Shatter Me: Shatter Me (#1)

After all the hype surrounding this book, I decided to give it a read. The premise: Juliette’s touch is lethal. Her parents couldn’t give her the love she craved. At school, she wasn’t allowed to interact with other children in case she harmed them. Her world is one of physical isolation and extreme loneliness.

At the age of fourteen, the unintentional use of Juliette’s “power” causes her to be taken from her parents’ home, submitted to batteries of tests, and eventually placed in solitary confinement for almost a year. The only thing that keeps her company is a notebook in which she pens her innermost thoughts, often censoring what she considers unacceptable by crossing out entire lines of text. One day she wakes up to the sight of her new cellmate: Adam.

Juliette is emotionally shattered by her ability, by what it does to her and what it can potentially do to others. The society where she lives is a dystopian one. Her world is in a state of environmental decay, extreme poverty and political chaos. One powerful individual seeks out her ability and wishes to use her as a weapon in his new social order, where old ideologies are to be destroyed and replaced.

Warner, a powerful young man in the military, frees Juliette from her prison and wants to harness her ability. Adam is one of Warner’s soldiers, and he falls in love with Juliette and is determined to free her from this new life, where she is just as much a prisoner as she was before.

Juliette is easy to identify with. She is frightened, lonely, hungry for someone’s touch, and determined not to use her ability to harm anyone. What is most captivating about Shatter Me is the stream-of-consciousness writing. The reader is immersed in Juliette’s thoughts, and the style reflects her broken, shattered mind. It is this rich style that gives the novel its uniqueness and carries the reader through the scenes.

The pace is rapid and the tension steadily mounts as Juliette tries to find her freedom and a place where she belongs. At the same time, the plot contains several very convenient coincidences, and they are not always entirely plausible. The reader needs to suspend disbelief on many occasions, and I found myself jolted out of the narrative more than once wondering: Isn’t it convenient that when Juliette is on the run, hungry, and desperate for transportation, she just happens to find a car with keys in the ignition and a bag of groceries in the back seat?

The ending has a contrived, X-Men flavour about it, which left me with a bitter taste of disappointment. After such a promising beginning, I had hoped for a more original ending, not one replete with clichés. Still, for its stream-of-consciousness writing style and insight into the character’s shattered life, Shatter Me is definitely worth reading.

As soon as I read the summary for Shatter Me, I knew this was a book I just had to read. The premise was too intriguing to pass up, and it sounded exactly like my kind of book. For the most part, it did not disappoint. The writing is unique and experimental, which I appreciated. At first, it was hard for me to get into Juliette’s, the main character, head because of the writing style, but as I became engrossed in her story the writing just sort of fell away and what was left was a beautiful, if haunting at times, look at a character who has endured so much. I really enjoyed the exploration of Juliette’s humanity and how she came to embrace it over time. When we meet Juliette, she is, understandably, quite a wreck. She hasn’t had human contact in so long, hasn’t spoke for over 200 days, and has quite a heavy case of a personal crisis. By the end, Juliette interacts with people and realizes what kind of purpose she may have.

I think what really makes this book work is the first person perspective. I got to explore the world and other characters to Juliette’s eyes, which made Warner even more creepy and the idea of what the Reestablishment was doing to the world even more haunting. I found Adam a little flat at times in the middle of the book, but by the end I was genuinely enjoying reading about every character. I think this book would lose a lot of appeal for me if it hadn’t been told from Juliette’s perspective. I think I would have gotten bogged down in the experimental writing and been overwhelmed with the world to the point I didn’t care about the characters any more.

The story is fast-paced and well-plotted for the most part, but the thing that keeps this from being a 5 star book for me is mainly the way the book ended. By the time I reached the end, I felt all I had read was the set-up for a more interesting story. While I’m definitely excited about the sequels for Shatter Me, I have to admit that after reading, it just all seemed like an introduction for anything that could happen in the next books. There’s a few events that take place at the end that I would have enjoyed more if those plot developments had taken place in the middle of the book and had been explored more before the last page.

Final Impression: It’s an unique story that won’t appeal to everyone, but I loved seeing this new world through Juliette’s view. I wish this book had been developed a little more and seemed like less of a springboard for future novels, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. 4/5 stars.

