Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780061726828
Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 9-12
Genre: Science Fiction--Dystopia
Reader’s Annotation: In a world where love is considered a disease, all Lena wants is to be cured--until she meets Alex.
Plot Summary
Lena lives in a dystopian United States in which all contact with the rest of the world has been cut off and love has been declared as a disease. Now known as amor deliria nervosa, love is “cured” in a mandatory procedure at 18. Before the cure, boys and girls are kept apart. Afterward, they are assigned a career, a spouse, and even a recommended number of children to produce.
Lena has looked forward to her cure her whole life. She longs to be safe from the terrible disease that killed her mother (who had three operations but was never cured). But everything starts changing when a demonstration by the Invalids—the uncured outlaws who live in the Wilds outside the secured cities—interrupts her evaluation (the oral exam that determines kids’ futures). First Lena’s best friend Hana starts acting wild, listening to forbidden music and going to mixed-gender parties. Then Lena meets Alex, a gorgeous young Invalid posing as cured. When they fall in love, Lena is forced to reexamine everything she believes.
Critical Evaluation
Delirium makes a welcome change from other dystopian novels by not taking itself too seriously. In fact, it’s a bit campy. (The religion, science, and rules of good living of Lena’s world are detailed in The Safety, Health, and Happiness Handbook, aka The Book of Shhh. Excerpts included at the beginning of some chapters are entertaining.) But the emotions are real. There are some very poignant moments, especially Lena’s memories of her mother. (Unlike other mothers, Lena’s comforted her children when they hurt themselves and sang while she played with them at the beach.)
Characterization is another strong point. The characters’ arcs, especially Lena’s, bring home the inspiring theme of the transformative power of love. Lena is quite ordinary—not especially brave, pretty, or smart. She says so herself: “You have to understand. I am no one special. I am just a single girl. I am five feet two inches tall and I am in-between in every way.” But by the end of the novel she has grown from timid schoolgirl to fearless radical. The one disappointment is Alex, the dream boy, who is too perfect and, frankly, a bit bland. We never get to know what he’s really like.
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas
Read Chapter 1, which introduces the concept of love as disease.
Describe the evaluations (include such details as questions asked and the required dress).
Challenge Issues: Language
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I'll put in positive reviews from The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Kirkus Reviews, and School Library Journal, and mixed reviews from Booklist and VOYA.
About the Author
I was born in Queens and raised in Westchester, New York, in a small town very similar to the one depicted in Before I Fall. My parents are both literature professors, and from a very early age, my sister and I were encouraged to make up stories, draw, paint, dance around in costumes, and essentially spend much of our time living imaginatively. Our house was old and full of art and towers and towers of books, and that’s still the kind of house I like best.
I started writing as a way of extending my love of reading; when I read a book I loved, I would continue to write sequels for it (I was inadvertently a fan fic writer, before “fan fiction” was even a term!). Later on, I began working on my own stories, and keeping company with a lot of imaginary friends.
I pursued literature and philosophy at the University of Chicago, and then moved back to New York to attend NYU’s MFA program in creative writing. I simultaneously began working at Penguin Books, in a young adult division called Razorbill, and while there, I started work on Before I Fall. I left in 2009 to pursue writing full-time, and now I happily work in my pajamas every day.
I have a variety of interests apart from writing, including reading, cooking, traveling, dancing, running, and making up weird songs. Some of my favorite things are: being cozy; fires; autumn; fuzzy slippers; very high heels; great wine; dark chocolate; ketchup; pasta. Things I hate: practical shoes, liars, and bananas. I live in Brooklyn, New York, with my best friend and fiancé, Michael.
http://www.laurenoliverbooks.com/author.php
Why is this title included?
I read about this book in an NPR article that identified five recent YA releases with crossover appeal for adults (http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/137456199/hooray-for-ya-teen-novels-for-readers-of-all-ages). It's a solid entry in the popular dystopian genre.