Post by kait on Jan 8, 2012 10:12:47 GMT -5
Welcome to the Delirium Book Club! I hope you've all had reading chapters 1 through 5 of the novel!
These first few chapters are all about introductions to the main character, Lena, her family, her friends, and her dystopian society, so let's dive right in with this opening line of CHAPTER ONE:
"It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since scientists perfected the cure."
WHAAAAAAT? Right from the get go, Lauren Oliver has us asking questions. Who is this mysterious Consortium? Why did these people decide that love is a disease? And how the heck do they cure it?!
What's more is that Lena, our narrator, totally buys into it. It turns out the cure isn't safe for anyone under the age of eighteen because it's a procedure that can cause BRAIN DAMAGE in children, therefore Lena is still susceptible to disease for three more months. She not only looks forward to the procedure, but feels shamed to be so "dirty" in the meantime.
"Several years ago on the day of her procedure, one girl managed to slip from her restraints and find her way to the laboratory roof. She dropped quickly, without screaming. For days afterward, they broadcast the dead girl's face on television to remind us of the dangers of the deliria."
AHA! So we're not treating this love disease like the chicken pox here. It's the freaking swine flu all over again! There is FOREVER media propaganda and speculation on the disease. It's constantly being shoved down Lena's throat that love is not only bad, it's deadly and disgusting.
"The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't."
Lena is taught that love makes everyone crazy. Maybe her society is right, but who's to see that that madness, the deliria, is bad?
CHAPTER TWO introduces us to Lena's family life. We start with six-year-old Grace, the daughter of Lena's cousin. Grace doesn't speak so they assume her to be mentally retarded. While Grace shows some signs of autism, she's very keen in other ways that make you think that maybe she just keeps quiet to avoid talking about the trauma in her life.
That trauma, of course, is the loss of her parentes. Grace's father was accused of sympathizing with uncureds, the penalty for which is often death, so he somehow managed to escape the electrified borders around Portland. After that, her mother Marcia was delivered papers saying she would be prosecuted in his place. Upon receiving these, SHE IMMEDIATELY HAD A HEART ATTACK AND DIED.
That's a bit intense!
Also, in the midst of telling this story, Lena explains that Marcia was a good mother. Why, you ask? Because even though Marcia didn't want kids and could feel no love toward them, she never snapped a beat them to death. That happens occasionally, and being a good parent simply means NOT beating your child to death.
Remind me to hug my mommy later!
CHAPTER THREE leads us into marriage evaluations! If you can't feel love, you're not picking out your own spouse, after all! The government evaluates you, then picks one out for you based on personality and sound genetic matching. Basically, you're there to support each other either financially or domestically, but it's not like you actually can care about this person.
The better you do on your evaluations, the better matches you get, the better station in society you get. Unless..
"Of course you do hear occasional horror stories: cases where a poor eighteen-year-old girl is given to a wealthy eighty-year-old man."
AHHHHHH!!! HE'S STILL ALIVE IN A DYSTOPIAN FUTURE?!??!?!?!
Is Aunt Carol compensating for suicidal sister and sympathizer daughter by being super upright? Or does lack of emotional attachment just make you that way? After all, she's the first cured adult we see Lena interact with!
Then Hana comes barreling in!
Hana, Lena's best friend, is very upper class because she has a working vehicle. How times have changed! She's also a bit of a loose cannon, totally unconcerned with what stresses others.
It's Hana who first says that matching is unfair. Her suggestion that they should make own choices actually OFFENDS Lena.
Just before the separate for their individual evaluations, Hana says something that's pretty inspired:
"'You know you can't be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes, right?' she whispers, and her voice is hoarse, as though she's just been crying."
In CHAPTER FOUR, we get Lena's real reason for trusting the evaluation system: She doesn't think she's good enough. In her mind, Hana is beautiful and naturally attracts attention, she doesn't. So no boy would actually pick her if given the choice.
"So I'll be happy to receive my neat, printed sheet of 'Approved Matches.' At least it means I'll end up with somebody."
It's sad to see a girl with such little confidence, but this is probably what her society wants her to think, right?
