Monday, April 18, 2011

Group Interview: Lauren Oliver


It's the last day of the Cornucopia of Dystopia Blog Tour! To add a bit of fun to this final day, the participating blogs each submitted a question to Lauren Oliver, author of Delirium, and she was nice enough to take some time to answer all our questions. The full interview is spread across eight blogs, each linking to the next in the chain. To read the interview in its entirety, just follow the link trail starting below my question to Lauren where I've linked to the next blog. Hope you all enjoy!

Delirium is a story that really makes me believe in love, and one I walked away from with the hope that the strength of that emotion will be enough to get Alex and Lena through their trials. Is there one quote/scene from either Delirium or any other novel that made you sit back and say "Now that's love for you"?

Part of what was so fun about writing Delirium was that the whole novel was kind of a meditation on love—in all of its different manifestations. Falling in love is only the most obvious of them. I really loved writing about the love Lena and Hana had for one another, even though they couldn’t name it. Love is complex and strange and needs to be articulated over time, so I’m not sure you can point to a moment and say “that’s love.” Actually, that’s not true—weirdly, I think that when Hana and Lena have their blowout fight, and Lena feels like Hana has reached down into the very pit of her, that’s love. Only someone you love can know you that well—better than you know yourself, even—and consequently be able to hurt you.

Thanks so much for popping in Lauren! To continue the interview, please visit Rummanah at Books in the Spotlight.

For more information on Lauren and her books, you can find her here:

Website
Blog
Twitter

17 comments:

  1. I feel like the only one who still hasnt read Delirium.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Jenny N. Nope, I still haven't read it either. :(

    Great question! Love is complex and the range it has from 'True' love to the fluttering butterflies, all take a varied amount of time to articulate. It is interesting read about those ranges in a novel. If it happens to fast, it doesn't seem as authentic, if it takes too long, it is frustrating.

    Must. Read. This. Book. Soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. She is so awesome, just love her answer!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this book and Lauren is such a nice and funny person !! I can't wait to read Pandemonium !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed this book and can't wait until the next one.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jenny - I feel that way with If I Stay, I need to get to that one!

    Missie - Couldn't agree more, it's such a fine line between the instant love in a story and a long drawn out courtship where we're screaming at them to finally get together. It all depends on the two characters as well, sometimes the instant love works for me, and sometimes the drawn our relationship works:)

    Aly - She does pretty much rock. A friend met her at a signing and asked her to sign a book on my behalf since I couldn't be there and she wrote, "Jenny, you are dead to me" HAHAHAHA:) Love it!

    Elodie - I'm really excited for it as well, being patient is difficult:)

    Celeste - You're welcome! I can't wait either:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Interestingly enough, I didn't think of "that's love" moment with Lena and Alex, but like Lauren I definitely saw it with Hannah and Lena which goes to show you that there are many types of love.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great idea..:D

    I loved this book so much! The only problem I had with it, is waiting for the second book!

    ReplyDelete
  9. When I first read "Delirium" I am not going to lie, I was kinda aback by it, I found it to be way too similar to Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" trilogy for my taste. But since reading it I seriously cannot get it out of my mind, I find myself processing the storyline in my mind over and over again and I find myself falling for it more and more... The power of love at work I suppose! ;)
    And the fight between Hana and Lena? Total heartbreaker!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rummanah - I loved her answer to this question about all the different types of love and the broad spectrum of emotion that word encompasses:)

    Tina - That is a problem isn't it? Stupid good books being released so far apart!

    Juju - Indeed:)

    Avery - It took me a while to get into, the first half had me wondering why all the hype, but then I got sucked in and couldn't stop thinking about it after I was done:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ah such a great question. I'm too cynical to come up with something as lovely as that. Oh and I love the answer. Okay... I need this book!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Not that I'm supposed to answer this question, but I'm going to tell you my favorite part of the book that had to do with love. It was when Lena and Alex were at his "house" in the Wilds and he was quoting the poetry to her.

    He doesn't answer me directly. He flips forward a few pages in the book, but he doesn't glance down at it. He keeps his eyes on me the whole time. "You want to hear a different one?" He doesn't wait for me to answer before beginning to recite, "'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.'"

    Of course it goes on, but I just loved that whole scene, extensively.

    Jen
    In the Closet With a Bibliophile

    ReplyDelete
  13. Melissa - You do, it's great:)

    Jen - You are more than welcome to answer the question, and I adore that whole scene too:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great questions! I really like how she incorporate love in Delirium. The way it was written was really enticing.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I really want to read Delirium soon. There have been so many great reviews.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I still haven't read Delirium but I really enjoyed Lauren's answer. I agree with her point and think that the people who love us the most also have the ability to hurt us the most because they know us so well.

    ReplyDelete