Delirium

Love has always been an equation that baffles many. It is reachable to some; love blooms like flowers in spring upon their touch. It is elusive to others. Love is a many splendor thing, and it does make the world go 'round.

Delirium. A love that is associated with delusion. While the real world views love to be liberating, this particular book by Lauren Oliver perceives love from an oblique perspective. Pessimism at its peak. Love is the source of a dystopian society.

I guess you can consider it the Romeo and Juliet of the modern time. The girl is of conservative nature. She adheres to every rule and every regulation without batting an eyelash. The boy is from the forbidden outside world. He gets inside the society, a twisted place where love equates to sin, wears the cloak of pretense to camouflage with them, exuding normalcy behind falsified personality. Everything seems perfect.

But what is a plot without a conflict? The two main characters committed the most grievous of all crimes. Ninety days prior to Lena's procedure, an operation that removes their capability to love, she met Alex. This girl who is all excited for the day she will be devoid of this dangerous emotion, overturns the table and defies all laws. Love indeed is an unstoppable arch nemesis.

I have to admit, it took me a good three months to finish the book. Hands down it was very well-written. The problem lied with me, I pre-judged the story. In the middle where it rolled into a bubble gum summer adventure, a teenage dream kind of thing that you can basically predict what happens next (I thought, and I thought wrongly), I got bored. What I learned from reading a very well-written piece is not to give prior conclusions, and to let each leaf transform into a world of the unbound. I am glad I did not give up on it.

I read past the denouement. Less than ten pages and I was ecstatic to find out how the ending would be. Three pages expired. And then two. And before I knew it, I began to imagine the exact details as transcribed in the book as if I were embedded within: how Lena felt the razor sharp walls that tear her flesh, how Alex's harsh childhood all seemed to be deducted from his being every time he is with Lena, how he planned to materialize their escape to the Wilds. How he looked at her for the last time. Before I knew it, tears came running down my face. Every word created a lump in my throat and choked me. If I would be asked to define love based on this novel, the last four paragraphs would give it justice. I closed the book with a heavy heart.

More than puppy love and infatuation, and summer dreams and night outs, love blooms even in the most scarce places. My appreciation for the book reached the maximum height that I told everyone, confidently, that I slept at 1am to finish it, that this book made me cry, and that my eyes were all puffy the next day because of it. Some are heroic at their expression of emotion, regardless of the consequences. This book is dedicated to all those whose love is real and suppressed. To all childhood memories that never seem to fade. And to all those who are brave enough to show emotion amidst the ridiculing stares. Love is something no one can take away. It is a gift that lingers. Love is forever.