Book Review - Shatter Me
by Tahereh Mafi
Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
Why I Picked This Book: I have been following Tahereh Mafi on her blog for some time now. So this book has been teasing me for some time as well. When I won it in the Facebook Give Away... Yes, I literally did cheer.
My Thoughts:
Shatter Me was one of those books I heard of for what felt like forever, sat on pins and needles to get my hands on, then devoured as soon as it arrived. Tahereh Mafi has a way with words I am not sure I ever experienced before. I was pulled in, and just couldn't escape until the last page.
First, I do have to mention Mafi's writing style. It is poetry in book form. Mafi takes the rules of writing, then tweaks and messes with them until the sentences become their own form of awesomeness. Her style made it very easy for me to dive into the mind of Juliette. It was a beautiful, lonely, flowing mind. One that I did not want to leave.
And the strikeouts. I had never seen this used much in books before. Words are struck out throughout the book, showing what Juliette truly wanted to say, then stopped herself. Example:
His touch is scorching my skin through the layers of fabric and I inhale so fast my lungs collapse. I’m caught in colliding currents of confusion, so desperateso desperate so desperateto be close so desperate to be far away. I don’t know how to move away from him.I don’t want to move away from him.
I don’t want him to be afraid of me.
While at first this was a style I was wary of, as the story went on I craved it. This, mixed with the poetry of Mafi's style, made for the perfect Juliette.
Now, onto Juliette. A girl who's touch can literally kill. What? Yes, it's true. After an incident where she touches someone and kills them, Juliette is locked away in an Institution. Alone. No human contact for 264 days, until suddenly one day she is assigned a room mate. And it is a boy. A boy she knows.
Long story short, a rogue organization frees Juliette, solely for the intent of using her touch as a weapon. Have I mentioned that the entire world has gone to heck? Well, it has. And Warner, the bad boy of the book, plans to use Juliette to gain control. Oh, and he is also utterly and creepily obsessed with her.
I loved the plot. I loved Juliette. I loved the shattered world. Warner was just enough of a creep that I shuddered every time he walked into the room, and Adam was very much so a swoon worthy hunk.
My issues?
This book is very sexually driven. While I am not complaining about that (come on, we all like the sparks), there were many moments where I wondered if I had somehow picked up the wrong book and was reading one of those books instead. If you get my drift. While I do understand Juliette's urges - heck, she hasn't touched pretty much anyone her entire life - there were moments I felt could have been tamed a little. Especially for this being a young adult book.
I won't spoil, but there was one moment in particular, just one sentence she says to Adam, that I literally rolled my eyes and said, out-loud, "You did not just say that right now!"
Regardless, I loved the book. I highly
My Rating
(4 out of 5 stars)
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