Lena goes into her evaluations knowing exactly what she's supposed to do and say, but it all gets shot to hell. She sees the operation chair starts thinking of her mother.
We were told in an earlier chapter that her mother committed suicide. Now we find out that she did it because despite three separate procedures, she could not be cured of love.
"I remember only the hot pressure of her fingers on my face in the nighttime and her last whispered words to me. I love you. Remember. They cannot take it."
Lena's mother jumped off a cliff when the government tried to bring her in for a fourth procedure. Oh, did we mention that the procedure involves CUTTING INTO YOUR BRAIN and she was given NO ANESTHESIA during the third attempt?
Lena's first big downfall comes when she's asked to explain why she likes Romeo and Juliet:
"It's frightening: That's what I'm supposed to say ... And what comes out is 'It's beautiful.'"
She struggles and fails to explain her way out of that one, then digs herself an even bigger grave saying her favorite color is gray: the color of storms and indecision and new beginnings, all things of which society DOES NOT APPROVE.
There's a sudden drumming sound and rumbling all around. Earthquake? NOPE. COWS! Dressed in gowns and wigs with the the slogan of the uncured rebels, known as Invalids, painted on them. Totally normal, right?!
"Now I get it: The cows are dressed up as us, the people being evaluated. Like we're all a bunch of herd animals."
Just when it can't get more awkward for Lena, she notices that she's being watched!
"The observation deck. A boy is standing on the observation deck, watching the chaos below. And he's laughing."
We discover the cow incident is covered up as a shipment mix up in CHAPTER FIVE, but not before Lena has some nasty nightmares and gets comforted by Grace.
It turns out the comforting is a mutual thing. Lena explains that Grace actually can talk, and she knows this because she's heard her do so late at night, though it's only one word...
"She was sobbing quietly into the pillow next to me, pronouncing the same word over and over, stuffing her mouth with blankets so I could barely hear her: 'Mommy, Mommy, Mommy.'"
Seriously, y'all... this book is trying to kill us. I am SAD FOR LIFE.
With her horrible evaluation wiped clean by raging cows, Lena can relax until her new evaluation date, she celebrates by going on a run with Hana. Running is their thing; kind of like being computer/fandom geeks is ours.
Hana wants to gossip about the Invalids and the incident at the labs, but Lena is too conservative to even discuss it. In fact, she tries to force herself to believe the official shipping mix up story even though she knows it's ridiculous.
"Don't be an idiot. If it was on the news, it definitely isn't true. Besides, who mixes up a cow and a box of prescription meds? It's not like it's hard to tell the difference."
THANK YOU, HANA!
They take off on a run that turns out to be a pretty therapeutic experience of Lena until they end up at the labs, where they bump into a security guard with a very familiar face.
"It's him. The boy from yesterday, from the observation deck. The Invalid. Except he isn't an Invalid, obviously."
Besides being a government employee, the boy, named Alex, also has a telltale scar: He's had his procedure and been cured. There's no way he could be an Invalid.
When Lena tries to confront him about being on the observation deck, he shrugs her off in the friendliest manner possible:
"'No,' he says smoothly. 'We've never met. I'm sure I would remember.' The flash in his eyes is back-- is he laughing at me?"
It turns out Alex is pretty relaxed. He doesn't see the girls as threats to security, so he chats with them and even takes them to see the view from the cliffs behind the labs. Hana is inquisitive and excited, but Lena is freaking out on the inside because she's noticed that Alex is attractive.
"There's something insane to me about standing in the open talking to a strange boy, even if he is cured, and though my head is whirling, it's like my vision gets razor sharp, making everything look ultra-detailed."
When the trio reaches to view of the bay Alex was telling them about, he quietly admits to Lena that he was there by quoting her favorite color, the current color of the bay.
"Of course, it's even prettier at sunset. Around eight thirty the sky looks like it's on fire, especially the Back Cove. You should really see it."
Lena tries to riddle out whether or not Alex wants her to meet him there that night, but Hana interrupts before she can know for sure.
What will Lena do? What will come from this strange situation? We'll find out next week when we cover Chapters 6 - 10!
