Shatter Me

Thursday, October 11, 2012


Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Re-establishment 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 - 


REVIEW: 

Words, words, words. So many scratched out words? Why are they even there if they would just be scratched out?  - That was my initial reaction when I started reading this book. The first few chapters, there was a lot of these strikethroughs etched on the pages that at first I didn't know why why they're there. I was thinking that it was a mistake while the manuscript was edited but when I look at the other pages it was still there. It took me a minute to understand that those were Juliette's thoughts that she was trying to hide. I know, it's weird that those thoughts were strikeout. I have been reading quite a number of books and this is the first time I encountered thoughts being strikeout for emphasis. Can Mafi just do italicization? I'm not sure I get the meaning of strikethroughs. It's confusing and a bit annoying.

Anyways, going back, Shatter Me is a Young Adult novel set up in a dystopian world. I like the idea of a girl locked out from her society because she is different. She was imprisoned because she killed a child - accidentally. She is special in such a way that her touch is torture. But to be honest, I'm not sure if I would like Tahereh Mafi's heroine. I thought she was a strong girl that will remind me of Katniss Everdeen but she's whiny, naive and is easily being absorbed and dependent on Adam. She doesn't have any depth into her character. I'm not sure if Mafi intended her personality to be like this but I was expecting more from her considering that she's the main protagonist. If its not for the first person view type of writing, I would have thought this book is about Adam and/or Warner.

Another thing that I noticed about this book was the plot. It's a typical YA dystopian world with rebellions, hunger, corrupted government and a perfect girl falling in love with a boy. In short, there was nothing special or original about it. I was expecting something more because the synopsis promised something special in there. It was a bit disappointing on how it turned out. The story was a lame and dragging. I was hoping that there would be a number of scenes that will display Juliette's capabilities to make us reader's feel more drawn to her. Actually, the second part of the book was on Julliette and Adam's endless kissing which I don't actually mind but in this case it drags the whole story from what makes her special. Apart from that, I was laughing inside while reading the last few chapters. It was really confusing. Come on? Seriously, Is this YA dystopia or Marvel Comic's X-Men? Juliette kinda remind me of X-Men's Rouge though.

That all being said, I finished this book with a lot of questions in my mind. I still don't understand why Warner wants Juliette so much. I wanted to know if its only her touch that is fatal or her skin? I wanted to know why Warner and Adam are immune to her touch. I want to know how did Adam survived if he was shot and leaved with a pool of blood on the street. So many questions but that maybe one of things that I like about this book. It makes me crave more for what's going to happen. Hopefully, the sequel that will be coming out next year can answer my questions and confusions.

Overall, this is a great book in a sense that you will not be bored while reading this. In spite of misgivings and some confusions, you can't help yourself to flip through pages until you realize that you're done. If you want a book that you cant put down, you can grab a copy of this. Even I enjoyed reading this.


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