First of all—the cover. I realize the cover has nothing to do with the actual book, but it’s a very nice cover, you must agree.
Aside from the cover, the story itself was good. It wasn’t too predictable, like so many YA books happen to be. I wouldn’t say that I was kept on my toes, but I didn’t guess what was going to happen the second I finished the first chapter. I liked that. If you know what’s going to happen, why even bother to read? So that was a big plus.

I liked the characters a lot as well. They were all charming and fun to read about. Adam is a swoon-worthy leading man, and Warner is a bad guy who I think has a bit more depth than your average villain (I’ll will look forward to reading more about him in the sequel). Juliette herself wasn’t my favorite character, as far as female progatonists go, but she wasn’t horrid or dull or stupid, and I liked being inside her head.

But the best thing about this was the writing. It was fantastic, absolutely amazing. It reminds me of Lauren DeStefano’s style, only I think Mafi’s goes beyond that and brings something more to the table. Every sentence was an image, every paragraph a metaphor, especially in the beginning. As the plot progressed, Mafi’s prose got a bit lighter on the imagery, just by necessity of keeping the action moving. But it still showed up.

One very intersting aspect of Mafi’s writing was the strikethrough text. I’ve never seen that in a book, and though at times it was distracting for me, I thought it was a lovely touch on the whole.

I could not find the locale used in the beginning—the insane asylum—to be believable. This sounds like a trivial detail, but in the long run I think it’s important. The asylum is where Mafi chose to open her book, and as far as world-building goes, I don’t think she did a good job here.

Mostly my issue my the asylum is with the “shower scene” described in chapter 3. I have a hard time believing that, even when the world is in chaos, a government institution like a hospital would function the way it was described. Opening all the prisoners’ cells at one time to let them find their way through a pitch-black maze of hallways to the showers? Not even realistic. Who in their right mind, if they wanted to keep control, would let a bunch of “disturbed” kids roam around a dark building with no idea where they are or what exactly it is they’re looking for? This sounds like a romantic plot device to get our two love interests alone together in the dark. Unimpressive.

However, my real issue with this book was Juliette’s character. Self-loathing does not make for a good plot. I can only put up with so much “woe-is-me-I-killed-a-person” and “I’m-so-isolated-from-everything” and “my-parents-hated-me.” It gets old. And it’s hard to have a strong female lead who thinks she’s worthless and should just die to save other people. The only thing that made Juliette’s character palatable was the fact that she snapped out of her woebegone self-loathing. Mind you, it happened in the second-to-last chapter. But it happened, so I forgive her.

This was a fantastic read! It’s only my second YA dystopian novel, but if there are others out there like this one, I see the appeal. Mafi’s brilliant writing was the big seller here, but in most respects it was a very good debut.

I’m normally not a fan of the “I did this. Then I did that. Then he did that. And this, that, and the other thing. *insert metaphor here*” type writing style, but I think it worked really well for Shatter Me. Juilette has been in an institution with no social contact for almost a year when she gets a new roommate. The author did a great job of showing us how nervous (and conflicted) Juliette was about this, not only because of her previous isolation, but due to her little quirk: a deadly touch.

Of course, that quirk is exactly why the Reestablishment wants her on their side. The Reestablishment is suppose to be…well, reestablishing society. However, Warner, the leader, has other plans; plans that require Juliette as a secret weapon. Warner is one of those characters that I just love to hate! He’s a despicable human being, but I found myself interested in what he had to say, and what he was going to do next. His obsession with Juliette was intense and at times creepy.

In contrast to Warner, is the other man in Juliette’s life, Adam. Adam was a puzzle that I was intrigued by, and I loved learning about him along the way. There was one moment about a third into the book that majorly disappointed me. I can’t say what it is, since it’s a huge spoiler, but I wassad it was there, even though it wasn’t a bad thing. It almost felt like a cop-out to me, and makes things too easy, until we get to Omega Point. Then my opinion changed.

Omega Point is amazing so far! I loved what was revealed about it already, and I’m dying to know more about it and its inhabitants. I also want some answers! Book 2 is too far away!