What were your thoughts on the first five chapters, the society Lena lives in, her friends, her family, and her past? Let's discuss!
These first few chapters are all about introductions to the main character, Lena, her family, her friends, and her dystopian society, so let's dive right in with this opening line of CHAPTER ONE:
"It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since scientists perfected the cure."
WHAAAAAAT? Right from the get go, Lauren Oliver has us asking questions. Who is this mysterious Consortium? Why did these people decide that love is a disease? And how the heck do they cure it?!
What's more is that Lena, our narrator, totally buys into it. It turns out the cure isn't safe for anyone under the age of eighteen because it's a procedure that can cause BRAIN DAMAGE in children, therefore Lena is still susceptible to disease for three more months. She not only looks forward to the procedure, but feels shamed to be so "dirty" in the meantime.
"Several years ago on the day of her procedure, one girl managed to slip from her restraints and find her way to the laboratory roof. She dropped quickly, without screaming. For days afterward, they broadcast the dead girl's face on television to remind us of the dangers of the deliria."
AHA! So we're not treating this love disease like the chicken pox here. It's the freaking swine flu all over again! There is FOREVER media propaganda and speculation on the disease. It's constantly being shoved down Lena's throat that love is not only bad, it's deadly and disgusting.
"The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't."
Lena is taught that love makes everyone crazy. Maybe her society is right, but who's to see that that madness, the deliria, is bad?
CHAPTER TWO introduces us to Lena's family life. We start with six-year-old Grace, the daughter of Lena's cousin. Grace doesn't speak so they assume her to be mentally retarded. While Grace shows some signs of autism, she's very keen in other ways that make you think that maybe she just keeps quiet to avoid talking about the trauma in her life.
That trauma, of course, is the loss of her parentes. Grace's father was accused of sympathizing with uncureds, the penalty for which is often death, so he somehow managed to escape the electrified borders around Portland. After that, her mother Marcia was delivered papers saying she would be prosecuted in his place. Upon receiving these, SHE IMMEDIATELY HAD A HEART ATTACK AND DIED.
That's a bit intense!
Also, in the midst of telling this story, Lena explains that Marcia was a good mother. Why, you ask? Because even though Marcia didn't want kids and could feel no love toward them, she never snapped a beat them to death. That happens occasionally, and being a good parent simply means NOT beating your child to death.
Remind me to hug my mommy later!
CHAPTER THREE leads us into marriage evaluations! If you can't feel love, you're not picking out your own spouse, after all! The government evaluates you, then picks one out for you based on personality and sound genetic matching. Basically, you're there to support each other either financially or domestically, but it's not like you actually can care about this person.
The better you do on your evaluations, the better matches you get, the better station in society you get. Unless..
"Of course you do hear occasional horror stories: cases where a poor eighteen-year-old girl is given to a wealthy eighty-year-old man."
AHHHHHH!!! HE'S STILL ALIVE IN A DYSTOPIAN FUTURE?!??!?!?!
Is Aunt Carol compensating for suicidal sister and sympathizer daughter by being super upright? Or does lack of emotional attachment just make you that way? After all, she's the first cured adult we see Lena interact with!
Then Hana comes barreling in!
Hana, Lena's best friend, is very upper class because she has a working vehicle. How times have changed! She's also a bit of a loose cannon, totally unconcerned with what stresses others.
It's Hana who first says that matching is unfair. Her suggestion that they should make own choices actually OFFENDS Lena.
Just before the separate for their individual evaluations, Hana says something that's pretty inspired:
"'You know you can't be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes, right?' she whispers, and her voice is hoarse, as though she's just been crying."
In CHAPTER FOUR, we get Lena's real reason for trusting the evaluation system: She doesn't think she's good enough. In her mind, Hana is beautiful and naturally attracts attention, she doesn't. So no boy would actually pick her if given the choice.
"So I'll be happy to receive my neat, printed sheet of 'Approved Matches.' At least it means I'll end up with somebody."
It's sad to see a girl with such little confidence, but this is probably what her society wants her to think, right?
Lena goes into her evaluations knowing exactly what she's supposed to do and say, but it all gets shot to hell. She sees the operation chair starts thinking of her mother.
