Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Goodreads: Wither
Series: The
Chemical Garden #1
Published: March
22, 2011
Source: Purchased
Summary:
Due to some failures of genetic engineering, all females now
die at the age of twenty, and all males at twenty-five. Rhine is planning on making the most of the
four years she has left. But then she is
kidnapped, forced to become one of the polygamous brides to one of the wealthy
men seeking to keep the populating rising.
Life with her new husband has its perks—a constant supply of food, no
more worries about being murdered, more luxury than she could have
imagined. Yet nothing can compare to the
love she has for her twin brother, and she will do anything to make her way
back to him.
Conclusions:
Wither is a very
“content-heavy” book, particularly for a young adult novel. The readers know right away that there is
polygamy. There is next implied sex, and
then implied sex between a thirteen-year-old girl and a twenty-one-year-old man
(who are married). There are mentions of
prostitution, which seems to be a fairly common occupation for young ladies in
this society.
DeStefano clearly attempts to lessen the impact of some of
this by having the main character refuse to have sex with her husband. Only the other girls, with whom the readers
are supposed to sympathize slightly less, do.
She and the other girls interact mostly as friends and act as “sister
wives” primarily when they want to overwhelm their husband with attention so he
will grant them favors.
There is little violence and no cursing.
Religion appears to have been eradicated. Characters talk about “fate” instead of
“God.”
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Goodreads: Delirium
Series: Delirium
#1
Published: Feb. 1, 2011
Source: Purchased
Summary:
All citizens must undergo an operation in their teenage
years to make them forever immune to the disease of love. Lena is counting down the days until she
becomes a grown-up—and free from all the worries and dangers that emotions
bring. Then she meets Alex, who would
like to convince her that love is actually something beautiful.
Conclusions:
The premise of this dystopian is that love is a
disease. Therefore, touching or even
much interaction between people of different genders is not allowed. Clearly, the protagonist of a book in such a
society needs to rebel against these rules.
Mostly there is kissing. She
mentions once that Alex thinks she is beautiful without her shirt on, but there
is nothing graphic described and there is no sex.
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Goodreads:
Insurgent
Series: Divergent
#2
Published: May, 1
2012
Source: Purchased
SPOILERS FOR DIVERGENT
Summary:
Now that Erudite has revealed their intention to take over
society with their mind-controlling serums, Tris and Four are ready to
fight. Yet it will take some convincing
for Amity to join a war and for Candor to care for more than the safety of
their own faction.
Conclusions:
Beyond the plot (which is awesome!), Insurgent is interesting mainly for its discussion of
morality. Although Tris, and the book in
general, like to talk about shades of gray, it seems obvious that there is some
sense of the existence of absolute morality at work. One character, one of the traitors and
therefore a “bad guy,” argues that he made his decisions because “Evil depends
on where you stand.” Tris immediately
retorts that certain things will always be evil to her, no matter where she
stands.
Roth also writes a little more about religion in her
society, and all the factions seem to relate to it differently. Dauntless does not appear to have much
religious belief. Amity is very
spiritual, gathering in groups to pray together and talk in a community. Abnegation’s beliefs seems closest to traditional
Christianity. All religions are
respected by other factions.
The romance continues to be as it was in Divergent. Tris and Four kiss (strangely, usually in the
midst of highly dangerous situations).
They occasionally sleep in the same bed at night.
Obviously there is violence, as there is a war on.
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