ALA Booklist (Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

Oliver's follow-up to her smash debut, Before I Fall (2010), is another deft blend of realism and fantasy. The hook is irresistible: it's the near future, a time when love has long since been identified as a disease called amor deliria nervosa, and 17-year-old Lena is 95 days away from the operation that everyone gets to cure themselves. Can you feel the swoon coming? Enter Alex, a rakish daredevil who, as it turns out, is one of the Invalids tribe of uncured who live on the lam in the surrounding wilderness. With the clock ticking down to her surgery, Lena is drawn into Alex's world, one of passion and freedom, while her emotionally castrated family members hope to turn her into yet another complacent zombie. Oliver's masterstroke is making a strong case for love as disease: the anxiety, depression, insomnia, and impulsive behavior of the smitten do smack of infirmity. The story bogs down as it revels in romance ex is standard-issue perfection t the book never loses its A Clockwork Orange style bite regarding safety versus choice.

School Library Journal Starred Review (Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2011)

Gr 8 Up-In this gripping dystopian novel set in a future Portland, ME, everyone is safe, unhappiness can be cured, and the freedoms we take for granted have been relinquished in the name of "security" and "the common good." There is no risk and no pain, or at least there won't be for 17-year-old Lena Haloway and her outspoken friend, Hana, once they turn 18. They will then be eligible, in fact forced, to undergo the procedure that will render them impervious to delirium—the disease that was formerly known as love. You can see, of course, right where this is headed, but the ride is well worthwhile. Lena is an engaging and believable protagonist, at first compliant, then questioning, and finally desperate to save herself and the irrepressible emotions blooming within her. Her journey to understanding is both painful and exhilarating as she meets free-spirited Alex, succumbs to delirium, and wrestles with the social code she's been taught so well. Ultimately, Lena gets a shocking glimpse into the world outside the city's borders and witnesses the barbaric underpinnings of the "safe" world in which she has lived. Especially heartbreaking is her discovery of the fate of her mother, who was unable to stop loving her husband and daughters and paid a terrible price for her transgression. On the other hand, Lena's caring but numbed-out aunt and her scrupulously compliant older sister make clear the consequences of obedience to tyranny. Strong characters, a vivid portrait of the lives of teens in a repressive society, and nagging questions that can be applied to our world today make this book especially compelling and discussable.— Carolyn Lehman, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Oliver's artfully detailed prose reveals, brick by brick, the sturdy dramatic foundation of an initially implausible premise. In her dystopian America, love has been outlawed as the life-threatening source of all discord. Citizens submit at the age of 18 to a neurological procedure that "cures" them of amor deliria nervosa, the chief symptoms of which are passionate feelings about anything. Poetry and contact between members of opposite sexes are forbidden; the authoritarian government rules with suspicion, violence and bureaucratically arranged marriages. As Lena, the soon-to-be-18 narrator, approaches the date of her procedure with both trepidation and relief, she meets Alex, a boy who inspires feelings that upend everything she has believed about her community and herself. Lena's gradual awakening is set against a convincing backdrop of totalitarian horror. Chilling epigraphs from the government's rewritten histories begin each chapter, providing contextual propaganda so thorough that they've even reinterpreted the Bible to suit their message. The abrupt ending leaves enough unanswered questions to set breathless readers up for volume two of this trilogy. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2011)

In a near-future United States, the government has created a cure for the "deadly" disease amor deliria nervosa--a.k.a. love. High school senior Lena, counting the days until her "procedure," is clearly destined to fall in love; enter amber-eyed Alex as the worthy romantic hero. In a thick climate of fear, Oliver spins out a suspenseful story of awakening and resistance.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Oliver's artfully detailed prose reveals, brick by brick, the sturdy dramatic foundation of an initially implausible premise. In her dystopian America, love has been outlawed as the life-threatening source of all discord. Citizens submit at the age of 18 to a neurological procedure that "cures" them of amor deliria nervosa, the chief symptoms of which are passionate feelings about anything. Poetry and contact between members of opposite sexes are forbidden; the authoritarian government rules with suspicion, violence and bureaucratically arranged marriages. As Lena, the soon-to-be-18 narrator, approaches the date of her procedure with both trepidation and relief, she meets Alex, a boy who inspires feelings that upend everything she has believed about her community and herself. Lena's gradual awakening is set against a convincing backdrop of totalitarian horror. Chilling epigraphs from the government's rewritten histories begin each chapter, providing contextual propaganda so thorough that they've even reinterpreted the Bible to suit their message. The abrupt ending leaves enough unanswered questions to set breathless readers up for volume two of this trilogy. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In her sophomore novel, Oliver (Before I Fall) presents an intriguing but disappointing thought experiment, set in a dystopian future in which American borders are sealed and civil order is enforced by regulation, vigilantism, and ""the procedure,"" a coming-of-age lobotomy that excises amor deliria nervosa, or love. Nearly 18, Lena Haloway welcomes the prospect; her mother underwent three unsuccessful procedures and eventually committed suicide, so Lena deeply believes that love equals suffering. Still, there's a subversiveness to her thoughts and actions, from nurturing the motherless child Gracie to reading Romeo and Juliet because it is ""beautiful,"" not the cautionary tale it's presented as. When a strange, handsome boy begins to intrude on her life, strictly against the regulations, the ""beauty"" of that tragic trope begins to play out swiftly and relentlessly. The prose is accomplished, and the Portland, Maine, setting wonderfully evoked. However, Oliver's nightmare future lacks a visceral punch, primarily because of the weakness of the world-building. Her America has undergone a seismic shift, but the economic, religious, and cultural ramifications are all but ignored. Ages 14%E2%80%93up. (Feb.)