Panda-Monium (FunJungle, 4)

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Dolphin Adventure was an enormous saltwater tank where tourists could pay to interact with the park’s eight dolphins. Some less reputable dolphin encounters allowed tourists to ride on the animals, but FunJungle only let guests swim close by, feed the dolphins some fish, and pet them gently. Everyone loved it. The sessions were expensive—and that was in addition to the steep price of park admission—but Dolphin Adventure sold out almost every day. And the ending. I don't know how much of it you have heard about, but I will not ruin it for you, because I am a nice person. But WOOOOOOW. After I read that last word, I just kinda of stared at the book with my mouth open. And then my dad made me go to bed, but I kind of just lay in bed for a few hours, thinking. And staring at the dark ceiling. Honestly, 2013 cannot get here any faster. It’s not Oliver’s fault. But what I wanted from this is a deeper under­stand­ing of soci­ety from the point of view of some­one will­ing to delve into a harder, grit­tier, more real­is­tic story. Some­one will­ing to ask the tough ques­tions and write the tough char­ac­ter­i­za­tion. Instead the novel glosses over a lot of those things and thus felt cheap and shallow.

Porque, para mí, el fuerte de ambas novelas son las emociones que me han transmitido más que la trama y los acontecimientos. De hecho, en retrospectiva, en esta entrega la historia no avanza mucho respecto del conflicto de esta sociedad futurista. I yanked on my dry clothes and exited the changing room. “How could someone else have taught the dolphins to do anything? No one has access to the dolphins except the trainers, right?” Lest you think this review is wholly negative, let me start with the things I did like. I love the concept, and think it has the potential to be really powerful and fascinating. There is a flow to it most of the time that kept me reading even when I was frustrated by other things. And there are these moments that shine through, these beautiful little word gems that Oliver creates, that reminds me of why I loved Before I Fall, and why I was so excited to read this.

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It may sound superficial to you, but once he said his name was Alex, he almost took a little place in my heart. I didn't like him right away, of course. (I'm not that weird) (Or maybe I am) but I love the name Alex so much, and I enjoyed every time Lena said his name. (I never came across the name Alex in a book at the past, except once, and he was a shitty person.) ALEX IS ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SDGFJINOFASOISGJFOAISJMGPLDSA,'G;SAD'G[DASP;L'G[AOASGNSJG[PO Something I can add to this is that Delirium while it focuses on love, your first love to be specific, I thought Pandemonium focused a little bit more on hate, anger and healing. It certainly showed us a new side to Lena that we never saw before. The combination of her new life and losing Alex has made her get in touch with emotions that would have been closed up to her before, and it is very interesting to see how she manages navigates through her new life. El libro está narrado en primera persona por Lena en capítulos alternados en dos períodos de tiempo diferentes: uno donde nos dejó el primer libro, cuando logra atravesar las vallas y es rescatada por un grupo de inválidos de la Tierra Salvaje y otro, seis meses después, cuando se une a la Resistencia y participa en su primera misión. En ambas, lo que siempre me invadió fue una sensación de tristeza, por la crudeza con que se describe la supervivencia en la inhóspita Tierra Salvaje, así como cuando se es parte de uno de los bandos de una guerra. Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you—sometimes I swear that just for a second time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever.

Goldberg, Lesley (February 7, 2013). "Emma Roberts to Star in Fox Drama 'Delirium' ". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 7, 2013. If I ruled the world, my manual would be The Book of STFU and do what you're told. And our spokesperson would dress as Darth Vader. I found Delirium to be a mixture of The Hunger Games and Matched. The premise of Delirium is that this particular dystopian society sees love (or amor deliria nervosa) as a disease that needs to be cured by an operation on the brain. Lena, our protagonist, is nearly 18 years old (the age requirement for having the operation) and is nervous yet excited about her upcoming “procedure” - until she meets Alex. Una novela pausada y muy intimista, que me gustó mucho más que Delirium, la primera entrega de esta trilogía, que leí hace más de un año y… eso fue un error. Si bien me acordaba perfectamente del argumento, los personajes y las situaciones, lo que se pierde en tanto tiempo son las sensaciones que causa la lectura. Recuerdo que me había gustado mucho como se describían los sentimientos entre Lena y Álex pero, en este libro, cuando se hacía referencia a ellos, me han dejado más bien fría.

