Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
City LimitsThey walk down the streets of Portland, avoiding the traffic for the allergy pride parade and the people living like it's the 1890s… Oh, that's Portland, Oregon. This book takes place...
Genre
Lena's government has probably banned the use of the word dystopia, but until they get ahold of us, we have the definition. In short, dystopian lit is literature that paints a super scary, freaky d...
What's Up With the Title?
In Lena's world, love is a medical condition: amor deliria nervosa. In other words: delirium. Thankfully there's a cure. Maybe it's like the Felicity Twilight Zone episode, "Help for the Lovelorn."...
What's Up With the Ending?
Boy, the end to Delirium is quite the heart-breaker, isn't it? Once Lena finally escapes from the confines of her oppressive totalitarian government, she sees Alex shot right in front of her. Her o...
Tough-o-Meter
In Delirium, the government has banned a lot of books because they're dripping with love. This isn't the case in the contemporary U.S. of A., but if love stories were to start disappearing from the...