Author: Tahereh Mafi
Published: November 15th 2011
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Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
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.
Could
everyone who hasn’t heard of this book please raise a hand? Yeah.. That’s what
I thought. This series is very talked about and the new cover art definitely allures
(most of) us to experience it ourselves. I had put off reading Shatter Me long enough so
I finally caved in and finished it within two nights.
“I hope it’s not too late to fight back”
The story. Shatter Me introduces us to a world where environment has
been ruined by its inhabitants. This kinda hits close to home since I do agree
that we should treat our planet more carefully but since it’s not an
environment protection essay, I’ll leave it at that. Juliette is our girl and
she is locked up in a pretty freaky institution. Why, you ask? She killed
someone with her bare hands just by merely touching one. She’s been alone,
silent with her thoughts for 246 days until now – the day she gets a cellmate.
My thoughts. Of course I had heard of the unique writing
style. It was hard to adjust to it and it was probably the reason I didn’t
connect to Juliette that much, although I must admit, the writing style at the
beginning of the book is genius. The more the book progressed, the more usual
the writing became and mostly because of the changes inside Juliette. I liked how
she opened up and what part Adam played in it. #TeamAdam. Oh, by the way, Kenji? He was introduced
in the last third of the book but he became my favorite character nonetheless.
At first I
didn’t mind the lack of information about the society and how it came to be.
Come on! It’s been so talked about – we’re destroying Earth yada yada yada. What more is there to add as an author? The
lack of action didn’t bother me either at first since the writing was so unique
and took me by surprise. However, now, 2 days after finishing it, I realize
that not much happened action wise nor in general. Yes, we have our villain,
our hero, our strong heroine, escaping, romance, fighting back etc. It’s
nothing I haven’t seen though.
To sum up my
review, I’d say that the covers are gorgeous (sorry, I couldn’t not mention
it ;)), the synopsis was great, the feedback from fans is awesome, the writing
is unique, Tahereh herself is out of this world hilarious but but but there
was just something missing for me. It’s such a shame. I really wanted to love,
adore and pet this book, unfortunately it didn’t satisfy my needs enough. I'll still pick up the sequel even though I'm terrified of that inevitable and silly love triangle. (Oh, boy...)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
I loved the writing. I think that it captured Juliette well. I loved her constant battle with her own thoughts. I loved the sequel. I am still not a fan of Warner. I actual don't even understand the whole Team Warner thing at all. He's a murdering psychopath. I love Kenji. Even if it's not possible, I am Team Kenji. Adam gets on my nerves in the second one. He needed to man up in my opinion. Great review. I'm sorry you didn't like this one more, but at least you didn't hate it.
ReplyDeleteI'd bea 100% team Kenji if it were an option. Too bad it's not.. I agree, I don't get the appeal of Warner. He's a psycho! Yeah.. At first I was somewhat blown away by this book, but then.. It felt so ordinary afterwards. I hope I'll enjoy the sequel more.
DeleteI hear so much about the writing in this one. Some people love it and some people hate it, it definitely seems like it's a very polarizing aspect of the book. I am definitely curious to see how I feel about though for some reason this one just hasn't ever really interested me. Maybe one day I will pick it up, one day!
ReplyDeleteThe writing was really different. One may hate or love it, but it IS different and totally unique. I hope you'll give it a chance - it may work for you.
DeleteI've been putting this one off too Siiri! I'm just so nervous about the whole love triangle situation. I was perfectly content with Warner being the bad guy (though perhaps more misunderstood than bad), so I don't know how I feel about him being more of a love interest in this one! I think I will remain Team Adam as well. Once I pick a boy, I tend to stick with him! Sorry this one was missing something for you, I think I'm going to keep holding off for a while. Maybe until the 3rd book comes out:)
ReplyDeleteHa. I may just wait until the third one comes out as well. Adam all the way for me since I just cannot imagine myself being a Warner lover. It's just too weird to love a psychopath.
DeleteYou know, I loved Shatter Me when I first read it, but the longer I was away from it, the more "meh" I began to feel. I think I'm mainly bothered by Warner being presented as a viable option for Juliette. It makes me feel icky.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Siiri!
Ah, same here! It was quite ordinary compared to every other dystopian and nothing really stood out exept for the writing style. I agree on Warner. Thanks, hon!
DeleteA lot of people seemed to have trouble with the writing-style in the beginning. I can't wait to see what's it like. It's a shame that something lacked for you, but I'm still curious to try it out :) Great review!
ReplyDeleteI think we had about the same reaction to the writing. I think it was brilliant done as it showed us her state of mind, but it was hard to adjust to the style at first and I'm glad that it tapered off or I prob wouldn't have liked it as much as I did. I hear the sequel is even better, too! I should read it soon >.<
ReplyDeleteFor the cover, sure they're awesome looking but,... they make no sense. An eye? Why?
Oh Siiri I'm sorry you weren't able to enjoy Shatter Me as much as you'd hoped. I think I was more able to connect with the characters early on and therefore was able to enjoy it more than you were able to. But I did find the writing really hard to get into, it took me a couple of attempts, as sometimes I just wanted to give up. I hope you enjoy Unravel Me a lot more. Great review! :)
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time getting through this one. I don't think it was the writing style but just a lack of connection to the main character, so I stopped halfway through. But my good friends finished it, and they said they don't understand the Team Warner praise. I think because Shatter Me made him seem like a villain, not a romantic interest at all. Maybe the second one will have that extra something that was missing for you on this one.
ReplyDeleteSorry that you didn't like it as much as you wanted. The unique writing style almost turned me off to but luckily I got used to it
ReplyDeleteShame it didn't live up to your expectations. Lovely Review
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't like this one as much as you'd hoped. I wonder if hype played a factor? I read it right when it came out, and hadn't heard as much about it. I really loved Adam and Juliette, but I'm curious if you continue the series and what you think of them in the next book. Juliette was harder for me in Unravel Me. I think the writing makes this book unique, but you're right, there are elements that we've seen before. Very thorough thoughts, though!
ReplyDeleteI just finished this book the other day, and I really loved it! The writing style is great. This is my first destopian* so I think it was a good one to start off with because it was mainly focusing on the world building.
ReplyDelete