The Devil's Roulette

I have been reading dystopian after dystopian lately. They all have slight similarities and many, many disturbing ideas in them. Though none of them have enough similarities to be able to actually compare to each other, apples and oranges. Delirium by Lauren Oliver is my most recent read and dystopian. Of all the books I have been reading this one seems closest to our world today and yet is the most unsettling. Try imagining a world where love, happiness, feeling emotions of any kind is considered to be a disease, a deformity, something needing medical attention. And it has even been given a name... Amor Deliria Nervosa. These faults have become so feared by this society that when you turn 18 you actually have to go through the procedure, which is basically a lobotomy... they remove the ability for you to ever feel any great emotion... no chance of falling in love, of enjoying hobbies, of feeling depressed or sad, life becomes an emotionless zombie-walk. And of course the people have become so brain-washed that they believe in the procedure and feel that life is better afterward. Until you have been "Cured" you live separately from the opposite sex, except for family and the occasional cured adult you happen to pass during daily life. Before you are "Cured" you will go through an evaluation that will determine your possible future, whether you are destined for college or to be married right away, what jobs you could potentially have, four matches of the opposite sex that you have to rate in order from 1 to 4 according to who you wish to end up with and finally you will be told the amount of kids you are allowed to have, if any. Life is determined for you in a way that makes you think you get at least small amount of a say. Of course, all the history, rules and safety for the city is all in a handbook and is fondly known as the Book of Shh. And of course there is a world outside of civilization known as the Wilds... this is where the invalids live... an invalid is anyone who managed to get away without being cured.
I love that the author has added quotes and paragraphs from the Book of Shh. It makes it come to life more and is quite sickening at times...
This is a Nursery Rhyme that is in the Book of Shh: 

Mama mama help me get home
I'm out in the woods, I am out on my own
I found me a werewolf, a nasty old mutt
It showed me it's teeth and went straight for my guy

Mama, mama help me get home
I'm out in the woods, I am out on my own
I was stopped by a vampire, a rotting old wreck
It showed me it's teeth, and went straight for my neck

Mama, mama, put me to bed
I won't make it home, I'm already half dead
I met an ivalid, and fell for his art
He showed me his smile, and went straight for my heart.

Here are a few quotes from the Book of Shh that really got to me:

"Human being, in their natural state, are unpredictable, erratic, and unhappy. It is only once their animal instincts are controlled that they can be responsible, dependable, and content"

"There has been significant debate in the scientific community about whether desire is a symptom of a system infected with amor deliria nervosa, or a precondition of the disease itself. It is unanimously agreed however, that love and desire enjoy a symbiotic relationship, meaning that one cannot exist without the other. Desire is enemy to contentment; desire is illness, a feverish brain. Who can be considered healthy who wants? The very word want suggests a lack, an impoverishment, and that is what desire is: an impoverishment of the brain, a flaw, a mistake. Fortunately, that can now be corrected."

"Humans, unregulated, are cruel and capricious; violent and selfish; miserable and quarrelsome. It is only after their instincts and basic emotions have been controlled that they can be happy, generous and good."

"Of all the systems of the body- neurological, cognitive, special, sensory- the cardiological system is the most sensitive and easily disturbed. The role of society must be to shelter these systems from infection and decay, or else the future of the human race is at stake. Like a summer fruit that is protected from insect invasion, bruising, and rot by the whole mechanism of modern farming; so must we protect the heart."