“The weather, the plants, the animals, and our human survival are all inextricably linked. The natural elements were at war with one another because we abused our ecosystem. Abused our atmosphere. Abused our animals. Abused our fellow man.“

Woo!

Holy freakin crap! Mafi is a genius. When I started reading it, I was curious about the format (the number not spelled out and the lack of commas) and the style (crossed out and repeated words). It was my first time to encounter a book written this way but fear not, people. It actually helped. The repeated words emphasized Juliette's feelings without overdoing it. The crossed out words tells us the existing conflict inside her mind.

A few pages in, my heart started to bleed for Juliette and what she went through. A child doesn't deserve a family who doesn't care for her and wants her gone. She doesn't deserve all the condemning words she got from everyone who judged her based on what she doesn't have any choice.

Meeting the boys was something I was looking forward since I started reading the reviews. All the rave about Adam and Warner fed my curiosity and made me wonder which guy will I side with. And after reading... I am still torn. No, not really. I'm actually leaning towards Warner. Despite being introduced as a villain, there is something in him that convinced me that there's more than meets the eye. He was such a complex character that I can't seem to hate. There were instances that hinted about Warner's true self, although not fully revealing it, and it made me believe that he's actually good. He's just...lost.

But despite wanting Juliette to end up with Warner, I still can't hate her interactions with Adam. They are actually sweet and spells out love. (But come on, Warner here!) Adam actually reminds me of Alex from Delirium. He's working for the government but he's actually against their beliefs.

I can't wait to read the next books. Maybe my couple will have a HEA. Maybe the ending will break my heart.

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON http://shelversanon.blogspot.com

SHATTER ME is a first-person narrative from Juliette, a seventeen-year-old girl from an Orwellian future, who is locked in solitary confinement to protect others from her lethal touch. Now really, if that fact alone doesn't grab you, I doubt anything in this review will convince you otherwise, but I'll try.

According to Juliette, her lethal touch (she causes excruciating pain and eventual death in whomever she touches) has been with her since she was an infant, causing a lifetime of alienation and isolation. She is treated either as a freak or a nonentity, both at home and at school, culminating in her solitary confinement after she accidentally touches and kills a stranger.

264 days later, she is given a roommate, a smokin' hot boy named Adam. Eventually, we learn that Adam is a face from her past, and it's no accident that he was placed in Juliette's cell. As the story unfolds, Mafi, through Juliette, tosses us other tantalizing details, such as descriptions of the Big Brother-esque ruling class called The Reestablishment, whose local leader, Warner, is responsible for arresting and confining Juliette.

Warner is also the one who releases Juliette (into his own custody, of course) and tries to persuade her to use her power for the good of The Reestablishment. In his own way, Warner is smokin' as well (isn't that always the way?), but he dreams of power and control, even as he seems to crave Juliette's company for her own sake and yearn for a way to show his new captive how thrilling power over others can be.

So now Juliette has to choose - Adam or Warner? Established power or rebellion? Her choice would be easier if she knew whom she could trust, including herself.

Juliette is a nutcase, and I love her for it, and I love Mafi for letting Juliette find her voice. The prose is distinctive with its stream-of-consciousness, rambling careful wording, babbling fears, and obsession with numbers. The book is her journal, her thoughts as things happen, and as quickly as the thoughts come tumbling out she goes back and carefully edits herself, allowing us a look at things her character would truly never say but would still think. These edits, as well as Juliette's fixation on numbers and counting, are her attempt to control herself and her world, or at least what little she can, as she never can control the power of her touch except through isolation. When a voice is true and consistent, I find myself thinking with that voice long after I've walked away from the book, and Juliette was in my head from start to finish.

Warner is probably the second-most fascinating character. He's the villain, the Hyde to Juliette's well-meaning Jekyll, but Mafi allows him moments of humanity that lend him a depth that Adam lacks. Optimist that I am, I would be thrilled if he found his own (at least partial) redemption by the end of the trilogy, but I will nevertheless be happy to follow him down his crooked path wherever it may lead.

