If I Lived in the World of Delirium, by Kailia Sage

11:00 PM Posted by Ella Preuss


No love. At all. In the world that Delirium is set in, love is a disease. At eighteen, you get an operation that makes it impossible to fall in love. You answer a questionnaire before this operation and after that, they match you with a guy or girl with whom your answers are compatible to.

Though I loved this book, I would never survive in a world without love. Sure there’s motherly love and all, but I like the whole falling in love bit, too! I’m a diehard romantic. I love the whole cheesy moments, roses, chocolates, all that stuff. Of course, sometimes I feel that it’s too much, but I still love it. So, in a world without that? Ugh. I’d hate it. Seriously hate it. I’d probably live in the Wilds.

People say opposites attract. Science, religion, and almost everyone says that opposites attract. It would be weird to take a questionnaire and get matched with someone compatible to us. Sure we have a few things that are different, but that’s not the same thing. Like Lena and Alex. Lena is afraid of the consequences of listening to unauthorized music and going to parties. Alex, thought, does it all. And he loves it. They’re different, yet they work so well together. Again, opposites attract! It’s like the whole bad-boy-good-girl-fall-for-each-other. No matter how old it is, it does happen!

After you take the questionnaire and you get your matches, you choose who you want to be with. That’s a little freedom, but not much...at all. First of all, I want to fall in love...not take a questionnaire and have other decide for me who’s the one. It’s just weird and wrong. I want to meet him, become friends, hope for something more. Date him, him ask me to marry him and so on. Basically, I want to have all of the control over my life. Who I meet and marry and all that.

The people even regulate the kind of music you listen to. First love and then music? Uh, no, I don’t think so! Most of the time, I’m a really hyper person so I like to listen to music I can dance to and sing along with. Sure when I’m sad or really mad, I like to listen to slow songs that sooth me, but not always. Along with music, come parties. Seriously, who in their right mind would not allow people to have parties with loud music and guys and girls dancing together? Another two reasons why I wouldn’t survive in that world.

In noticed while reading the book that the people who had gotten the operation were like robots. The mother doing motherly thing; the father doing whatever they do. They had such proper, unenthusiastic ways of speaking. I liked how Lauren wrote these characters because to me, that showed what the loss of love did to people: made us gloomy, boring, and well...unhappy. Sure they say that they’re happy and are completely satisfied...but are they really? Can’t anyone lie like that? I guess a thousand people lying about how they feel is kind of out there, but think about it.

Lauren Oliver did an exceptional job with Delirium. I really liked Lena and how she changed over the course of the book. She’s afraid of love, something I never thought of happening. I mean, it’s love! So, after reading this book, I began to think a lot about it. What would it be like if America (or the entire world for that matter) considered love to be a disease in real life. Maybe even tomorrow or the next week. What would happen then? Would there be less divorces? A smaller population? So much could happen in a world like that but exactly what is so uncertain. Of course, there’s a low chance of that happening in real life but still, we have questions and thoughts!

So, what do you think? Would you like to live in this world? Why or why not?

2 comments:

  1. Ella Preuss said...

    I've thought about this a lot since reading Delirium. I think it'd be awful to live in a world like this! Like you, Kai, I'm a hopeless romantic, and I think the mere idea of living in a world without love is terrible.

    Great post, loved it!

  2. Lori said...

    Fantastic post! This is one of the things I love so much about dystpian books, they make you think! They make you put yourself in that world. I know that I would not survive in Delirium's world!

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