Delirium

I really wanted to love this book.  It had all the makings of a great dystopian novel:  disease, fenced-in cities, rebels, forbidden romance, and unthinkable societal restrictions.  However, I only kinda liked it.  Ever since I couldn't put down the Hunger Games books and read all three of them in one weekend, I've been longing for another tale of dreadful new world order.  I don't know why, but this topic fascinates me.  Another favorite dystopian novel is Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale.  There's something horrifying and thrilling about the idea of people in our country of The United States being restricted and patrolled and ordered to believe in a society that shouldn't exist based on the freedoms instilled in us by our fore fathers.

In Delirium, the United States government has determined that love is a disease.  It is called "Amor Deliria Nervosa" and it's symptoms include (but are not limited to) stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia and hypertension.  There has also been discovered a cure for the disease.  This involves a surgical treatment which removes the part of your brain that feels love.  (I'm a little fuzzy on this detail, since the procedure is never really explained in full.)  Each resident of the United States is required to receive this treatment on or soon after their 18th birthday.  At that point they are matched with a mate and systematically married and forced to procreate.  They then live the rest of their lives in an emotionless daze.

The main character is Lena, a shy "nobody" as she calls herself.  She isn't beautiful like her best friend Hana, and neither does she share Hana's bold personality.  She ridicules Hana for attending secret music parties and abhors the idea of even talking to someone of the opposite sex.  Besides, it's technically illegal to associate yourself with a boy if both of you aren't "cured."  Basically, Lena is just afraid of everything.  One of those skittish types.  She can't wait until her 18th birthday in three months and when she will undergo her treatment to be cured from the possibility of ever catching the love disease.

See, this sounds like an awesome story right?  I mean, if you like this kind of thing, which I do.  I was super excited about this book!  Unfortunately, it just didn't follow through for me.  The book was extremely tedious and cluttered with flowery language and unnecessary pastoral descriptions.  Seriously?  This isn't an 18th century Gothic novel.  Come on!  Let's get to the action already!

I did manage to get through the whole book despite it's dullness because I still kinda wanted to see what would happen in the end.  The storyline was just intriguing enough to hold a thread of my interest.  But to be truthfully honest, if I didn't have a seven-hour train ride on which to read it, I probably wouldn't have finished.  Sorry,  it just wasn't the suspenseful, page-turner I was wishing it would be.  I miss The Hunger Games....