We were told in an earlier chapter that her mother committed suicide. Now we find out that she did it because despite three separate procedures, she could not be cured of love.
"I remember only the hot pressure of her fingers on my face in the nighttime and her last whispered words to me. I love you. Remember. They cannot take it."
Lena's mother jumped off a cliff when the government tried to bring her in for a fourth procedure. Oh, did we mention that the procedure involves CUTTING INTO YOUR BRAIN and she was given NO ANESTHESIA during the third attempt?
Lena's first big downfall comes when she's asked to explain why she likes Romeo and Juliet:
"It's frightening: That's what I'm supposed to say ... And what comes out is 'It's beautiful.'"
She struggles and fails to explain her way out of that one, then digs herself an even bigger grave saying her favorite color is gray: the color of storms and indecision and new beginnings, all things of which society DOES NOT APPROVE.
There's a sudden drumming sound and rumbling all around. Earthquake? NOPE. COWS! Dressed in gowns and wigs with the the slogan of the uncured rebels, known as Invalids, painted on them. Totally normal, right?!
"Now I get it: The cows are dressed up as us, the people being evaluated. Like we're all a bunch of herd animals."
Just when it can't get more awkward for Lena, she notices that she's being watched!
"The observation deck. A boy is standing on the observation deck, watching the chaos below. And he's laughing."
We discover the cow incident is covered up as a shipment mix up in CHAPTER FIVE, but not before Lena has some nasty nightmares and gets comforted by Grace.
It turns out the comforting is a mutual thing. Lena explains that Grace actually can talk, and she knows this because she's heard her do so late at night, though it's only one word...
"She was sobbing quietly into the pillow next to me, pronouncing the same word over and over, stuffing her mouth with blankets so I could barely hear her: 'Mommy, Mommy, Mommy.'"
Seriously, y'all... this book is trying to kill us. I am SAD FOR LIFE.
With her horrible evaluation wiped clean by raging cows, Lena can relax until her new evaluation date, she celebrates by going on a run with Hana. Running is their thing; kind of like being computer/fandom geeks is ours.
Hana wants to gossip about the Invalids and the incident at the labs, but Lena is too conservative to even discuss it. In fact, she tries to force herself to believe the official shipping mix up story even though she knows it's ridiculous.
"Don't be an idiot. If it was on the news, it definitely isn't true. Besides, who mixes up a cow and a box of prescription meds? It's not like it's hard to tell the difference."
THANK YOU, HANA!
They take off on a run that turns out to be a pretty therapeutic experience of Lena until they end up at the labs, where they bump into a security guard with a very familiar face.
"It's him. The boy from yesterday, from the observation deck. The Invalid. Except he isn't an Invalid, obviously."
Besides being a government employee, the boy, named Alex, also has a telltale scar: He's had his procedure and been cured. There's no way he could be an Invalid.
When Lena tries to confront him about being on the observation deck, he shrugs her off in the friendliest manner possible:
"'No,' he says smoothly. 'We've never met. I'm sure I would remember.' The flash in his eyes is back-- is he laughing at me?"
It turns out Alex is pretty relaxed. He doesn't see the girls as threats to security, so he chats with them and even takes them to see the view from the cliffs behind the labs. Hana is inquisitive and excited, but Lena is freaking out on the inside because she's noticed that Alex is attractive.
"There's something insane to me about standing in the open talking to a strange boy, even if he is cured, and though my head is whirling, it's like my vision gets razor sharp, making everything look ultra-detailed."
When the trio reaches to view of the bay Alex was telling them about, he quietly admits to Lena that he was there by quoting her favorite color, the current color of the bay.
"Of course, it's even prettier at sunset. Around eight thirty the sky looks like it's on fire, especially the Back Cove. You should really see it."
Lena tries to riddle out whether or not Alex wants her to meet him there that night, but Hana interrupts before she can know for sure.
What will Lena do? What will come from this strange situation? We'll find out next week when we cover Chapters 6 - 10!
What were your thoughts on the first five chapters, the society Lena lives in, her friends, her family, and her past? Let's discuss!
