I was bit disappointed at the end.  I wanted a happy ending, and I didn't get it.  But maybe that it for the best because it is real.  I'm hopeful, too, that Oliver will write a follow up to Delirium.  She left a number of loose ends that could lead into a sequel:  the fates of Lena, her mother, Grace, Hana, and maybe even Alex (isn't it ridiculous that I can't completely give up my hope for a happy ending for those two?  Even despite the references to Romeo and Juliet that foreshadowed a less than happy ending all along the way?).

References

Oliver, L. (2011). Delirium. New York: Harper.