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But where the line is drawn is when the world isn’t con­sis­tent and in the con­fines of that world, things don’t make sense. She was whiny but brave. She was weak but able to stand on her own. She knew how to love, but she also knew hate. Lena is living on her own in the Wilds, having a good time and feeling free. And she meets some guy and he becomes her first real friend while she's there and he helps her learn the ropes (What ALEX would've done if he were there)and she'd start falling in love with him and getting over Alex, who she still cares about. Normally, this would have been a good point. However, even though I was excited to see Li Ping, I wasn’t excited for the two girls to see me naked. Or to even learn that I was naked. The chapter headings with quotes from The Book of SHHH, nursery rhymes, playground chants, Comprehensive Compilation of Dangerous Words and Ideas, government pamphlets, schoolbooks and others are simply brilliant and add to the story in subtle ways. Amor Deliria Nervosa sounds like what doctors might call love if they wanted to classify it as a disease. There are lots of little tidbits like this that are clever and creative and make me wish for more from this book.

Pandemonium lets readers explore the bigger picture of Lena’s world. Every corner has its own story to tell, a whisper in the wind that you would have to carefully listen to. Now Olivia grew suspicious too. Thankfully, from where she was standing on the catwalk, she couldn’t see too well below the surface of the water, so she hadn’t noticed my nakedness yet either. “You’re not going to see the panda?” she asked. On the other hand, Lena is not the epitome of perfection - no properly characterized protagonist should be. She struggles to move on from her past, particularly her mother's suicide. Her mother gave up her life for the ones she loved, and Lena is more than willing to do the same. But she continues to visualize her mother leaping from a cliff and slowly falling into the tumultuous waters below (a rather frequently mentioned event throughout the book). Additionally, Lena compares herself to a princess who is waiting for her prince to save her. Yes, she outright states this comparison and is not ashamed to do so. Unfortunately, the concept of a damsel in distress does not appeal to the majority of teens in this day and age, myself included. They would prefer to read about a strong, independent, female protagonist who does not rely on others to come to her rescue. I think we've all outgrown Disney movies at this point.

If that happens, I won't be surprised, but I personally love Alex, and if it were me, I wouldn't stop thinking about him at all. He sacrificed freedom for Lena (Possibly his life, depending on whether he's really dead or not)and I don't think I could ever forget him. They have clamped their fists around a geyser to keep it from exploding. But the pressure eventually builds, and the explosion will always come."

Last, but not least, the motorcycle. While I do love me some hero riding in on a white horse or, in place of that, a shiny motorcycle, there needs to be at least a bit of dialogue on how this happened. How about, "Where did you get this?" shouted over the sound of the engine with, "Stole it!" as a reply. At least give me this much or earlier in the book tell me he has a motorcyle. This came out of nowhere, almost a deus ex machina or, in this case, deus ex motorcycle. Another thing I did not pay enough attention to before (because I was eagerly rushing trough the story) is the small fragments of society – the quotation of official documents, rules and regulations, children’s songs, and poetry, which help the reader to mentally construct and imagine the world that Lauren Oliver has created. Even though the story mostly focuses on Lena and Alex’s relationship and the things they discover about each other, we’re constantly aware that they live in a restrictive and severely controlled society. The narrative voice is flowing, steady, and easy to follow. It was just interesting enough to keep you reading to find out what happens next. What if we had to live in an alternative universe? What if this universe would be the same but not exactly equivalent to ours? What if it would be illegal to feel anything? What if love would be considered as a mortal sin? What if we had to spend almost all our lives not as human beings but something in between, since everything that breathes into us humanity would not exist at all? What if…? What if…? Oh wow, I read this exactly a month ago, so I guess it's about time I got around to reviewing it. On top of that, I read the whole thing in like two sittings so now my memory of it is a bit foggy. It kind of went by in a blur. So when I try to remember it my brain is kind of like:

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I noticed a lot of similarities with The Declaration but I preferred that book so much more. I probably will still read book 2 as I want to see where the storyline goes and how everything pans out. But overall, nothing mind blowing. There are some books written that touch you deeply. Stories that work their way stealthily into your heart, and imbeds itself securely there, and refusing to disperse, leaving you utterly breathless and completely captivated with wondrous awe. Delirium did this for me. There are not many books that can speak to you the way Delirium does. Books that tug at your heartstrings, and make you believe in the impossible. Books that can express what love really is: an all consuming, brilliantly captivating, wrenchingly heartbreaking power that takes control over you. Love that turns your world around, shows you things you never saw before, makes everything brighter and more amazing than you ever thought they could be. A very very VERY begrudging two stars. I'd give it a one, but I reserve those for books I truly loathe and I just dislike this one. Next are the Scavengers. They are almost similar to the resistant Invalids: uncured. But the thing about them is that they take no sides. They live to destroy and to steal, but you could easily buy their loyalty.