Delirium

By: Lauren Oliver

Narrated by: Sarah Drew

Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

"Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't."

Lauren Oliver astonished readers with her stunning debut, Before I Fall. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it "raw, emotional, and, at times, beautiful. An end as brave as it is heartbreaking." Her much-awaited second novel fulfills her promise as an exceptionally talented and versatile writer.

Also included is a sneak listen to the first chapter of the next book in the series. Enjoy!

©2011 Laura Schechter (P)2011 HarperCollins Pubilshers

Excellent listen

Not what I expected from Lauren Oliver. Very good story line, great characters. Very different than Before I Fall thou. I VB liked the narration.

Interesting subject

An interesting subject that I have never read about before. I dislike books being just cut off like this. Therefore, I was not fond of the ending of this book. It was a teen book. I maybe would recommend it to my grand daughter. I think I rated it the way I did because of the ending just abruptly ending.

Slow start to what promises to be an amazing story

I found my way to this book through a rather circuitous route. I first came across the Divergent Trilogy, which was another fantastic dystopian series. After devouring those books, I was on the look out for another dystopian novel, and came across Lauren Oliver. After reading the synopsis of the book, I was a little unsure. The premise of the series is that sometime into the future the American government has decided that love is disease that must be eradicated. Everyone is forced to undergo a procedure at 18 which removes love and the ability to have strong emotions of any kind from their system. Because the procedure is not safe for those under 18, children below the age of 18 are kept strictly segregated. Music, literature, art, anything that can evoke strong emotions have been banned. The premise seems a little far fetched. I can't imagine even in the worst possible future, would the united states government or the majority of its people go along with an idea as crazy as outlawing love.

So I put the book aside for a while, but then stumbled upon "Before I Fall", another Lauren Oliver novel. That book caught my attention, and i thoroughly enjoyed both the writing and the amazing narration. Sarah Drew, who narrates both "Before I Fall" and the Delirium trilogy is nothing short of amazing. I was nearly brought toI was so taken with her narration, I didn't care how outlandish the premise of the book seemed, I just wanted to hear her voice again.

But once you accept the slightly implausible premise though, everything else is very believable. You basically have a society of folks who are brainwashed by the government. 99% of the people you meet on the street are "cured", and lead mindless lives. People's every move is monitored. Their every conversation spied upon. Only government sanctioned books, music, art and literature are allowed. People have no rights and everyone is at the mercy of the government and their regulators. In fact, while the idea of banning love adds an extra level of tension to the story by instantly making the romance between our main characters a forbidden love, it's not critical. You can imagine the same dystopian society coming about due to any number of other more plausible reasons then the eradication of love.

Lauren Oliver does a masterful job of painting this world that is both chilling and yet strangely believable. Her writing, simply put, is beautiful. It draws you in, and flows over you and before you know it, you feel like you are looking at her world through Lena's eyes (Our protagonist), seeing what she is seeing, feeling what she is feeling. Some have criticized this book for being too slow. It takes the protagonist too long to realize the lie that she's living, the lie the government has been feeding her, her entire life. And maybe there's some truth to that criticism. But I really didn't mind, because of Lauren's writing. Her writing pulls you in so effortlessly, and you are just enjoying the ride as you almost become the main character and live through what she's living through and goes through the same journey of self discovery that she is slowly embarking on. For me, the slow pace at which Lena comes to terms with her decision to rebell against the system is what makes the story believable. It would seem completely implausible for someone who has been brainwashed for her entire life to suddenly, in the course of a few weeks, decide to become a resistance fighter. Of course that journey should take longer, and of course she would oscillate between embracing the truth and running back to the comfortable lie she's been fed her whole life. It's this struggle that bonds the reader to our heroine. Also, let's not forget this is the first book of a trilogy, and everything she invests here in slowly building up this intricate world full of depth, color and nuance will pay off in the long run. Having read book 2, I can already see a lot of it paying off in unexpected ways.

The best descriptive story narrative ever!!!

This is the most descriptive narrative that I have ever read/listened to! The way that the author described the feeling and situations that Lena gets into....it's almost breathtaking! I can see it without trying. I can't imagine reading this book either without hearing Sarah Drew's voice and the way that she reads this book; she makes everything that Lauren Oliver describes come to life! It is amazing and I give both the author and the narrative props for the way that they present this book...I couldn't have imagined it any better. Thank you! I am actively looking for other books that Lauren Oliver has written and other books that Sarah Drew as narrated. Either way, I will be happy!!!

