Post by kait on Feb 12, 2012 12:23:41 GMT -5
This is it! The FINAL section of our Delirium Book Club!
Lena has been caught, drugged, and bound to her bed by her own family. All because she loves a boy. Truly, it is a sick, sadistic world she lives in.
Just when it seems all hope is lost, Hana arrives in CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX!
Lena tries to discuss her situation with Hana, but it's not an easy road. Aunt Carol sits outside the door eavesdropping. Even if she weren't, Hana can't go find Alex and tell him because she's being followed too. The government suspects she's withholding information about Lena's infection.
Not to mention that Hana is a depressed, frantic mess.
"For one second-- one tiny fraction of a second-- I almost wish I never met Alex at all. I wish I could rewind back to the very beginning of the summer, when everything was so clear and simple and easy ... when the days clicked forward to my procedure like dominoes falling in a line."
Then Lena has an awesome idea! Through a trip down memory lane that thoroughly confuses Hana, Lena talks about passing notes and asks Hana to take one last run down to The Governor statue in Monument Square.
The hidden message? Hana should write out a note to Alex and put it in The Governor's fist in Monument Square!
Hana reassures Lena that she'll get the message to Alex in a roundabout way, but a stunning realization hit her as Hana goes: If all goes well, this is the last time she'll ever see her.
"And now I know why they invented words for love, why they had to: It's the only thing that can come close to describing what I feel in that moment, the baffling mixture of pain and pleasure and fear and joy, all running sharply through me at once ... I love you, I think, but all I say, gasping a little, is: 'Have a good run.' "
In CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN, the minutes and hours are ticking by until Lena's procedure. She has to believe that Alex will come for her, but she's got no way of knowing he's even gotten Hana's message. Each of her relatives is taking guard duty shifts outside her room, with her sister Rachel in charge of feeding her while she remains tied down.
"Rachel comes in one last time, carrying a glass of water. It's difficult to tell in the darkness, but it looks suspiciously cloudy ... I have no choice but to take a few mouthfuls-- tasting, as I do, the acrid sting of medication. Definitely laced with something-- more sleeping pills, no doubt. I hold the water in my mouth and as soon as she turns back to the door, I turn my head and let the water run out into my pillow."
Seriously, guys! Drugging people is one of those things that NEVER comes with good intentions. It's realistic, but that's what makes it so uncomfortable. Is it bad that I hope Lena somehow gets revenge on her family?
Lena is awake and alone now, just hoping to be rescued.
"At midnight the fear turns, suddenly, to desperation. If he's not coming, I'll have to get out of here myself."
ATTA GIRL! ...If only it were that easy. Lena struggles against her restraints until she's worn out and her wrists are bloody, but to no avail until she eventually falls asleep.
Just when it seems, all hope is lost. Lena wakes up to see something beautiful:
"I look up and see Gracie, perched at the head of my bed, working at the cords binding me to the headboard."
GRACIE! WE KNEW YOU WERE AWESOME ALL ALONG!
Lena opens up the window now that she's free, just in time to see a motorcycle coming up the street and a very familiar feature on the rider.
"The crown of the head: like the color of leaves in autumn, burning, burning.
Alex."
Effectively, this is us:
Alex is here, but Lena's uncle, who fell asleep guarding the door, is now awake and going after her.
"Then Gracie yells 'Wait!'
Everyone freezes just for a second. It is the first and only time Gracie has ever spoken aloud to them ... That second is all I need. I give another shove and the screen pops outward, clattering to the street."
And that's probably the last we'll see of Gracie.
Finally, Alex and Lena are united. However, Lena just jumped two stories and probably broke her leg, regulators are shooting at them, and they're the target of a full throttle police chase through the city.
After lots of beautiful descriptions of like moments, it's really nice to see that Oliver can ALSO pull off a badass action sequence. Describing the chase here won't do it much justice, but this is a book club, so you should have already read it!
"Both of us will die today ... and when they bury us we'll be so melted together and entwined..; pieces of him will go with me, and pieces of me will go with him. Weirdly, the thought doesn't even upset me."
WELL IT UPSETS ME. If you could not die, that would be fabulous!
Despite the gun, the police cars, and the helicopter overhead, they somehow make it to the fence at Tukey's Bridge.
"'Lena.' The way he says my name makes me make shut up. 'They've electrified the fence. It's powered on.'"
Alex's plan is drive the motorcycle into the fence, jump off last second, and scale the fence before they have the chance to fix the power to that section. And guess what? IT WORKS. Lena is over the fence! They're safe!
But wait...
"That's when I do thing thing I swore I wouldn't do ... And I look back.
Alex is still standing on the other side of the fence, beyond the flickering wall of smoke and fire. He hasn't moved a single inch since we both jumped off the bike, hasn't tried to."
"And then he opens his mouth and his mouth forms one last word.
The word is: Run.
After that the insect men fall on him."
There are some genuinely MESSED UP societies in literature and film, but Lena's society is the type that bothers me the most. All this pain and hell just to keep two people apart. The keep them from being happy.
Unfortunately, Lena has no real choice but to oblige Alex. She runs. As she does, she offers Alex and readers alike her mother's last words to her...
"I love you. Remember. They cannot take it."
...
...
...
Now that we're all sobbing messes... CONGRATULATIONS! You've made it to the end of our Delirium book club! What do you think of the book? Was the ending beautiful in its tragedy or were you hoping for something else?
Have you read Lauren Oliver's novella about the Delirium universe, Hana?
