I like that she treated love as some disease that can be cured. That is something new to me and I found it interesting. Come to think of it, love may as well be a disease. It is something that we catch, some times even by surprise. Often, we spread it to others. It is something that affects us not just emotionally but physically and psychology as well, especially when we get heartbroken. There are times that love can drive people to do some thing that they won't normally do (it may be for the good or not), and on extreme cases it can drive people insane and can push one to even kill.
I guess that is where the author is coming from. Maybe she thought what if love is a disease that has a cure. Will that solve, more or less, most of the world's problems? Will there be finally be peace on Earth?
The main character of the novel is Lena or Magdelena. She is what they called, "uncured", because she has not had her cure for the disease yet. The cure is administered when one reaches 18 years old. Prior to that age, one would still feel deliria but it is not encouraged. Uncured boys and girls do not to the same school and do not often mingle. Interaction should be at the minimal.
Before graduating from high school, seniors take what they call the board exams for various subjects. These would assess ones strong suits and weakness and would match you to a school and a major. The evaluation is the final test. It helps them get paired (yes, your mate is arranged for you). Not that they wouldn't have a choice since after evaluation, a girl will be sent a list of four or five endorsed matches (so somehow, she gets a choice albeit very limited). "As much as possible [evaluators] try to avoid any huge disparities in intelligence, temperament, social background, and age." The one she will choose will eventually become her husband once she graduate from college. However, if the girl does not get passing marks on your boards, she gets "paired and married right out of high school."
Aside from the fact that people are paired and matched during Lena's time, the government also regulates what they watch, hear and read. The "LAMM or Library of Authorized Music and Movies" which I think is a really, really regulated version of iTunes. They have a "List of Authorized Entertainment" which is updated twice a year. If there is a LAMM, there is also a "LAB or Library of Approved Books". Books or stories that elicit strong emotions are prohibited such the works of Shakespeare and poetry.
Dominion, of course, does not stop there. In the novel the United States has closed its borders. Military personnel continually guard the borders. "No one can get it. No one goes out. Every sanctioned and approved community must also be contained within a border - that's the law - and all travel between communities requires official written consent of the municipal government, to be obtained six months in advance."
I find how she wrote the novel original because she was able to give a somewhat scientific name for love - amor deliria nervosa - which makes it sound like a real-life disease. Not only that, throughout the novel she would quote from The Book of Shhh, which is their bible in the novels. She even has her version of the tale of King Solomon and the mothers who were fighting over one baby.
I love this novel but I don't think I can live in a world like that. Everything - to the music that you listen to, the movies that you watch, the books that you read - is prescribed! Even the person you will marry is chosen for you. What you should do, how you would act is dictated to you.
Maybe this is my reaction because I cannot imagine living in a world like that. Because I am used to having choices. I can choose what to read, listen or watch whenever, wherever. I am free to love whomever I choose. I can enroll in a course of my own liking. In short, I am used to the liberties that we have that's why Lena's world is difficult to imagine. It would seem, looking from our perspective, hers is a lonely place to live in. Especially, if you are the type who doesn't want to be constrained by rules (like me), who will do whatever she wants, whenever she wants it. But maybe if that is the kind of world that you are accustomed to, the world that we have now would be a terrifying place to live in. From Lena's perspective, ours is a world where people kill one another over the slightest of reasons; there are wars; crime is everywhere. Which one would you want?
"Hate isn't the most dangerous thing. Indifference is." - Alex
Rating: 5 STARS
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