Overall, Mafi receives solid marks for this story. The premise is interesting and the story is addicting, even if the ending falters into somewhat familiar territory. For those who enjoy the angsty, pathos-ridden, somewhat unrealistic romance found in Twilight, this book is for you. I am not one of them, but I will wait for the sequel with measured interest for the sake of Juliette, the fascinating little freak superhero.

***Points Added For: Unique voice, addicting storyline, flawed baddie, twitchy protagonist, wisecracking sidekick, a touching twist!

***Points Subtracted For: Unrealistic romance timeline, too-true lover, stereotypical malevolent parents, love triangle, poor cover art (That's supposed to be Juliette? Are you joking?).

***Good For Fans Of: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, Firelight by Sophie Jordan, Divergent by Veronica Roth, lovers of angsty teen romance.

***Notes For Parents: The following book contains moderate amounts of violence, poor teen choices, and at least one makeout scene.

Stunningly beautiful metaphors used to describe Juliette's inner turmoil and surrounding landscape was not enough to save Shatter Me from a powerless heroine, a nonexistent plot and weak world-building.

I tried I tried I tried to relate to Juliette. Having grown up abused and unloved, then thrown into solitude for almost an entire year, I started reading Shatter Me knowing that Juliette was going to be an unstable character. I knew she was going to be meek and withdrawn and I had accepted that; I was prepared for that. What I wasn't prepared for was her unrelenting lack of character development. For the vast majority of the book, she spends her time crying/trembling/gasping/blushing, all while adamantly refusing to understand how anyone, but especially Adam, could care for her. This type of behaviour I could have forgiven, had she shown any growth. But it wasn't until the last few chapters that she went from being a weak, ridiculously melodramatic and frustratingly insecure protagonist into one with the glimmer of something resembling strength.

I also had a hard time justifying her words with her actions. To his face, Juliette was constantly calling Warner a "murderer" or a "monster" and when she was discussing Warner with Adam, he was called "psychotic" and "obsessed." She also often referenced how Warner was looking to own her, to make her his toy. But on the inside, she was admiring his physical appearance, often during inappropriate or life-threatening moments. There were several mentions of how beautiful his green eyes were, or how smooth and sensual his voice was. There's even a scene where she lets Warner kiss her, and is surprised that she feels a connection between them and that she likes how he tastes. I just couldn't understand how I was supposed to respect, let alone relate, to the type of heroine who would let herself be so easily manipulated by someone who had forced her to endanger the life of a young child, who had held her captive - controlling when/what she ate and what she was allowed to wear - and who threatened the life of the person she claimed to love.

My issues with Juliette aside, I was also disappointed with the world-building...or I should I say, lack of world-building. Being labelled a dystopian, I was eager to learn about the world Juliette inhabited and how it had reached that point. I was excited to see how Juliette and Adam rose up against the Reestablishment, to use Juliette's strange power against those, like Warner, who would see it used as a weapon. But Shatter Me is much more a paranormal romance with a dystopian setting than a pure dystopian, so my knowledge of the world was limited by how it affected her growing relationship with Adam. Sure, we were provided with the odd detail here and there, but I'm having a very hard time coming up with the entire picture. And the little details which were leaked were drowned amidst the overabundant use of metaphors and flowery prose, with the dystopia only making its presence known in order to make the romance interesting.

"I open my eyes and he's standing right in front of me. My heart is a field of lilies blooming under a pane of glass, pitter-pattering to life like a rush of raindrops."

It was during these more flowery prose moments that I most questioned the dystopian elements. It's mentioned several times how barren the landscape is, with every living thing having perished without adequate heat/nourishment from the sun. Juliette and Adam both comment with awe on how birds used to be able to fly. How would Juliette know what a field of lilies in full bloom looks like? I found there were a lot of instances where the metaphors either didn't make sense in the context of Shatter Me's particular dystopian setting, or just didn't make sense at all.

"Hate looks like everybody else until it smiles. Until it spins around and lies with lips and teeth carved into semblance of something too passive to punch."

It sounds very pretty and deep and poetic - but what the hell does it mean?

