Delirium, by Lauren Oliver

Circulation Services Director Melissa Simpson ends the week with a look at two Young Adult books:

Someone somewhere recommended these two books to me when I lamented not having anything to read that captured my interest quite like Suzanne Collins‘ The Hunger Games trilogy. While neither has the intense action of Collins’ series, there are similarities —future societies where freedoms are restricted, strong teen characters, love interests, growing dissatisfaction with how things are controlled. Both Delirium and Matched deal with dystopian worlds that try to contain the most powerful emotion: love.

In Delirium, love is a disease called “amor deliria nervosa.”  According to the Safety, Health, and Happiness Handbook (or The Book of Shhh) it is something to be feared more than anything else. To catch amor deliria is to lose control, to forget to eat, sleep, or work.  It even drives some people to madness.  That’s why Lena can’t wait to have the procedure that cures people.  She just has to wait a few months until her 18th birthday to be free from pain or fear. She’s actually looking forward to having the procedure… until she falls in love.  Alex is living in Portland, attending university, and pretending to be cured.  He and Lena seem to meet by chance and as they get to know one another, they fall in love.  As the days count down to her procedure, Lena is more and more certain that she doesn’t want to live in the same dull fog as those who have been cured.  She and Alex make plans to escape, but the police are very watchful of those trying to break the rules.  Can’t give away the ending, but, if you’re like me, you’ll be waiting for the March 2012 sequel, Pandemonium.

Check the WRL catalog for Delirium

Delirium reminded me of a book I read several months ago called Matched, by Ally Condie.

Where you work, where you live, what you eat, what you read, who you marry, when you die— everything is studied and planned  in order to maintain the perfect society.

Cassia is thrilled when she is told that her selected match is none other than her best friend, Xander.  But something unusual happened when she plugged in the microchip that was supposed to give her all the background information about Xander.  The image of another boy she knows, Ky, appeared for a split second on her screen. Officials of the Society don’t make mistakes, so how did this happen? As Cassia tries to find out more about Ky, an orphan from the Outer Provinces, she risks her own safety and that of her family. But as she gets to know more about him, Cassia is determined that Ky is her perfect match.  Maybe the Society doesn’t know what’s best for everyone. What other lies have they told?

The sequel to Matched is called Crossed.  It is due out this fall.

Check the WRL catalog for Matched