I had been mulling over whether or not to read this book for a while. I'd been so enchanted with previous novels of Green's that I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy this quite as much. I like to think of John green as an author who, in many years to come, will be considered an iconic author of our time simply for his ability to make every single character he writes completely identifiable, even if you have absolutely nothing in common with them; for example, Hazel in The Fault in our Stars.
The book did have a slow start in my opinion, and I spent the first few chapters idly wondering whether it was going to take off at all or if I was going to have to struggle through to the end. I am pleased to announce however that it did pick up, although it didn't have me truly gripped until the last few chapters.
As with most John Green books, the action of finishing the book, closing it and laying it down next to me brought about such an intense feeling of satisfaction. I seem to get this with each of his novels-although I can't quite put my finger on what the feeling truly is. I say satisfaction, but in reality it is so much more. I feel happy, content, accomplished, relaxed-the list goes on, and I think it's so brilliant that one author has the power to make you feel so at one with the world, despite the ending of his novel not necessarily being a happy one.
Green manages to perfectly capture the awkward late teenage years when you're trying to discover who you truly are and show the world that you've got it all figured out, whereas in reality you're a hormone addled wreck who can only think of sex and relationships and when that homework assignment was actually due in. Reading his novels makes me so nostalgic for my own teenage years, but because he doesn't paint these years as perfection with happy endings and everything working out in the end, it makes me feel so much better about my own mistakes, and I think this is the true beauty.
John Green really does portray the world we live in with complete, brutal honesty and this is something that should be applauded and encouraged.
(I realised this has become less of a review than a massive fan post dedicated to John Green so, for want of coming across as a completely embarrassing super fan, go read the book it's good. I promise.)
I first heard about Delirium after stumbling across a fan blog on Tumblr and was immediately engaged by the concept. I then stumbled across it in W H Smiths last weekend and it was the last copy and of course I determined that it was fate for me to bring it home.
I then spent the next week in severe emotional trauma at the hands of Lauren Oliver.
I haven't cried while reading a book since first reading The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices (Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones now available on Blu Ray and DVD) however I was up until the early hours of the morning several times this week with tears running down my face while reading this stunning story of love, freedom and determination to beat the odds.
I have heard rumours that Delirium has been commissioned for a TV series in the USA, and therefore I don't want to give too much of the story away, however I will give a brief synopsis for those wishing to read the book.
Lena is a young girl growing up in the city of Portland, USA. The book is set in a future where love has been identified as a disease, fences surround cities to keep out the infected, while those inside undergo a procedure to cure themselves of love after their high school education is finished. They are then matched with a partner and sent off to begin their lives together.
Until the cure, girls and boys remain segregated from one another, contact of any kind with an uncured is illegal, and love is punishable by death. Lena and her friend Hana live their lives within in the rules until the summer of their cure, when Lena meets Alex.
I found the story both heartwarming and emotional. Lena and Alex were characters I could really get behind, their fight for freedom and what they believe in was inspiring and since finishing the book although I was a crying wreck for a while after putting it down it's left me in a weirdly positive mindset for the last few days.
This is without doubt the best book I've read so far in 2014. I know we're only at the start of the year but I definitely think that it will be a hard one to top.
