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Monday, November 14, 2011

Review ~ SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi


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.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.(From GoodReads)

In One Word ~ Spectacular

Once again, I find myself stumped.  I haven't a clue as to how to write this review in a way that
fully conveys my feelings without being   a)completely over-the-top fangirly;    b)so afraid of being ridiculous that I lack adequate enthusiasm;   c)wait...what was I talking about again?

All jokes aside, I think the above rambling sort of tells you where my mind is when it comes to Shatter Me, all over the place. Shatter Me is, in my opinion, a game changing book. Maybe there are other books out there that are written in the same manner. If they're out there, I don't know about them. But author Tahereh Mafi seems to have taken everything that I know about books and the conventional manner of writing, and completely broke it down, building something new and remarkable.

When I started reading Shatter Me, I was struck by the starkness of Juliette's world. This story is told solely from hear perspective, mainly through her thoughts. At first I was totally thrown by the writing. Juliette's narrative is quick, sometimes abrupt and other times rambling. There are incomplete sentences, then run-on sentences. My brain was screaming at me: DOES NOT COMPUTE!  And I thought that I may be headed towards a short-ciruit. But within a short amount of time, the realization hit me that since this is coming from Juliette's thoughts, the writing makes complete and total sense. Juliette is struggling to understand what is happening around her; she is learning to deal with human interaction for the first time in a year. With all that she is dealing with, it is no wonder her thoughts are erratic. Once I made the connection, the writing style made sense and didn't disract me at all.

Now it's time to talk about my favorite book subject, boys. I'll start with Adam. (Swoon, sigh) He is so darn dreamy, and honorable, and strong, and courageous. He's practically perfect, and I love, love, love him. But....there's this other guy, Warren. (swoon, sigh, and cringe) Warren is what I'll call... a psychopath. Maybe. I don't know, he certainly seems to be quite unhinged. But I have a feeling about Warren, I think he's full of surprises. I tried to trick a hint out of author Tahereh Mafi on Twitter but she wasn't spilling, only saying that he has a big part of book two, yay! Because as much as he creeps me out and angers me, there's something about him. I thought I was just odd, liking him, until a HUGE conversation about Warren erupted on twitter the other day. I was confused, because I shouldn't have the hots for the bad guy, right?  As it turns out, I'm not the only one. There is a enthusiastic Warren following out there. We have named ourselves #teampsychopathlovers, and we are loud and passionate.  I think Adam should be with Juliette, and Warren should be with me. I clearly am a sucker for damaged goods, I have a "I want to fix him" complex.
In all honesty, Shatter Me was on my radar for quite a time before I read it. There were so, so many bloggers professing their love for the book. I've been burned before by hype. I haven't read a dystopian book that I have loved in a long time. In fact, I've even said that I don't like dystopian, at all, and I didn't care to read any more. I think the difference in Shatter Me and the other books in the genre is pretty simple. Many of the other books focus on the bleak harshness of the conditions in the world. Shatter Me is this amazing, heartbreaking, empowering story of a girl who just happens to live in a dystopian future. The fact that it is overtly character-based makes Shatter Me stand out and has made it the book that made me eat my words about dystopian books. They tasted delicious.

Favorite Quote:

"He's a hot bath, a short breath, five days of summer pressed into five fingers writing stories on my
 body."

The Trailer



Hardcover, 342 pages
Expected publication: November 15th 2011 by Harper/HarperCollins

Buy Shatter Me at:
* I received an ARC of Shatter Me from Harper Teen, in exchange for an honest review.*

17 comments:

  1. You know, I pre-ordered my copy of Shatter Me based entirely off the crazy hype circulating at the moment. I was just so darn curious--typically i don't even enjoy dystopians, cos I wind up depressed!
    Your revew totally just sold me--you sound so excited, I can't help but be the same! Thank you thank you thank you!

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  2. Yay glad you liked it! I loved how Juliette's voice was portrayed and you could see how the isolation affected her mentally. Great review!

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. I love crazy psychopaths!!! Sounds like this one will be perfect for me, as I'm all about favoring the villain over the hero, so long as he's written well enough, or better than the hero. I must buy this for that reason alone!

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  5. Shatter Me sounds awesome!!!! I really want to read this one :) Adam sounds like my kind of guy!!!!!

    SeeitORreadit

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  6. I just finished this book last night, in one sitting! I could not put it down, this books is beyond amazing! I love your review, but Warner scares me! He is the perfect psychopath villain, who likes to inflict pain.

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  7. I didn't get a chance to comment on this yesterday, because I was writting you a long ass email. lol. I'm so glad you were able to get used to the writing style. I had seen your first good reads status and was a little worried. :)

    I loved Adam.. He's so sexy. I want to have his babies.. but then Warren.. he's crazy, but hot in a crazy kind of way. I wouldn't want to have his babies... but I woudln't mind messing around with him.. (protected) of course. Rain coats are important. :)

    Great review.. I'm so happy you loved it.. and now we can "not so patiently" wait for book two! Woo hoo!

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  8. yup, I was writting you, not writing you.. <----- that's new slang for email.

    #notreally
    #needstoproofreadbeforeposting

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  9. I deleted my comment because I spelled Warner wrong. But I basically said that I couldn't even try to like Warner in this book. Note: I say...in this book. :)

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