Will you be picking up the sequel, Pandemonium? If so, we've got a fancy little graphic link where you can pre-order!
Lena has been caught, drugged, and bound to her bed by her own family. All because she loves a boy. Truly, it is a sick, sadistic world she lives in.
Just when it seems all hope is lost, Hana arrives in CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX!
Lena tries to discuss her situation with Hana, but it's not an easy road. Aunt Carol sits outside the door eavesdropping. Even if she weren't, Hana can't go find Alex and tell him because she's being followed too. The government suspects she's withholding information about Lena's infection.
Not to mention that Hana is a depressed, frantic mess.
"For one second-- one tiny fraction of a second-- I almost wish I never met Alex at all. I wish I could rewind back to the very beginning of the summer, when everything was so clear and simple and easy ... when the days clicked forward to my procedure like dominoes falling in a line."
Then Lena has an awesome idea! Through a trip down memory lane that thoroughly confuses Hana, Lena talks about passing notes and asks Hana to take one last run down to The Governor statue in Monument Square.
The hidden message? Hana should write out a note to Alex and put it in The Governor's fist in Monument Square!
Hana reassures Lena that she'll get the message to Alex in a roundabout way, but a stunning realization hit her as Hana goes: If all goes well, this is the last time she'll ever see her.
"And now I know why they invented words for love, why they had to: It's the only thing that can come close to describing what I feel in that moment, the baffling mixture of pain and pleasure and fear and joy, all running sharply through me at once ... I love you, I think, but all I say, gasping a little, is: 'Have a good run.' "
In CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN, the minutes and hours are ticking by until Lena's procedure. She has to believe that Alex will come for her, but she's got no way of knowing he's even gotten Hana's message. Each of her relatives is taking guard duty shifts outside her room, with her sister Rachel in charge of feeding her while she remains tied down.
"Rachel comes in one last time, carrying a glass of water. It's difficult to tell in the darkness, but it looks suspiciously cloudy ... I have no choice but to take a few mouthfuls-- tasting, as I do, the acrid sting of medication. Definitely laced with something-- more sleeping pills, no doubt. I hold the water in my mouth and as soon as she turns back to the door, I turn my head and let the water run out into my pillow."
Seriously, guys! Drugging people is one of those things that NEVER comes with good intentions. It's realistic, but that's what makes it so uncomfortable. Is it bad that I hope Lena somehow gets revenge on her family?
Lena is awake and alone now, just hoping to be rescued.
"At midnight the fear turns, suddenly, to desperation. If he's not coming, I'll have to get out of here myself."
ATTA GIRL! ...If only it were that easy. Lena struggles against her restraints until she's worn out and her wrists are bloody, but to no avail until she eventually falls asleep.
Just when it seems, all hope is lost. Lena wakes up to see something beautiful:
"I look up and see Gracie, perched at the head of my bed, working at the cords binding me to the headboard."
GRACIE! WE KNEW YOU WERE AWESOME ALL ALONG!
Lena opens up the window now that she's free, just in time to see a motorcycle coming up the street and a very familiar feature on the rider.
"The crown of the head: like the color of leaves in autumn, burning, burning.
Alex."
Effectively, this is us:
Alex is here, but Lena's uncle, who fell asleep guarding the door, is now awake and going after her.
"Then Gracie yells 'Wait!'
Everyone freezes just for a second. It is the first and only time Gracie has ever spoken aloud to them ... That second is all I need. I give another shove and the screen pops outward, clattering to the street."
And that's probably the last we'll see of Gracie.
Finally, Alex and Lena are united. However, Lena just jumped two stories and probably broke her leg, regulators are shooting at them, and they're the target of a full throttle police chase through the city.
After lots of beautiful descriptions of like moments, it's really nice to see that Oliver can ALSO pull off a badass action sequence. Describing the chase here won't do it much justice, but this is a book club, so you should have already read it!
"Both of us will die today ... and when they bury us we'll be so melted together and entwined..; pieces of him will go with me, and pieces of me will go with him. Weirdly, the thought doesn't even upset me."
WELL IT UPSETS ME. If you could not die, that would be fabulous!
Despite the gun, the police cars, and the helicopter overhead, they somehow make it to the fence at Tukey's Bridge.
"'Lena.' The way he says my name makes me make shut up. 'They've electrified the fence. It's powered on.'"
Alex's plan is drive the motorcycle into the fence, jump off last second, and scale the fence before they have the chance to fix the power to that section. And guess what? IT WORKS. Lena is over the fence! They're safe!
But wait...
"That's when I do thing thing I swore I wouldn't do ... And I look back.
Alex is still standing on the other side of the fence, beyond the flickering wall of smoke and fire. He hasn't moved a single inch since we both jumped off the bike, hasn't tried to."
"And then he opens his mouth and his mouth forms one last word.
The word is: Run.
After that the insect men fall on him."
There are some genuinely MESSED UP societies in literature and film, but Lena's society is the type that bothers me the most. All this pain and hell just to keep two people apart. The keep them from being happy.
Unfortunately, Lena has no real choice but to oblige Alex. She runs. As she does, she offers Alex and readers alike her mother's last words to her...
"I love you. Remember. They cannot take it."
...
...
...
Now that we're all sobbing messes... CONGRATULATIONS! You've made it to the end of our Delirium book club! What do you think of the book? Was the ending beautiful in its tragedy or were you hoping for something else?
Have you read Lauren Oliver's novella about the Delirium universe, Hana?
Will you be picking up the sequel, Pandemonium? If so, we've got a fancy little graphic link where you can pre-order!