Delirium

I have now listened to the audio book and watched the unaired pilot... so I feel qualified to talk about:

Delirium, By Lauren Oliver:

The premise is rather out there (from wikipedia):

"The story is set in Portland, Maine, in an alternate present. Civilization is concentrated in those cities which escaped the severe bombings of decades past. Travel between cities is highly restricted. Electric fences separate the city from the Wilds—unregulated territory which was presumably mostly destroyed by bombs.
The totalitarian government teaches that love is a disease, named amor deliria nervosa, commonly referred to as "the deliria". A surgical cure for the deliria has been developed and is mandatory for citizens 18 years old and over. Lena has looked forward to the procedure for years, convinced as she is by the government that love is a horrible disease that must be destroyed from mankind's system."

 What people don't bother to point out that the "cured" adults are cut off from strong emotions.  There's not a lot of compassion.  There's not a lot of caring.  there is a rigid adherence to social order, rules and protocol.

Honestly, it sounds like this "cure" is basically a lobotomy.  Yeah.  I went there.  When the narrator talked about taking scalpel to brain, it convinced me that this must be some sort of super precise lobotomy.

My thoughts on the book:

1. The prose in the book is AMAZING!  I listened to the book, so it was even better!
2. The premise is out there... on the surface.  Yes, they want to wipe out the disease of love... but it's more than that.  You can tell that the government is trying to control the population by cutting off passionate emotions, leaving them docile and easy to control.  Looking at it that way makes it more thought provoking.
3. The book left me with a lot of questions!!!!
4. I thought the book took place in Portland, OR, not Portland, ME... for like most of the book.  OOPPS!

Then I saw the unaired pilot

 My thoughts:

1. They did the ENTIRE first book in a 45 minute pilot.  Where do they go from there?
2. The adults weren't... cut off enough.  Lena described the "cured" as people who were wrapped up, and cut off...  (or something like that).  These adults were... normal....
3. There were characters from later books in there...  (which didn't disturb me.)
4. The whole thing was too fast.  You missed the subtly of the government control.  You missed the subtle propaganda.  It came off as one dimensional.  I could have rather seen it built up over the course of a few episodes...  Where you see the breaks in the "perfect" lives that everyone is living.  Like in the book.

But seriously, if you've read the book, go to Hulu and check out the show.  Let me know what you think!