Delirium by Lauren Oliver

“I love you. Remember. They cannot take it.”

Okay, so this book has pretty much left me speechless. I literally finished like, a few minutes ago and my mind is still seriously blown.

Lena lives in a world where love is the enemy, where passion is anathema, where poetry and art have fallen by the wayside, and romantic tendencies must be put down at all costs. some seriously hardcore brainwashing helps guide young citizens through the complexities of these norms, while upon reaching their majority a more comprehensive (invasive, horrifying) solution is offered: a procedure, not so far removed from a lobotomy, that results in a total dulling of the emotions. Recipients of this procedure feel nothing. Love, happiness, anger are null.

Lena does the unthinkable – she falls in love.

Okay, so this book has pretty much left me speechless. I literally finished like, a few minutes ago and my mind is still seriously blown. And the cliffhanger? GOD, WHY?! I need to know what happens! I also absolutely loved the way that bible stories, Shakespeare and other literature were intertwined into the narrative – either left unaltered and banned by the government for its subversiveness or altered in order to conform to the dystopian ideologies. Final verdict? 5/5. This book was utterly perfect.

“Love, the deadliest of all deadly things:
It kills you both when you have it, and when you don’t.
But that isn’t it, exactly.
The condemner and the condemned;
The executioner the blade; the last-minute reprieve;
the gasping breath and the rolling sky and the thank you, thank you, God.
Love. It will kill you and save you, both.”