Alex the stoner

I’ve read this book multiple times in the past and each time I’ve found myself engulfed in its beauty like I’m reading it for the first time. The characters are easy to relate to, the setting is portrayed in a manner that makes you feel like you’re living the events yourself, and the plot has a deep underlying meaning that never fails to make me think. Who wouldn’t love this book, right? It should come as no surprise that, as a diehard fan of this trilogy, I would want to experience the book in a way that I never have before; through audio. At first, I had no real issues with the reader other than her voice being slightly irritating. This was something that I could get over. My real issue came upon the introduction of Hana, Lena’s partner in crime. Upon reading the book, I envisioned Hana to be the normal rebellious teenage girl who- in this dystopian world- sees through the flaws in the system. She was always a pivotal character to me because she helped Lena see things for what they really are rather than how the government wants her to see things. In the audio, however, Hana sounds like nothing more than an immature valley girl who likes to party. The way the reader voices her is downright awful. Hana, however, isn’t even the worst of it. Alex, Lena’s beau, sounds completely emotionless, like a stoner who sits on his couch all day playing video games. The reader made his voice so monotone and unpleasant to listen to, in fact, that this read around I felt very little to no attachment to Alex’s character. A book that is usually very close to my heart suddenly didn’t feel so tragic anymore. Long story short, the story is magnificent but the reader just didn’t quite to it for me.

Interesting Premise

When reading this review, please keep in mind that I am an adult and this book was written for young adults/teenagers. I bought the book knowing that the story would probably be a little young and a little too fixated on the love story angle for my taste, and yet the idea of a society without love intrigued me. I was right about the story and as an adult I often found myself rolling my eyes at the drama and exaggerated emotions. It wasn???t as bad as it could have been though and for that I???m glad. The rest of the story and description of a society of dampened emotions, and the consequences thereof, was enough to keep me interested and attentive to the end.

The author sets up a world where people have decided that eschewing strong emotions, especially love, is the way to create a world of peace. Love is often the cause of war and death, ergo without love, there will be no war or death. The Cure takes care of this for them. After the Cure, everyone is calm and well behaved and no one wants to disturb the peace. Indeed, even if they did desire to, they have a good idea that the consequences would not be pleasant and most choose not to rock the boat in favour of their own well-being. As the author takes you deeper into this society, the rough edges become jagged and the nasty side starts to rear its ugly head. This is a side of the society that the majority never see, principally because they choose not to. The dampening of emotions alone is not enough to control the populace and the government has come up with ways of checking malcontent that most would find utterly reprehensible and physically sickening.

I liked the ideas Oliver presented in the story. It???s not as fast-paced or exciting as other YA dystopian novels, but there???s much more to think about. It seems impossible that a society could allow itself to be treated like a flock of sheep herded along without questioning, not attending to the consequences of their easy life until it is too late. Yet it has happened before and this is a good reminder that it could happen again.

Having said that, I do wish there had been a little bit more action in the plot, but that might come in the follow up novel. All in all I thought it was a good set up for a trilogy and will probably read the next instalments, although they won???t be first on my list of to be read books. Again, I think a younger audience would be more enthusiastic about the book, so don???t let me dissuade you from trying it. Even if you don???t care for teenage romance, there???s a lot more the book has to offer if you???re willing put up with a little eye rolling.

Narration: Well read if a little overly dramatic (for my taste) on occasion. I would listen to another book read by Sarah Drew without hesitation.

Ended better then I thought

This book took a little time to get into, in my opninon it was slow and drug for about half if not more of the book. I got to a point where I couldn't stop listening and was blown away by the ending!

Pretty Good

Where does Delirium rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Not the best story I ever read but it was ok.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Don't have any favorite character.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Sarah Drew?

I don't care for the narration, specifically for the male voices.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

probably better at reading then listening.

Exciting

Romeo and Juliet but better. The world with out Love. The adventure of young but real Love in another time of the world. Everything seems normal, then the twist.

Fantastic YA Dystopian

There are so many dystopian series out there it seems but this one really shines. I would put it up there with The Hunger Games and the Divergent series. In some respects way better than the divergent series because the third book in that series was greatly disappointing to me. The final installment in this series was as good and solid as the other two books.
On another note, Sarah Drew was a FANTASTIC narrator and really made the story come alive.