What would you do if love was forbidden and the state was deemed an illness requiring cure?
Lauren Oliver weaves a fast paced and exciting tale set in a world where Lena is awaiting her cure. Eagerly, hopefully and with trepidation. To experience love is to suffer from a delirium so great that pain becomes enjoyable, tears are a source of relief and exhilaration is welcome in all forms.
But to be in love is to be unhappy, to be in excruciating pain, to welcome death. The cure prevents all negative recourse from occurring, once cured Lena will be matched up with a suitable male and they will embark on a happy life free of any trauma or unexpected activity.
Lena has seen the horrific results of believing in love firsthand, her mother committed suicide when she was 9 because she suffered from a delirium so great. Thus with 90 days to her birthday, Lena awaits her review by the board and subsequent decisions that will set in motion the rest of her life - then she meets Alex and the idea of 'love' becomes a reality that leads her onto a new path.
Lauren Oliver has created an alternate reality that is incredibly believable. Lena and her foray into a dangerously heightened world will have readers hooked right to its strong ending that leaves so many questions unanswered.
Yes, unanswered. Don't read this book looking for answers, you'll discover some wonderful things, yet the answers found are to questions that were never asked. As for the questions that arise, well, I just hope there is a sequel in the wings.
Brilliant book!
4*s
Releases January 2nd 2011, read an excerpt here.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
A New Kind of Curse
It's been a while. Apologies. Applause for returning to me.
I hate technology. Most days with fervour and other days with banal disdain. We're discussing mobiles, laptops and all that goes with and came after these.
I want to go back in time to when we had proper mail, no mobiles, no facebook - no internet. The world seems far too small for the amount of space it occupies. Fifty years ago it was exciting to climb the steps into a plane and travel to a land you knew vague information - now we explore the streets of our destination using google maps, sort through hotels and motels according to their star ratings on the web, work out a precise itinerary by looking up other peoples reviews of what they enjoyed and decide exactly which areas to avoid by reading an evaluation by someone else.
Sure, I see the pros in this: you won't get lost, you won't be afraid, you won't be anywhere you don't want to be. But how much of an experience is a holiday if its planned based on someone else's opinion? You can see where I'm going with this.
I guess the main defence in the mobile phone arena is safety. A mobile ensures access to help or aid if the need arises. But what about the games and apps and extras that are now a status symbol? If you don't have the latest phone or the latest app you just aren't cool enough. Bring out one of the original Nokias and Oh No! A Brick! How could you?! Why should the appearance matter if it allows you to make and receive calls?
But it does. Technology has become a whole new form of measuring your neighbours position in life. How much they earn, how tech savvy they are, how 'in the know' they are? We measure all these by looking at the phone they use to text, to phone, to play a game on, to surf the net on, how big their hard drive is - how much memory their little gadgets have.
Whatever, right? If you're shallow enough to judge then you deserve to be judged. To think the entire issue could have been avoided if technology was left at printing books. That I approve of.
While my reasons seem feeble to you (yes, you in the back) and not as well thought as you (yes, YOU) could have argued them, they form the basis for my general attitude to technology. It's all well and good when explained to me and simplified - it's all a little too extravagant for bits of metal in the general scheme of things.
I'll end this rant here and return to what I do best...
I hate technology. Most days with fervour and other days with banal disdain. We're discussing mobiles, laptops and all that goes with and came after these.
I want to go back in time to when we had proper mail, no mobiles, no facebook - no internet. The world seems far too small for the amount of space it occupies. Fifty years ago it was exciting to climb the steps into a plane and travel to a land you knew vague information - now we explore the streets of our destination using google maps, sort through hotels and motels according to their star ratings on the web, work out a precise itinerary by looking up other peoples reviews of what they enjoyed and decide exactly which areas to avoid by reading an evaluation by someone else.
Sure, I see the pros in this: you won't get lost, you won't be afraid, you won't be anywhere you don't want to be. But how much of an experience is a holiday if its planned based on someone else's opinion? You can see where I'm going with this.
I guess the main defence in the mobile phone arena is safety. A mobile ensures access to help or aid if the need arises. But what about the games and apps and extras that are now a status symbol? If you don't have the latest phone or the latest app you just aren't cool enough. Bring out one of the original Nokias and Oh No! A Brick! How could you?! Why should the appearance matter if it allows you to make and receive calls?
But it does. Technology has become a whole new form of measuring your neighbours position in life. How much they earn, how tech savvy they are, how 'in the know' they are? We measure all these by looking at the phone they use to text, to phone, to play a game on, to surf the net on, how big their hard drive is - how much memory their little gadgets have.
Whatever, right? If you're shallow enough to judge then you deserve to be judged. To think the entire issue could have been avoided if technology was left at printing books. That I approve of.
While my reasons seem feeble to you (yes, you in the back) and not as well thought as you (yes, YOU) could have argued them, they form the basis for my general attitude to technology. It's all well and good when explained to me and simplified - it's all a little too extravagant for bits of metal in the general scheme of things.
I'll end this rant here and return to what I do best...
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