By Sana Ashraf
A place where ‘love’ is viewed upon as a disease – this sums up Delirium in a nutshell.
Lauren Oliver wittingly crafts a world that obliges eighteen year olds to undergo a ‘procedure’ which ‘cures’ love. The concept is mind-blowing; the society is realistic – and the argument is presented plausibly. This could be our future – one that isn’t as far-fetched as most dystopian novels tend to be. That’s what’s unsettlingly alarming about it. Love is frowned upon in this story; Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is taught in their schools as a lesson of warning, as though, by showing them what ‘love’ is capable of, they’d simply find it distasteful – unappealing, frightening and“chaotic.”
The story centres on Lena, an average girl. One would argue that she hasn’t a personality. She abides by the norms of her society, but her character evolves. One would also argue that the greatest novels are ones that contain changeable characters; the reader grows with Lena and slowly finds that the form of attachment that grows with non-virtual friends – that bonding, that belonging, that love – soon forms between the reader and Lena herself, which is rather ironic.
Some say that the most improbable in optimal conditions is the most probable, which stands for what happens to Lena. A simple girl who does the most improbable. “Love, the deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.”
The writing is rather simplistic. Perhaps the beauty of this is that when the climax begins it also starts to read like poetry. In a way, Oliver symbolises love through her writing; she begins in waves as though the fluttering of a butterfly in an admirer’s stomach, and then all at once bursts into metaphorical poetic verse as through a lover’s narrative. Every chapter begins with prose; quotes from ‘books’ in the eerie, yet relatable, world.
The beauty of it too is that this novel doesn’t only centre on romantic love, but also friendships and families banished from love. It explores a world where love is alienated; where bringing up children is viewed upon as an obligation, rather than an act of love; and where relationships of all sorts are not bound by love. It is a community established for order – a world wherein love is “the most deadly of deadly things.”
Overall, the engaging storyline sets it apart. Be wary, the ending may bring you to tears.
“It’s so strange how life works: You want something and you wait and wait and feel like it’s taking forever to come. Then it happens and it’s over and all you want to do is curl back up in that moment before things changed.”
Book Recommendation: 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad (Translated into English by Tara F. Chace)
This originally Norwegian novel belongs to the sci-fi horror genre, and tells the story of three teenagers who win a trip to the moon. There, they’re faced with difficulties of unexpected incidents and horrific experiences that are bound to induce chills up your spine.
