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.
I absolutely love this book! Combine The Hunger Games with the X-men and you have Shatter Me. I was looking for something to read next and read the first chapter of this as a trial run and could not put it down. My favorite character from the X-men is Rogue so this book hit me right away as something I would love! =)
First of all the structure is unique. It is written as a sort of journal. So, it is first person POV and a bit like stream of consciousness which takes a bit of getting used to. However, Mafi uses a lot of strikethroughs and repetition and lack of punctuation to show that our main character’s sanity (who, by the way, you don’t know her name without looking at the synopsis until several chapters in) is hanging by a thread. Mafi’s writing is beautifully poetic and full of unique and powerful metaphors. Impecibly done. Every sentence is crafted to show you exactly where our heroine is emotionally, physically, psychologically. Not a word is wasted.
Juliette, our heroine, is an exquisitely crafted character. I could relate to her because as an extremely loving, protective, touch-oriented person myself, I cannot imagine the insanity I would be driven to by being denied the ability to touch people. Yet, somehow, Juliette hangs on to her humanity after being completely shunned by her entire world. Though she has tried to close herself off to being touched emotional as well as physically, she does so mainly to protect others. Though she screams inwardly to be touched, she wants to protect the world from her curse/gift. She has never intentially hurt anyone and cannot imagine doing so.
Adam is…wow…I don’t have an adjective perfect enough for Adam. He is loving, devoted, determined, trusting, vulnerable, believable… As his character develops throughout the novel you just want to squeal with little schoolgirl giggles because he is just so…right…? That’s all I got…he baffles my vocabulary. Juliette and Adam set each other free emotionally. They are equals in the relationship, neither needing one more than the other, neither taking more from the other, neither always being the rescuer/rescuee. It is balanced. There is mutual benefit.
Warner is our villian and boy is he the perfect villian. A perfect villian, in my mind, is someone who you can sympathize with to a degree but you still hate him in the end. One, who though wrong, thoroughly believes himself to be right. Warner believes he is doing right by Juliette and in some twisted way actually cares for her. Disclaimer: I got the Kindle version with extra stuff in the back…part of which is a journal from Warner’s POV so…that may have skewed my perception of him. Also, Mafi seems to contrast he and Juliette quite a bit. Both had rough childhoods/difficult relationships with parents. Both have a certain level of power/giftedness. Both have been completely stripped of their basic need to feel loved and accepted for who they are from parental and societal figures, yet they react oppositely. Warner turns into a power hungry, obsessive, maniac and Juliette remains loving, compassionate and protective.
In short, drop everything…everything short of a baby/small child…and read this book! I am so looking forward to Unravel Me!
Author: Tahereh Mafi Title: Shatter Me Series: Shatter Me (Book #1) Published: November 15th 2011 by HarperCollins Website: www.taherehmafi.com Source: Purchased
Thanks for this review! Shatter me is definitely on my TBR list.
Yay! Glad you liked it!
Wonderful review! This was my first read of 2012 and what a way to start off the year! This was so beautifully written. And Adam…loved his character. I’m really, really looking forward to book 2. I just wish it wasn’t so far away…*sigh*
I know! Thankfully there are so many good things coming out between now and then!
Yes! Thank goodness!
I totally agree with everything you said. The writting was poetic. The POV with Juliette was just awesome. Adam was just wow, and Warner was a great vilian. One you almost feel bad for because he truly believes he is doing the right thing. I too gave this book 5 stars. Great review.
Yes the writing sold me before the story!
Awesome review! Yeah, Adam is hard to put into words. He is just…yeah. He and Juliette are perfect for each other; talk about some great chemistry.
While I haven’t read the extra content, I also felt that Warner is the perfect villian. Creepy but you still kind of feel for him and root for him. Kind of pictured him as Sebastian Stan from the NBC show Kings.
Good! I’m so glad I wasn’t the only.one to feel that way about Warner!
Gah, I LOVED this book! Perfect review too!
I loved the way it was written. Very unique voice.
Thanks, Tara!
i loved the writing and the flowyness of it
gr8 review
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it too! =)