"Delirium" by Lauren Oliver

441 pages

Several generations before this story takes place, scientists and politicians decided that love is a disease that makes people heartbroken, irrational, and sad. It was believed that if love was wiped out, no one would suffer the pain that comes with losing a loved one. They developed a medical procedure that could remove peoples' capacity for loving others, but it can't be performed until the age of 18 or serious brain damage is likely to occur. Seventeen-year-old Lena is counting down the days until her procedure is performed so she can finally be "safe" from the threat of being infected with love. But when she meets Alex, a mysterious boy who makes her question everything about the society she's grown up in, from the destruction of love to the regulation of music to the government's practice of choosing everyone's occupation for them.

I have some friends who really liked this book and some who really didn't, so I wasn't sure what to expect. That put my expectations a little lower than average, trending toward the lower side since this seems like a really lovey-dovey book and I'm not usually a big fan of those. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, though. I really like the characters, especially Lena, Hana, and Gracie, and the dystopian world Oliver's got going on here is pretty interesting. The logic behind the government's policies sounds really bizarre at first, but when it's explained Isort of understand where it's coming from (of course, in no way am I saying it would be better that way!). The ending is totally not what I expected at all, and it's a nice cliffhanger for the second book in the series, "Pandemonium," which is expected to be published in March 2012. This book seems like a good introduction to dystopia for people who like romance or shy away from super-technical science fiction.