As for the plot itself, it was virtually nonexistent. Most of Shatter Me is spent watching Juliette question herself and her ability to love and be loved. There's also a lot of steamy shower scenes, where nothing but heavy breathing and lip hovering near ears seems to happen. Moments of danger and heightened suspense - fleeing from the compound with gunshots going off in the near distance, for example - were all made less immediate with inappropriate inclusions of tender moments; I'm on edge, urging the characters to keep moving and they're stopping to stare deeply into each other's eyes. I kept being pulled from moments which would have made the plot seem more action-packed and eventful by seemingly stupid moments of passion between Adam and Juliette.

Beautifully poetic with it's flowery prose, Shatter Me was a delight to read - in that I enjoyed the writing. But the content which made up the writing had a few too many flaws for me to completely immerse myself in the story. If you go into Shatter Me thinking it is a paranormal romance, you might get more enjoyment out of it then I did, expecting a dystopian.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is probably one of the most beautifully written books that I have ever read. I also almost gave up on it completely after about 10% of it. Kate Simses, the narrator, was definitely Shatter Me's saving grace.

Since I listened to the audiobook, I think it changed the reading experience. (I cannot tell you if it was for better or worse.) For one, I missed out on the scratching out of phrases except for the brief ripping sounds in the audiobook. Honestly, I thought it was skipping at first. It was more annoying than effective. As for the flowery descriptiveness, I would have probably skimmed through most of that. Mafi used strings of similes and metaphors to say the simplest things. It was the most lovely overkill that I've ever experienced. It was torturous to sit through, being as it was used mostly to illustrate the hormonal explosions happening with Juliette. I have read borderline erotica that did not have heroines so needy and starved for human touch as that girl. Granted, she had spent nearly a year in solitary confinement at an insane asylum. That lusty desperation overshadowed the majority of the novel. Juliette was either pining over Adam, the boy thrown in the cell with her at the start of the novel, or waxing poetic about Warner, the twisted leader of the sector. I know that she hated Warner, but she infused much of that hatred with flowery descriptions of his hotness. Say what you will about me, but I will forever refer to this novel as The Passionate, Desperate Ramblings of a Lonely, Horny Teenager from this day forth.

As for the characters themselves, I did not find myself really liking, hating, or even feeling sympathetic to any of them. Juliette was a [very weak person who let herself be defeated by her circumstances] young girl who has gone through a lot. She wallowed, nay luxuriated, in self-hatred because of her ability and did not really think of herself as a worthwhile human being deserving to be treated as one until Adam began showing affection toward her. That [pissed me off that she required a male for her own happiness] made me very sad. As for Adam, he mislead her from the start, and I kept waiting for him to pull a trick out of his hat. That is not a good way to start a romance. Warner is a twisted, mean bastard, but he never tried to be anything but that. Juliette always knew where she stood with him and what he was capable of, whether she liked it or not. James was probably the only character I came remotely close to liking, but he did not come along until much later in the book. Unfortunately, he is very much a secondary character, and I don't see him progressing into much more than a cute kid on the sidelines.

The setting of the novel itself was interesting, but not enough to really redeem the book. The world was changed, causing death of animals, plants, and nearly humanity. A group called the Reestablishment took over the government and was trying to save what it could of the people around the world. The Passionate, Desperate Ramblings of a Lonely, Horny Teenager... Err... I mean Shatter Me is a dystopian, so the Reestablishment was, of course, portrayed as EeeeVille. Realistically, when times are tough, people get hard. Look at the Middle Ages. The whole concept was interesting, but nothing new. The setting was also used to get a bit preachy about environmentalism.

It would be unfair of me to at least not mention that the book picked up at the end, but it was too little too late. Juliette does put a damper on those raging hormones and becomes a tad bit more interesting, but it's in the last chapters. There is finally talk of the powers Juliette and others have developed, but it's really nothing new. *coughs* X-Men *coughs* I have hopes that she'll stay remotely interesting in the later books in the series, but I don't know if Ill stick with it to see.

[The Passionate, Desperate Ramblings of a Lonely, Horny Teenager] Shatter Me is a beautifully written [hot mess] young adult novel that I bet teenagers are loving everywhere. I even have adult readers that I'm looking forward to giving the book to at the library because I know they'll love it. However, [The Passionate, Desperate Ramblings of a Lonely, Horny Teenager] Shatter Me is most assuredly not for me.