Pandemonium

Lena has escaped, and now must piece herself back together as she finds herself having to live without Alex and love. She becomes involved in the fight against the cure, the Rebellion, and then suddenly finds happiness again.. or does she?

For the first time the thought comes to me - I wish I hadn't crossed - and I push it away instantly, try to bury it. It's done now... There's no point in looking back. I can't look back.

Lauren Oliverwas born in Queens and raised in Westchester, New York, in a small town very similar to the one depicted in Before I Fall. Her parents are both literature professors, and from a very early age, Laura and her sister and were encouraged to make up stories, draw, paint, dance around in costumes, and essentially spend much of their time living imaginatively. Their house was old and full of art and towers and towers of books, still very much the kind of house Lauren likes best!

Lauren started writing as a way of extending her love of reading; when she read a book she loved, she would continue to write sequels for it (she was inadvertently a fan fic writer, before "fan fiction" was even a term!). Later on, she began working on her own stories, and keeping company with a lot of imaginary friends.

Lauren pursued literature and philosophy at the University of Chicago, and then moved back to New York to attend NYU's MFA program in creative writing. Lauren simultaneously began working at Penguin Books, in a young adult division called Razorbill, and while there, started work on Before I Fall. She left in 2009 to pursue writing full-time, and now she happily works in her pyjamas every day.
Lauren lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Pandemonium
Hodder & Stoughton
Author: Lauren Oliver
ISBN: 9781444722932
Price: $22.99

Interview with Lauren Oliver

Question: Pandemonium is the second book in the Delirium trilogy - what can you share with us in regards to the storyline.

Lauren Oliver: Pandemonium is the second book in the Delirium trilogy. Delirium is about a world where love is viewed as a contagious disease that they haven't figured out how to cure. Pandemonium broadens the lens, rather than just focusing on one girl's transformation and emotional and psychological growth over the course of one summer, it really focuses more broadly on the society, on the resistance movement and on the world which is on the verge of war.


Question: How did you come across the idea for this trilogy?

Lauren Oliver: Actually the idea came from several different places. One of them was that I had been thinking about love and that was probably because I had read an essay by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in which he said "all good books are about either love or death". My first book, Before I Fall was very much about death so I was thinking about writing about love.

Several years ago I was at the gym, in New York and there was a big Swine Flu panic and I began thinking about representations of power (the panic was really blown heavily out of proportion, nobody was actually affected) and how as a regular person you don't necessarily have access to objective information, you don't know what's true and what's not.

Then I was thinking that if you look at the symptoms of love often in its earlier stages: inability to focus on anything else, sleep disruption, periods of euphoria followed by periods of depression it has a lot in common with psychiatric disorders we usually treat with medication. And that's where the idea came from…


Question: Can you talk about the process involved in creating the character of Lena?

Lauren Oliver: There is a great quote about writing that essentially says "that writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia" and I really do find that to be true. The character of Lena kind of just began speaking to me; I didn't consciously feel as if I was creating her. Although one thing that is very appealing to me as a writer is transformation; being able to show a character over time and that was something that writing Lena allowed me to do.


Question: What was the most difficult part of writing Pandemonium?

Lauren Oliver: There is a lot more action in Pandemonium and a lot more choreographed fight scenes which is not my usual forte, if it was up to me I would just write plotless character studies for 800 pages. That was a real challenge but I loved it.


Question: Can you share with us anything about the final book in the trilogy, Requiem?

Lauren Oliver: I can only say that Requiem is told from two narrative points of view.


Question: What's the best thing about being an author?

Lauren Oliver: Getting to work in your pajamas (laughing)! I had a dream last night that I had an office job, I had applied for an bad assistance role at a literacy house and I realised I wouldn't be able to wear my pajamas to the office and I was really upset (laughing)!

I feel bad because my fiancé will come at 7pm and I'll still be wearing my pajamas and I'll be unshowered!