We experience this world through the eyes of seventeen year old Lena. Her fear and nervousness about the procedure are only trumped by her eagerness to be cured before the disease inevitably infects her the way it did her mother. She observes her neighbors home vandalized because they are suspected of being sympathizers to rumored `Invalids' who reject the cure, the detached parents who never bond with their children and appear not to care when their child is hurt right in front of them, the sister who was dragged screaming from a secret boyfriend to the clinic to be `cured' and return later serene and calm with the telltale triangular scar behind her ear. The most horrifying thing about this society is that no one fights back. Even Lena who witnesses some of the atrocities firsthand has been so indoctrinated by the government that she accepts this is the only way to stay safe. She does not come easily to the other side, and it's that painful, heartbreaking, utterly real journey that has so engrained Delirum into my mind.

I loved parts of this book, for instance, the way Lena's society has adapted childhood rhymes and Christian Bible stories to show the evils of love. I also loved the writing style of this book. Lauren Oliver's writing flows just as it did in Before I Fall, and is just as beautiful. Also, the characters of this book were believable and well crafted. I found it easy to empathize with Lena as she finds loves for the first time, and realizes there is an alternative to the love-less future offered to her by society. I loved Hanna and Alex too. Hanna is carefree and reckless, breaking the rules to party and dance before her inevitable surgery. Alex is Lena's love interest, a kind and gentle boy with a mysterious past. I also really liked Lena's mom in the flashbacks. I loved the scene where she closes the blinds and dances with her daughters.---See my full review here: http://throughthebookvine.blogspot.com/2011/03/delirium.html

Delirium is a lot like Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, because there is a socially and politically mandated surgery that everyone undergoes. In both stories a piece of the personality is removed from citizens to maintain order and fix some perceived flaw in human nature. I find it interesting that in Uglies they remove intelligence and heighten emotion and in Delirium they remove feeling to focus on logic. Hyper sexuality vs. repressed sexuality but equally dystopian! Both alterations are disguised as prevention of heartbreak and loneliness but result in an irresponsible and dysfunctional population ruled by a totalitarian government.